Imagine the bar is the top of the stall door. Depending on the purse size you could possibly use just one hook.

Lowes actually carries a hook just for this.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Tote-Hanger-Chrome-Handbag-Hook/1000391429

I was thinking you were going to suggest something like this locking suction cups hook

These are very cool for in your car. Holds bags or purses.

https://lilymilly.com/product/hookshooks-double-auto-car-back-seat-headrest-hanger

Rob I have bought several brands of those and none of them held up. Especially if you carry much in your purse.

Depending on where you live there is a lot of purse theft in public restrooms. The hook over the door is a sign that there is something to take. I wouldn't risk it here.

I like the places that put the hooks lower on the door or better yet the sidewall when there is room.

There are many laws in place to have accessibility for the handicapped. Unfortunately no one considers the plight of the average or maybe a bit over-sized non-disabled women that have have to use stalls. Code requires minimum width and depth for toileting areas in a private residence. It's about time they enacted the same for public restrooms. One should not have to practically stand on the seat to open the door.

I am glad to see more family/coed bathrooms in businesses. More space and equal opportunity for all.

How about using a small mini-backpack as a purse when going shopping? And putting only the trip's essentials in it.

Elmer opined, "How about using a small mini-backpack as a purse when going shopping? And putting only the trip's essentials in it."

Does your wife do this?

Yes! Mostly for hands free reasons.

She doesn't do a lot of "shopping" as that term is used by many women. Mostly just for household essentials (which I do too) and that doesn't take very long or require planning for bathroom trips.

But her normal "purse" is also quite small.

Good ideas. But as Elmer suggests, I always use my small backpack purse when shopping - works out great in the restroom, too.

That's a great idea Raven. Though unfortunately I have known people to have their purses stolen on the hooks in public restrooms.

I wear a crossbody purse and keep it on. I usually carry a couple of little pack sacks in my purse for if I have shopped. They stay on my back.

I do wish there were enough room in wash rooms to accommodate every size person as well.

Many restrooms that are labeled as handicapped are not able to accommodate my chair. It's so frustrating. Some people are not able to get out of their chair and walk in or try to open those very heavy doors. I have nearly had my leg broken when one of those doors slammed shut on me when I was trying to hold it open just to get into the restroom. Plus they always put the baby station in the handicapped stall and invariably they were left open by the last user. This makes it even more difficult to get inside. So it's trying to hold open the door while trying to shut the baby station so you can manage to squeeze your chair inside and then maneuver it so you can get to the toilet. So please if you use a baby station close it! And never ever leave a shopping cart in a handicapped parking spot! Just exactly how is that person supposed to get out of the car and move it? But it happens almost every time we go out. I am lucky enough to have my husband but not everyone has a helper.

I think that the double hook and rubber band would make the theft more complicated, so less successful. And a greater possibility that the package might fall to the floor, with a possibility of the person on the throne having a chance to grab it before the thief could reach under the door.

ETA: maybe a quick reach out with the foot to drag it farther in.

I think that hanging the hook on the wall between the cubicles would improve the safety.

If the goods fell they'd be closer to the sitter, as well, enabling a faster grab.

ole joyful

I have a carabiner on my purse strap that I use to hook over the side wall of the stall. I also use the carabiner to attach my water bottle's strap and/or my umbrella to my purse strap.

I carry a shoulder bag purse with a fairly long strap. i loop it around my neck, (rather than crosswise across my chest) and have no trouble in public restrooms.

Years ago I had a checkbook nicked from my backpack.

I’ve known people who have had a purse swiped from a public lav door hook.

I don’t put anything on a toilet stall floor.

If you use a hook, bring a large rat trap. Or bring your cordless drill kit along with a hook and toggle bolts. Or you can try the Indiana Jones hook and rope gun technique, fired into the ceiling beam.

Wouldn't it be logical if all places would do like hospitals and put a push button opener beside the door on multi-use public restrooms? I'd also love to see more restrooms with stall doors to the floor and the occupied indicators.

Raye said:

I'd also love to see more restrooms with stall doors to the floor and the occupied indicators.

Me too! Especially doors to the floor which I see almost everywhere in Switzerland. Another thing -- the stall doors that open IN so that when you want to leave the stall you have squish yourself so as not to rub against the toilet!

Very true. European construction always seems to be more solid and with more permanent intent than here. Dividers are rarely seen for toilets. More typical is that the toilet is in what you might call a small room - the size of a toilet stall made with dividers but having solid floor to ceiling walls. When there are multiple toilets, as in a public facility where there's a lot of use - an airport, train station, theater, etc.- you tend to find these small "rooms" lined up next to one another side by side, as if partitioned cubicles but with solid walls in between and an opening door.

Even in homes, toilets tend to be in small room with a closing door. Called a WC (water closet) and called such in many different languages, it's a style beginning to be seen more frequently here in the US, rather than having the toilet freestanding in the bathroom.

I use a S hook, find it in hardware

So thieves reach inside the stall from above and grab purses off the hook?

Yes Daisychain. With the set up suggested they would not even have to reach over, just grab hook and anything attached to it. Like leaving a purse in a shopping cart. Grab and walk away theft.

In my observation men are lax about flashing cash and women are lax about not hanging onto their possessions. It will never happen to me mindset I guess. I play "if I were a thief" in my head all the time. Hard to believe people create all the opportunities out there but they do. I would be rich if I just had a dollar for every opportunity I spot.

Well hanging it in the door crack on the hinge would eliminate that possibility. No way to get fingers much less a hand in there from the outside.

I fortunately have mine hooked on my chair with a locking caribeaner, plus the strap wrapped around the arm.

It's just a suggestion. Better than putting anything on the floor! Everyone has their own opinions.

Every place I lived in San Francisco had water closets, and the last place I lived had two of them, which was especially nice. We only had one sink, and it was next to the bathtub, however. There is no reason for a toilet to be next to a bathtub or shower. I've seen places in San Francisco that had sinks in the bedrooms, and I had to wonder if they had been built at brothels.

Most of the stalls I go into have double hooks one on top of the other. I always use the one on the bottom because I read a tip one time that it would be more difficult to grab a purse hanging from the bottom hook because the one on the top would get in the way of thieves. Most stalls are so small that its possible to keep a hand on ones purse anyway. It's not something i worry about, but I'm aware that purse theft is a possibility, although ive never known anyone who has had that happen.

If there are no hooks, I just hold on to my purse. I would never set it on the floor due to the cleanliness issue. I was in a restaurant bathroom the other day and the woman in the stall next to me had put her drink and a container of her leftovers on the floor while she used the toilet. Ick!

Water closet type stalls are also common in SE Asia in many modern buildings such as malls, restaurants and hotels. I really appreciated the privacy they give.

Lars, I've been in dozens and dozens of homes in SF, at both ends of the age extreme, from Victorians to new or remodeled places, I can't remember ever seeing a WC (ignoring what other word could be used to refer to a half bath or a powder room). I was referring before to WCs as part of a full bathroom setup that includes sinks and either a tub, a shower, or both.

Sinks "in the bedroom"? I think it depends on what you call "in the bedroom". In our house that's a few decades old, in the master suite, the sinks are in the walkway to the bathroom. Not unlike what you see in many hotel rooms, where the sinks are in an alcove that you pass if walking to where the shower and toilet are. I don't think that's an unusual design.

We have a vanity (sink) alcove off the bedroom with the toilet and shower together also. I prefer this separation over all in one rooms. Another bath is pullman style with tub and toilet at one end that were separated by a door, We removed that door but left the header and the sidewalls. Newer versions of our floorplan were built with vanity and shower/toilet all in one room keeping the same footprint. I still prefer the original. No steamy mirror and quiet separate from the person showering.

I truly dislike the WCs that are being built in newer homes. Some are so tiny they just barely meet code. It feels like being in a box. One of the things we are doing in the master is moving a wall a foot out and installing a wall hung toilet and replacing the swing door with a pocket . Builders around here use the five foot length of the tub or shower for room width.

no, you hang it on the door latch where it can't be reached.