I can’t tell you how many times I have seen an older lady (actually someone my age) lugging around an ginormous handbag as she approaches the grocery store entrance. Then I see her putting it on the top part of her grocery cart as eye candy for the next criminal as she goes about scanning the shelves for groceries. Not only is this not necessary, it is fool-hearty! I just want to grab ahold of her by the collar and pull her up real close to me and say:”Listen up lady, it is time to buy a small crossbody purse like mine and simplify your crazy life!” But I don’t.
First of all, she only needs a credit card to put into the little slot at the register to pay for her groceries. That and her cellphone. Two items in her handbag, PERIOD! That and her car keys.
I might add that she needs her cellphone not to answer her phone when someone calls (because they can wait until she is back in her car at the parking lot), but because she does not want to leave something that valuable in her car. Do I really want to hear her discussing her rash with her doctor while she is checking out the peaches? Two items! That is all she needs to have with her at the store, so why oh why must she have a twenty pound bag full of who-knows-what? The answer is beyond me! Does she need the makeup bag to refresh her makeup when she has gets too close to the water spritzing thing that keeps the veggies fresh? Does she need a box of bandaids just in case she gets a box cut from one of the packages she grabs off the shelf? Does she need a big envelope full of receipts from all the grocery visits she has made in the past year? Does she need the box of coupons for every grocery item in every store imaginable? Does she need a cookbook that contains a recipe for what she is cooking for dinner tonight? Does she need that box of safety pins just in case she pops a button in her jeans from bending over to reach something on the bottom shelf? Does she need the novel she brought to read in case she happens to be in a long line at the checkout? Does she need her hairbrush and hairspray just in case someone whizzes by her a little too fast and the wind gust messes up her hairdo? Does she need the mini-flashlight just in case of a power outage in the store? I don’t know! Maybe next time I will ask the next lady I see with a handbag big enough to sink a ship what on earth is in there! Or maybe, just maybe, she is preparing to go to the Let’s Make A Deal show and has loaded up her handbag with lots of miscellaneous items just in case she is asked by the show host if she has a paper clip, or a mini stapler or a postage stamp. You never know! Maybe her younger self took the two-fingered pledge at a Girl Scout Meeting to always be prepared! You tell me!
This is what I look like when I go into the store: My crossbody purse strapped on with my cellphone and wallet in it and my keys around my neck on a lanyard. Oh, and I might have a few shopping bags tucked under one arm to be kind to the planet. That’s it! The wonderfulfreedom of it! No heavy load and no worries about my purse being taken from my cart or fumbling in my purse for my car keys when I reach my car.
So give it some thought. How about downsizing you handbag to have just the essentials and not the “just-in-case” items? Why? Because simplifying your life is not only a path to joy but a practical thing to do as we age. And your chiropractor will thank you for it!
Sandy Speaks 