I used to bring a carton from the store, inside a plastic grocery bag, carrying my files and other treasures to the library in the new Wellness Centre (with a roof covering two hockey rinks, covered all over with solar panels).

One day a custodian offered me a lovely multi-compartmented bag, with a double compartment in the middle, with a thick pad inside that would cushion a couple of laptops, and a couple of compartments on either side, all with a number of varying sized slots and pockets, plus holders for pens, etc. with pockets for cell phone and water bottle at the end, which her sister had and didn't use.

Offered it to me as a free gift.

Which I have appreciated greatly - and sent a couple of gifts to her sister, from time to time, as a token of that appreciation.

ole joyfuelled

I usually use a cheap backpack or open top canvass bag like a grocery carrier. I carry some heavy, bladed hand tools around. They pull on the stitching and poke holes in the bags. I've been hoping to find an old bowling ball bag at the thrift store because I figure they are sturdy and meant to carry some weight without popping the stitches.

I'm not interested in a hard tool box. Prefer something whose unused space just kind of collapses down on the rest of it.

I used to think it a little eccentric of my dad to carry his hand tools in an old bag shaped like a hat box. It had housed a pop-up, bonnet hair dryer and had a wrist loop. But it worked for the purpose.

I have a lightweight nylon "go bag" that changes with the seasons for my vehicle.

I have a barn bag that holds boots, and riding stuff and a helmet bag for my helmet.

As for purses I use the lightest, smallest possible. I had to give up my really mini ones because my new cell phone is too big for them.

I buy plastic grocery store bags on Amazon. I keep a pint sized zip lock bag of folded ones in the passenger door side panel. When I go shopping I grab some and either put them in my pocket or purse.

I keep a soft cooler bag in the back for when I purchase frozen items. I have a lunch bag cooler I carry a couple sodas or water in.

I also own a Scottevest windbreaker with a zillion pockets. Hidden pockets, pockets within pockets. That is my jacket for events when it isn't hot. As long as it's not metal I can carry just about anything in it.

Most usually I'm walking the dogs, so I carry one of those free string-backpacks. It contains a roll of doggie poo-bags, and a plastic coffee container ("aroma sense"!) that I put used bags in to carry home for discarding.

I upgrade to a regular backpack for trips to/from the library.

I have a small backpack purse that easily hooks on the arm of my scooter chair. I love purses but it is difficult to carry one on my chair. My previous scooter had a basket on the front which allowed me to use just about any type of bag. I miss that.

I carry a handbag. It's not a mini, but it's not huge either. I keep shopping bags and a cooler bag in the car for groceries or in-store shopping.

Love it brushworks, but I could have gotten most of that in a vest and done cardio at the same time. DH a vest wearer too. I could barely lift his engineers vest, all those compartments, pockets, little keepy places....which would inevitably become filled with debris, fir needles, twigs, all kinds of things. It would take me as long to clean out the pockets/spaces to wash it as the washing would take.

Even not fishing, I'm a vest wearer. I have dressier vests that I wear often, travel type vests, photo vests, canvas style vests with jeans....a real pocket person. For serious garden tours where I may want a notepad, pen, money, reference book, Kleenex for allergies - I wear a photographer's cross body bag for hands free packing. The only time I wear a cross body bag, I really don't like them.

My handbags other than dress-up or formal are shoulder bags. Well stocked compared to what some would be comfortable with, I like to be prepared.

I have a soft cooler bag in the back of my car for days I might unexpectedly buy something chilled, but for the most part I know if I'm buying food items and take a regular cooler. Or, two.

I have environmentally friendly reusable shopping and grocery bags in the back of my car too. The problem is, I never think to take them out of the car, into the store. Next county over, I'm paying 5 cents for every bag I'm given when shopping. But I don't really mind, I can always find a second, or third use for paper bag. Right now, I've been purging paperwork and have about 4 large paper handled bags full of things for DH to take to the farm to burn, I got much too slowed down shredding things with a home office shredder :0)

A small purse for everyday errands and stuff. A bigger tote for work,which i put my smaller purse into, along with my kindle,my "lady bag" as mom used to call it, my various chargers,and who knows what else.

I got a small backpack as a birthday gift last year and use it for work now. Carry a sweater, coffee mug, water, books, etc... in.

I use a camelbak type back pack as a purse. It has 3 compartments, and I can find my phone, wallet and keys easy in there. If I need to haul stuff someplace I usually use a Longeberger basket. I have quite a few of them in all kinds of sizes.

My small bag of canvas grocery bags lives in my car between uses. I also bring it in with me, when groceries are brought in. I then refill it, and hang it on the door handle to the garage, and next time it goes out with me. I always manage to bring it in to the store with me.

Moni

I carry a purse. I'm very picky about my purses, can't be too big or too small, have to have just the right amount of pockets, must have a small pocket on the outside for my keys, need some large flat pockets for paper items. Right now I have one from Rosetti that I bought at Sears. It's OK but not perfect, it was the closest to what I needed though.

At the grocery store, I use the reusable bags and I also have those As Seen On TV bags that hook into your shopping cart, they are OK but not anything to write home about. I don't like the way that they squeeze together once you remove them from your cart. I find they want to squeeze things like bread and chips which is NOT COOL! It's called The Grab Bag.

In my county, plastic bags from the grocery store are banned, so you have to carry your own reusable bags when you shop. You can buy a paper bag at the store if you forget, but almost everyone I know/see is used to bringing their own. I keep about a dozen in the trunk, not as neatly stashed as I'd like.

I carry the smallest wallet type purse that my iphone 6+ will fit in. My iphone is in a case with a body strap and a place for a few cards, so I keep my driver's license and one credit card in it. I know I'll remember to take my phone whenever I leave the house, so I will at least have the basics. I often leave my little wallet/purse at home or locked in the trunk of my car. I HATE carrying a purse (and my phone for that matter).

I stopped carrying a purse when I cleaned one out and the only things of mine were several pens, checkbook, and wallet. Now I carry a small flat case for cards and drivers license and something similar to a coin purse. All fit in my pocket. If I take my phone it is either in my hand or locked in my car.

Hi olychick,

Around here, some of the produce packages come in cardboard trays, about a foot to a foot and a half by about a foot and a half to two feet, with about four to six inch sides, that I find great for carrying a grocery order home.

A number of the main ones stack them, along with the cardboard cartons that the groceries came in, near the checkouts and many disappear.

But one of the major discount groceries stopped putting them out ... and I've been known to take one in that I've picked up in one of the other stores (as I dislike paying a nickel for a plastic bag, and don't like the proliferation of them in the environment).

o j

I carry a small cross-body purse. If I'm just going to the grocery, I'll put what used to be a business card holder in my pocket. It has my driver's license, auto insurance card, the store card, and some CCs -- and a $20 bill. I like to have both hands free.

The only 'bag' DH carries is the kitchen garbage bag, taking it out to the garbage can.

When I graduated from high school, my mother's friend gave me a clutch type wallet. I haven't used a purse since then. That is all I carry. I don't like things hanging on my shoulders....same reason I quit wearing a bra....except rarely, so I don't care for shoulder bags and carrying any other kind of purse seems silly to me. I always say my truck is my purse. I keep everything you might normally keep in a purse, in my truck. Like hairbrush, lip stick, phone...when I go out, I take it, but I don't carry it in my pocket...I leave it in the truck. I think there is probably a bra in there too, but that is not so I can put one on, it is because I took it off as soon as I could, because I hate wearing them so much.

Now that I am retired, the only bag I carry out the door on a regular basis is a small cross body bag with my glasses, sunglasses, small thin wallet, key fob, several lip glosses, a pen or two and key fob. Sometimes I take out the wallet and key fob and just run into a store with those in my pocket. If going to the gym I have my gym bag.

The only bag I take with me is under the seat of my walker. Room for a small canister of oxygen, a phone case that holds money and cards, and an inhaler.

Of course, my purse, which I have whittled down over the years. It used to be huge because I thought I NEEDED to carry a lot of stuff. And DH would ask me to carry things for him, too! The purse I carry now is 7"x8"x3". I can't get it any smaller. My inhalers and computer glasses take up half the space, LOL.

In addition, I carry a tote bag when I go to work. I make a mail run every day, so there's that and I make about 2 trips a week to the library on my home, so there's room for all my books and/or CD's.