A lot of us wind up carrying around a
bag every day; We might be the kind of people predisposed to owning
purses, or we might be students, teachers, and employees who are
constantly on the move and need to be able to carry a lot of things
with them at any given moment. In any case, we're people who carry
bags, and as such, there are some things we should consider “vital"
when deciding to add or subtract from our daily load. Here are a few
of the things I would recommend keeping in your bag at all times.
1. Your Keys (and any keychains)
For one thing, it's good to get in the habit of always locking your door when you leave your house/apartment/dorm, but for another, you're going to need to be able get back in when you come back. Additionally, if you've got a key ring, you can attach a flash drive, a bottle opener, or a metal Spider-Man keychain to make it that much more useful.
2. Tissues
Tissues can be used for your nose, someone else's nose, blotting makeup, and wiping up tears after a long and miserable day of classes and/or work. Besides, it's a lot cleaner to sneeze into a tissue than into your hands. Carry a pocket pack around and replace as needed.
3. Travel Sewing Kit
You won't ever know how much you should be carrying a mini sewing kit until you're on your way to a presentation and the top button of your blazer falls off. They're relatively cheap and not all of them look like weird, pink ovals (I hate the shape of mine, but CVS is CVS), and if you know how to sew a button back on, they'll save your life.
Buy a travel sewing kit on Amazon.
4. Ibuprofen/Asprin
Maybe you get headaches a lot. Maybe you're friends with people who get headaches a lot. There aren't a whole lot of reasons not to carry around some kind of pain reliever (unless it's prescription—leave those at home if possible), and plenty of drugstores carry bottles small enough to leave at the bottom of your bag.
5. Breath Mints
I'm not much of a gum person—I don't like it and it grosses me out, especially given how many people don't know where to put it (a trash can. A trash can is best.) when they've finished chewing it. That said, I also don't like having bad breath, and since I enjoy onions and garlic, that can be a difficult thing to avoid. Instead, I always have a tin of Altoids in my bag. Bonus: There are a lot more Altoids in a tin than there are strips of gum a pack, so if anyone ever asks for one, you don't have to feel too bad about sharing.
6. Cellphone
Not that I think it has to be said in 2016, since apparently all us millennials do is just stare at our phones, I probably wouldn't leave it at home. The world feels a little safer when you can make a call home or to a friend and not have to rely on (increasingly fewer) payphones.
Buy a new cell phone on Amazon.
7. Hand Sanitizer
We can't always make it to a sink to wash our hands every time we leave the house. On the one hand, with hand sanitizer we do run the risk of not exposing ourselves to germs and thus with overuse could potentially weaken our immune systems. That said, I don't know where the guy next to me on the Green Line has last put his hands, and I think it's probably better to do something to try to clean mine before I dig into my You Pick Two choices at Panera.
Buy travel sized hand sanitizer on Amazon.
8. Band-Aids
The pouch I keep mine in folds over and has four smaller sleeves, and it looks really worn down since I've had it ever since I started regularly carrying around a bag. I was a Girl Scout—we're always prepared—but even if you weren't, there's no reason not to carry band-aids. It feels really cool to be the person who, when someone gets hurt, can say, “I've got this!" Disclaimer: A band-aid pouch can't replace an EMT, no matter how much pressure you're putting on something.
9. Pocket Planner
These can end up being pricey depending on where you go, but I lucked out and this one from Target was only a dollar. It's obnoxious to try to plan an appointment over the phone when you can't look at the calendar at the same time, and it's even more obnoxious when you can't remember what you planned because you didn't write it out. Carrying around a planner is something I got into the habit of doing last year, and I don't know how I survived without one.
Buy a pocket planner on Amazon.
10. A Sharpie
At this point, maybe I'm just going to keep advocating for people to buy Sharpies forever. It's for a good reason, though: Sharpies can write on just about any surface, up to and including the walls in a bathroom stall, the backs of people's hands, Post-It notes, and receipts. If you can only have one writing utensil with you at any given moment (though I'd suggest checking out my article specifically about pens if you have any questions), I'd go with the Sharpie.
11. An Eyeglasses Repair Kit
“Hey Jill, how many times have your glasses broken and you've lost the screw that keeps them together in the past six weeks alone?" Enough times that I'm happy my mother gave me a glasses repair kit, dear reader. If you own glasses, I'd recommend making the investment since for whatever reason, they don't make things to last anymore, and if you wear glasses, chances are you need them to be able to see. Take care of your eyes. Leave a glasses repair kit (they're only three inches long) in your bag.
Honorable Mentions:
Obviously I don't want to write about everything that I carry in my bag since it's a lot of stuff, but also because I have unique needs that have to be met as an individual. That said, some other things you might consider bringing along with you could include: an inhaler (if you use one), a Swiss Army knife, a phone charger, a lighter (even if you don't smoke), and a deck of cards (you never know when you're going to get stuck in an elevator).
Please note that all items are in stock as of the time of publication. As an Amazon Associate, Odyssey may earn a portion of qualifying sales.
