“Who steals my purse steals trash; ‘tis something, nothing;”
—William Shakespeare
This month is officially dedicated to organization! With spring coming around the corner and the new incentive for the exciting March recruiting campaign, we felt discussing organization on the blog would be quite fitting. We’ll be sharing all sorts of innovative ideas this month on how to tame your messes and channel their power for good.
Whether we hide them away in basement closets or spread them across kitchen tables, messes are simply a fact of life. There isn’t a person out there who isn’t hiding some kind of mess.
Many of us even carry our messes around with us every day of our lives! This kind of mess can easily go unnoticed because it hides behind the façade of fancy purses and bags that convincingly mask the chaos lurking beneath.
But messes aren’t all bad. Just like everything in life, we believe there is something to be learned from them. So to kick off March with a bang, we went rummaging through Close To My Heart COO Brian Holman’s bag to see what we could find (and learn)!
With photographer in tow, we headed to his office, where he dumped the contents of his bag out on his desk for everyone to see. After seeing what was inside, all we have to say is if you think only women know how to pack a bag ready for anything, think again, folks.
Here’s what came tumbling out of Brian Holman’s bag:
- 5 Great Value™ Blueberry Açai Energy Drink Mixes
- 1 Great Value™ Pomegranate Lemonade Energy Drink Mix
- 1 Aulani Hawaiian Sea Salt Lotion
- 1 red pen
- 1 black pen
- 1 Walt Disney black pen, complete with a light on the top
- 1 pair of headphones
- 1 pair of earplugs
- 1 ZEISS Pre-Moistened Lens Cleaning Wipe
- 1 Kleenex® On-the-Go Pack
- 1 stylus
- 1 eye mask
- 1 pack of batteries
- 1 padfolio
- 1 bag of toiletries (Band-Aids®, Advil®, antacid, etc.)
- 1 Apple power adapter
- 1 Amazon Kindle
- 1 USB car charger
- 1 Walmart receipt
- 1 bottle of Germ-X® Pink Berry
- 1 glasses case
- 1 PowerPoint clicker
- 1 pack of Tic Tac® Freshmints
After inspecting this bag that is basically a portable arsenal decked out to combat anything from low energy levels to infected hands, we’ve come to the conclusion that Brian Holman is a man who is both on the move and exceptionally prepared. “I can put any woman’s purse to shame,” touted Brian, while repacking his belongings.
So unfortunately we have to disagree with Shakespeare on this one: A purse is not nothing—it can tell you a lot more about a person than you may realize!
Think the contents of your purse are zanier than Brian’s? We’d love to see what’s lurking in your handbag. Grab your purse or bag and dump it (or just reach in and grab something random) and let us know what you find in a comment on this post!
We’ll randomly select three winners and announce them on Friday, March 6. What is the prize, you ask? Your very own small organizer! Just our little way of helping you get a jumpstart on organizing your one, spectacular life.
Let the games begin!
Pens…lots of pens 🙂
Wow, Brian left me amazed and curios about what I would find in my husband bag. In mine you can always find a see through zipper mesh bag with all my medications, hand sanitizer, wound sanitizer, inhaler, anti itch lotion, Chapstick, etc. besides I always carry my 2 small wallets, one for everyday credit card, ID, insurances, debit card, and of course star bucks card. In the second I have all my rewards cards from different places and the just in case credit cards, membership cards(zoo, museums, sea world). I also carry a pack of cleanex tissues, make up, several zipblocks with receipts, coupons and one in case. Perfume, and of course sometimes socks from my kids, etc. I’m always on the go, so I try to keep everything in there…
Keys, lots of keys … to name a few keys to my house, car, shed, big truck, little truck, pool cue lock at the Legion, aunt’s house, friends houses, library key tag.
Too much to list… But the stranger items include a plastic dinosaur, a pair of 3D glasses, a nappy, an empty zip lock bag and a teething necklace.
My purse is my life … iphone/ipad charger, spare pair of socks (I often forget to pack a pair in my workout bag), overflowing wallet containing: receipts, ID’s, credit cards, frequency cards, random pieces of gum that came out of the pack and ticket stubs from the Louisville Slugger museum dated 05.09.2014 – I plan to scrapbook that some day, hand lotion, perfume, hand sanitizer, 2 EOS lip balms, 2 packs of checks (one is empty), $10 Kohls cash that I need to use this week, pens, a coffee scoop (promotion from a store), gum wrappers, bag of cheerios, coupons, a toothpick (it’s new still in the wrapper), packs of gum, a couple safety pins, car registration and license plate sticker, a snag repair tool (used when snagging your sweater), and a Recipe for Bean Salad.
Overflowing wallet, phone charger, scissors, composition book, credit cards, gift cards, actual money, CTMH idea book, phone, sweater, baggies, lip balm, handles, receipts, pens, highlighters, Sharpie markers, manicure set, keys, school ID, thumb drive, Mickey thumb drive, and inhaler, all this and I had cleaned my purse out 2 days ago. No wonder my purse is heavy.
Lots and lots of coupons!! A very full portable file and a mini photo album stuffed with coupons for local stores and restaurants. I’m always ready for a deal!
The most unusual thing I found was three bags of tea, a sample from my daughter, over a month ago, that I had forgotten about!
A small tape measure….you never know when you might need to measure something.
My sons old iPhone 4, unused and uncharged.
Seven different lip products! Yeah, I think I’m addicted to lipstick, lip gloss and chapstick 🙂
I randomly pulled out a piece of ribbon that I saved from my son’s present that he opened two weeks ago! I kept it to put in him scrapbook!
oops – an expired box top for education.
I pulled out my keys
Napkin, umbrella from a Dole Whip, map of Disneyland and a fast pass. This is all from a Disneyland trip two years ago.😊
My retainer!!! Just got my braces off….I’m 42. 🙂
I have a small metal round tin that I keep tea bags in. These are great tasting teas. You ask for hot water and you are ready to go.
Interesting stuff: Spotlight Youth Theatre ticket stubs to RENT and Rugrats: A Live Adventure, moleskin graph notebook for Zentangle practice, small bag with Pigma Micron pens and CTMH My Legacy Writer 0.5 for Zentangle practice.
I like to compartmentalise. I do not like to tote a lot around with me. My purse contains my credit and bank cards, Chapstick, pen, and a
Checkbook. I just cleaned out the recipts yesterday. I keep my coupons in a separate bag that stays in my vehicle. If we go out I frequently just have my phone, an id, and a card.
I don’t carry a purse, so this is my work bag (the purple bag we got from Convention 2012)… In the pockets – pens, razor, receipts – my birth certificate (yikes! gotta get that back where it belongs!), paystubs, kleenex, mints, a card from church to invite someone to be baptized. The main section – file from my “day” job, stamps, spoon, candy cane, mints, sunglasses, datebook, 2 checkbooks, invitation to a ladies event, cvs coupons, See’s candy catalog, Oriental Trading catalog, Lutheran Woman’s Quarterly, registration for CTMH Making Connections, car registration (gotta get that into the car), a Box Top for education, CTMH 1099, socks and lastly, a printed picture of our Michigan team from Convention 2014!! Love you, Northern Stars!! Now you know, I love CTMH (DUH!!), church (my “day” job is at the church that I grew up at) and catalogs and that I forget to put things away sometimes. LOL
I broke 2 fingers in a recent fall. So, I put the finger splint in my purse just in case I needed it for a little added protection after my doctor told me to remove it and start using my fingers.
I can honestly say that I was not shocked when I read the list of what Brian’s “Murse”. I have met him only twice now but the items seem to be fitting to who he is! I have always carried a purse, I can’t seem to just sport a wallet. There seems to be so many “incidentals” that need to join me on my journeys. I am working hard at reaching my goal this year of joining my CTMH peeps on the incentive trip so business cards are always a must in my purse. The rest is pretty standard (in my crazy eyes lol) Lipstick, chapstick, hair elastics, wallet (with every card that has ever crossed my path, EEK, maybe I should clean that out as I still have my disneyland room key from 2014 convention) lotion, pad of paper, pen, highlighter, loose change, bobbie pins, Oh MORE loose change (no wonder it feels like a sack of potatoes) and a purse hanging thing! Well looks like I need some organization in my life and now that my purse contents are on the counter I think I will start here! Cheers
It just so happens that I filled up three of our containers just today! In purge mode and working of organization! The usual is in my purse…but most unusual? I guess the lavender oil and the See’s sucker! For life’s little moments!
One Mary Kay Citrus Flirt lipstick
Oh , I think YOU win Brian !!! 😉
I have been trying very hard this year to keep my purse more organized….however you can still always find in it: my planner, wallet, medicine bag (with my Chapstick, hand sanitizer, Tylenol, bobby pins, face powder, hand lotion) pens, headphones, gum and work keys 🙂
Can’t go anywhere without my lip chap for these dry winter months!
Ok please don’t judge, and this could have been very disasterous, I found in my very unorganized purse a package of sour kraut from SAMs club! It’s time to purge the purse:)
I have 3 Mary Kay Lipsticks in different shades and 2 Clinique lip glosses. Why??? I used to think of myself as a simple low-maintenance gal.
thats a pretty impresive bag:) I have almost all of that too but, your missing what i have in mine – you can’t forget the hand wipes! or the camera:) and don’t forget a granola bar! I call it the Mom bag:)
My kids call it my scare bag
Let me try tis again – my kids call it my scare bag! Here’s what I pulled out of my purse: Wallet (with driver’s license, credit cards, debit card, insurance cards, hubby’s medicare card, medication list, mine and hubby’s and my concealed carry license), 3 checkbooks (mine, CTMH and farm accounts), loose change, keys, 3 old shopping lists, CTMH shopping list (list of things I need to order), Excedrin Migraine, Amerge (prescription migraine meds), husband’s Lortabs (he’s had 4 back surgeries and never know when he’ll need them), asthma inhaler, cough drops, eye drops, 3 pens, 1 pencil, 1 permanent marker, 1 highlighter, note pad, pocket calendar, kleenex, tweezers, emery board, nail clippers, hair clips, gum, tic tacs, cell phone, cell phone charger, needle & thread, expired coupons, 15 old receipts, gift cards, business cards, optic scarf, chap stick, hand lotion, hand sanitizer, copic color checkbook, book, baggage claim ticket and parking receipt from the Hawaii trip and a tatzer/flashlight combo. No wonder it feels like I’m carrying around a sack of rocks!
Just returning from a weekend away, my purse was downsized to a large wallet with keys, sanitizer, and mini flashlight attached on the outside. The inside holds cash, drivers license, credit cards, health insurance cards, sons birth certificate, business cards, 1 receipt, boarding passes, empty Ziploc bag, chapstick, compact, lollipop, lozenges, 2 pokemon cards, post-it-note with Wi-Fi password for place I was staying, loose change, a barette, a pair of earings, and a ymca card. Normally, I’d have everything needed or touched while on the go in the last 2-3 months in my bag, but it was all emptied and purged b4 my trip!
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I read the post and grabbed my bag and stuck my hand in. The first thing to come out was my address book. Can’t go anywhere without it.
Darn, missed this one. I was at work last week, driving down the road with a co-worker. I needed my inhaler in my purse and kept grabbing things out of my bag looking for the inhaler. I pulled out a lightbulb, a house telephone (needed to get a new battery so it was in my purse, same with light bulb) and finally, my inhaler. My coworker was a guy and was amazed what contents were in my “life” bag. ha ha. wished I saw this sooner. Take care, Emmy Rackley
My husband and son think I’m their personal sherpa, so in addition to my somewhat minimal purse contents (wallet, keys, lipstick, and Chico bag), I had 2 pair of sunglasses, a phone charger, chapstick, another set of keys, a headband, a bunch of school forms, an iPad, and Mardi Gras beads in school colors.