April 28th, 2017

I ended up spending a significant period of time yesterday cleaning out upper closet shelves. I never know what I'm going to find when I start cleaning out/organizing the depths.  This time, the shelf where I keep my purses or handbags or pocketbooks or whatever you call them.

First of all, there are too many of them.  How many of these things does any one person need? And why on earth do I have two clutches? And two different straw bags?    Time to sort through these and get rid of a few.   Maybe you can help me think this through.

 The big white one of the left with the colourful squares?  Yeah, I didn't buy that one.  It was a freebie giveaway that came with.....something.....I don't recall what.  I don't actually use that bag very often but when I need it, I'm glad I have it.  It's more of a tote bag.  So it's good for a quick trip to the beach, something like that. AND it's washable, bonus points. So that one  I keep. 

The red and black one?  That was given to me. A very nice gift.  And again, I don't often use it. It's very fancy, schmancy, dressy-uppy and I just do not often have occasion to use it. But when the occasion arises, I'm all set.  I have this black dress, you see and normally I would wear black heels with that dress.  This purse just looks so good, almost like jewelry with it. Ok, I guess I'll keep that one too. At least as long as I still have the black dress.  I promise I'll get rid of the red and black bag when  the black dress finally dies a natural death (I've had it for more at least 15 years, but y'know, Little Black Dress and all. It's a classic).

One of those straw bags is a backpack. That occasionally comes in handy.  There are times when I prefer to be hands-free. Actually, most of the time. I'm not even really a purse carrying kind of girl.  Anytime I can get away with not carrying one at all, I do.  But there are times when I need to carry a stupid purse and when I must, well, a backpack purse is a nice alternative.  I've had this purse probably as long as the black dress and it's still in really good shape.  No if I get rid of this one, then I have to buy a different backpack purse.  I may as well keep this one.

The black and brown one.  It's the newest purse I have.  Tim bought it for me a couple of years ago.  It was a great purse for work.  It has two different compartments,  both zippys, it's not too big, not too small, and looks kind of business dress sharp.   I'm not working right now. But I do occasionally look at Indeed.com and if a job pops up that I really want and I get it, I still have to dress the part.  No, for now I should keep this one, the same way I'm keeping  my work clothes for now.  Should the day come when I am positive that I'm not going to be seeking employment again, then this purse, all the blazers and dress trousers and most of the heels will go.  For  now, they stay.  Just in case.

The butterysoft brown leather one is the one I actually use the most on a day to day basis.  I originally bought it to be a purse that I used when I traveled.  I can wear it either over one shoulder or cross-bodied, it has endless little compartments, it has a huge capacity for stuff and is just so softysoft.  When we travel not only can I put all my normal purse things in it (which is actually very little) but also a sweater, a kindle, a regular book, snacks, a bottle of water, and anything Tim needs me to carry for him.  Why I'm now using it on a regular basis? That part I don't know. I probably should switch over to the other straw bag. But even then, I'll need the big brown leather one for travelling so I need to keep this one.

Which is probably why I keep the other strawbag.  I don't always want to carry a backpack purse. Sometimes, just a regular purse will do. And it's spring now, probably time to put away such a winter looking leather bag.  So I guess I need to keep the other strawbag too. And to switch over to it.  It's not my favourite purse, but it works and certainly looks more springy and summery.

Now to consider the  clutches.  Well the silvery one I bought specifically for youngest child's wedding.  I probably won't be wearing that dress again, which means I probably don't need those shoes or that purse.  Although come to think of it, I have worn the dress, the shoes and carried the purse at a supernice Christmas party, so the possibility does exist that I might use it again.  And the little black clutch?  Yeah that is really are more for evening wear.  We very rarely go out fancy in the evening.  Just doesn't come up much in our lives.  Florida is a very casual place.  Even when we go out some place nice for dinner, it's not THAT kind of fancy.  On the other hand, if something super fancy shows up on the calendar, I would have nothing that I could use. And black goes with everything so no matter what I wear, it would still work.   Maybe I should hold on to it all,  a bit longer, just in case. One never knows!  If a super fancy situation showed up and I had gotten rid of the dress, the shoes and purse, well, I'd just have to go out and buy new.  See, I'm saving money this way.

So ratz, I got rid of exactly none of them. 

But you know what I'm noticing here?  It's how boringly neutral most of these purses are.  I was with my sister not long ago when she bought a new purse.  It's a gorgeous turquoise colour, a bright pop of Wow.  And then she got a new wallet with white, yellow, pink and turquoise colours to go with it and I just loved what she chose.  It's just so perfect for her.

 I didn't always have such boring coloured bags.  When we lived in Colorado, the very first winter, I was underwhelmed with how dull winter looks when there is no snow on the ground.  No leaves on the trees, the grass is dormant and looks dead and well there is not a great lot of colour on  most of the buildings either.  Let  me just say that the colour beige is greatly over represented where we lived in Colorado. And I guess my eyes were starved for colour because in the time we lived there I had purses that were orange, fuchsia and a coral and white one.  Colour!  In college I owned one purse.  It was  a hobo bag that looked like a quilt made of many colours of suede squares.  I loved that bag.

I think what I've learned here is that instead of getting rid of any of these bags, I need an new one. With colour!

Ok that task went well.  Thanks for all your help!