I am in the midst of processing the last week or so of my life. As I’m sure you can imagine, it has been up and down. This has been an unbelievable week for me. I cannot tell you how much the love and support has meant to me. And how disheartening some of the response has been, albeit from a very SMALL minority. But I am certainly choosing to dwell on the positive.
So while I try to wrap my mind around it all, I have a very important question to ask. Please be as honest as possible. I can handle it.
How often do you clean out your purse/wallet?
And a follow up: what’s the strangest/oldest/oddest thing you’ve found?
More soon. I promise.
Now, this is a good start however i’m going to look into that a bit more. Will show you exactly what more there really is.
I clear out my man-bag once a month or so. Only when it starts to get heavy. My wallet on the other hand, gets cleaned out whenever I get sick of pulling out receipts instead of cash.
The strangest thing I’ve ever found in my bag: an uneaten chocolate bar. (Strange because I usually eat them straight away.
Every week. I’m trying to be more organised…
Vanessa Rima
http://www.fashionissima.com
I will just come right out and say it. My purse generally gets cleaned out when I put my hand in and it comes out with something gooey/gross/etc on it. My toddler tends to put all sorts of odd things in my bag when I am not looking. In the past two months I have had 3 different instances of animal crackers or goldfish that got nicely mushed by the juice cup that spilled in the bottom. :0)
Dang it… I’m supposed to clean out my purse??? Most interesting find? Well… there is a man sitting in a recliner in my livingroom, snoozing. Glad I found your blog, even if it was because one post went viral :o)
CW- I’ve never commented on your blog before, but I absolutely love it! You’re hilarious and an inspiration. I hope I can keep my sense of humor when I have kids.
That being said, my purse is small. I’m a single woman with no kids, and I don’t need to carry my whole world in my bag. So, I’ll clean my little bag when I start having a hard time finding things I need. The most common odd things I find are foreign coins. I collect them, and every time I find one it goes in my purse where I’ll forget about it until I clean my bag again. Then it’s a happy little surprise to add to my collection! Keep it up CW! You’re amazing!
I don’t really use a purse ever, so I don’t really have the need to clean one out. However, I have found old chocolates in the purse I DO use…that had been there for nearly 3 years. Yeah…ick. I also found a Sams card I hadn’t used since I was 7 years old in my wallet recently.
I don’t clean out my purse as often as I should. I’m usually in a black-like outfit, so I keep the black one going most of the time. When I can’t find something (once every other week), I dump the purse out on my bed. Unfortunately, a hailstorm of crumbs usually accompanies this action. Which, of course, make their way under the bedspread and into the sheets. YUCK!
As for the strangest thing? Two weeks ago, I opened the tote bag I take to work. While I was talking to the office coordinator and digging into my bag, mid-sentence, I pulled out a half-eaten piece of buttered toast. The office coordinator said she will never forget the look on my face. I’m assuming one of my kids stuck it in there, perhaps for safekeeping. It wasn’t moldy, so I can only hope it was from that morning. And no, I did not eat it.
The best forgotten thing Ive ever found in my too large shoulder bag was a small flask of whiskey. Ive refilled it but finding hard to forget it, for a new surprise!
I have a number of different purses, different sizes. So I will change the contents of one purse to the next depending on where I’m going and how much I need to have with me. Or maybe I just want to change to a different purse, just like wearing a different outfit. I would guess this happens every two weeks or so.
I found a really old purse of mine that I forgot I even owned, and was so excited to empty it out. In it I found a Barbie baby inside of a small plastic bag. I remember putting it there because I thought it was the most random thing I could think of to put in my purse.
There is ALWAYS a random weird thing in my purse. It’s a quirk of mine. Sometimes a matchbox car, sometime a weird pez dispenser(the one that no one wanted to buy cause it was so weird), or sometimes no pez dispenser and just the candy. So I could offer someone a pez candy now and then. LOL
<3
CW: if more mothers were like you, this world would be a better place. The unfortunate reason for that “very SMALL minority” is their mothers have yet to teach them love and the acceptance that comes with that love (which you have clearly mastered).
I clean my wallet once every 3 months.
The strangest thing I ever found? I dunno, people who still don’t “believe in” global warming. That’s odd to me, anyway.
CW,
I found your blog through the viral spreading of your post on Boo’s halloween costume. I have to say, I’m very impressed by you, your son, and your ability to write about it. I’m curious as to where this clean of our wallets and purses thing is going so here’s the story of my wallet.
I clean my wallet when it gets so thick it hurts to sit on. I don’t ever take enough out. I carried a Jordanian dinar around for several years after studying abroad there. Currently the oddest and possibly oldest (next to the copy of my birth certificate and immunization record, no I have no idea why I carry these around either) is a photo of my ex-girlfriend and I.
I’m over her. We’re trying to be friends but most days I think its probably not worth it, she doesn’t add anything to my life anymore in terms of growth. She’s moved on, I’ve moved on, yet there is still that photo, from our first vacation together five years ago. And I still can’t bring myself to peel it out of my wallet. It’s strange, it’s silly, and as much as I say I’ve let go of that chapter of my life… I can’t let go of that bookmark and I don’t even know why.
Ha! not nearly enough! I think I could lose my car in my purse! seriously! it’s a mess!
i clean my purse out every month or so. given my habits, i should clean it out every day. it’s a mary poppinish purse and i could pull anything out of there at any time. i’m a just-in-case mom, which means i always want to be prepared. i could serve a square meal out of it and bandage a small army of wounded children. the oddest thing i have had in it - and i just know this because it’s in there now - is a 10-inch ponytail of my daughter’s hair in a ziplock bag that i’ve been meaning to send to locks of love to be made into a wig for children with cancer now for months.
i once found a pacifer, some diaper wipes in a ziploc, and oddly, in-and-out catheter supplies. i don’t have kids. or use a catheter. and it was my purse.
I bealeave you did a great job for letting Boo be who he wanted to be u r a great mother and are doing a great job teaching him to be a strong person and teaching him to defend himself from abc people. Those abc people r the reason y kids are bullys they see the adults behave with such low manner n kids think its ok. To act in such immature ways. Adults can be ignorent especially when they are educated christian believers. Kids can be great kids with a good healthy, respectful, loving, with good moral n values foundation.
Thank you for sharing JESSICA.
This story touched me! I can’t believe that those nasty ladies and the Nasty probing questions of hate made me feel filthy! Sick and tired of these fake Christians afraid of a child dressed up at Halloween! God bless you and your son! I hope the best of life to you both! The sad part of the story is the children of those mothers! Those kids have a parents who hate! Those poor kids!
I just dump my purse out and pick through for what I need. Those items go back, everything else goes in a box in my closet.
As for weird things, I have plenty. Birth control pills, a doily, two lego-style squeezy stress-reliever things, After Bite, nail clippers, a fork, dog treats, an instruction booklet for a barbeque, a dead lighter, three “smoking can kill you” inserts from cigarette packages (no cigarettes), and a half-full bottle of Snapple iced tea. That’s just what’s in there now, on top of all of the normal things, like my wallet, three different sizes of pads, a tampon that might be from the mid-90s, pens, wash cloths, six pounds of gas receipts… Because you just never know, right?
Yay you! I will continue to read and support you and the little guy.
I’ve been a silent reader, but thought I should comment-I think you are an amazing mother for what you have done for Boo in terms of Halloween costumes and support. Don’t let the jellyfish sting you!
And I thought the question was interesting-
I clean my wallet when the stack of receipts gets to be so thick I have problems closing the wallet. I don’t know why I keep them in the first place, maybe because my mother always told me to, to keep my accounts.
Weirdest thing I ever found-years ago, I found a movie ticket stub that had gotten stuck in the lining of the wallet. It was from a date with a guy that I thought had potential, and so saved the ticket stub, but nothing ever came of it. Just weird in a sentimental way?
I clean out my purse when I start getting unidentifiable crud under my nails from digging around in there- probably once every month or two. I clean out my wallet whenever it takes me long enough to find the particular card I’m looking for that I can’t shake the embarrassment within a few minutes- probably more along the lines of every two to three months. The strangest thing I’ve found in there is probably a little lizard or dog statuette that I forgot I had in there… that happens.
Love your writing. This is my first comment.
I clean my purse at least once a month; wallet - once a year.
Strangest thing found: foot to a power ranger
Oldest: funeral cards of my grandfather
Oddest: smatterings of crushed smarties that look like cocaine tinted with kool aid powder
purse… about once a year.
weirdest thing… a tiny, shrivelled, hard, brown mumified satsuma mandarin.
hope you can incubate and nuture you and your fam. Rock on girl!!
i clean out my purse on every bad day that i want to make good. it does not matter if i cleaned it out the day before or the morning of that day. It is my way of controlling my life. My friends think it is weird, but it works for me so i keep doing it.
Hey there. I’m a reader but usually not a commenter. I hope you are doing ok though.
Re: purse/wallet - I clean mine out when I realize that 1) I can’t find anything in it or 2) I realize I am carrying around *way* more than I need to be. The time varies.
Weirdest things I found in my purse and wallet? 2 things: one of my cat’s toys (she must have thought I needed something to play with at work) and a receipt that was so old - I could not even tell what it was for, as the ink/printing had disappeared.
i clean out my purse maybe once a month or so. i sometimes switch purses, which is the main reason ;) my wallet - about once a month as well because i go through receipts and stuff. so i’m kinda lame that way. which is why i don’t really find old/interesting things usually.
I clean out my purse and wallet every two months or until stuff builds to the point where I can no longer STUFF something else in there…
My guilty thing is that I get receipts even when I don’t need them then shove them in my purse.
Wanna talk about going green?? Tell them to stop printing me a receipt at the checkout for strictly food products. LOL
I feel you on the ” processing the last week of my life.. “.
About every month I clean out my “George Costanza-esque ” wallet. I have so many discount cards, coupons, etc that I carry, so reorganizing is always called for.
I also will stuff receipts, fortune cookie fortunes, and keep them tell they can be either filed or put in the fortune jar.
Also because I carry a big wallet, which I do not stick in my pants. I carry a man bag, which has all my work stuff as well in it, along with an Ipod and cell phone. Weekends or evenings I carry a tiny man bag by Tokidoki which is great for looking hip and cool.
I usually clean out my purse when I’ve gotten to the point where I can’t find anything or I can’t find something that I really need. You are a wonderful mom and amazing woman! My best in that the craziness gets left in last week and does not carry forward through the rest of the year.
i clean out my bag when it finally gets on my nerves that i can’t even find something a large as my wallet in there…or when i lose my 5th Kohl’s receipt for something i need to return. i think in my old age, i have gotten more complacent and AMEN! for rewards cards that let you return stuff without those receipts- although now i am not sure that’s a good thing for my cleaning habits! you know how they say you should change your batteries in your smoke alarm when the clocks change- that is going to be my new goal…
and the weirdest thing i have ever found was this mass of very soft cotton at the bottom of my purse…it had been white- but for all the dirt and sunflower seed crumbs, was now a speckled color…it took me a while to figure it out- and if you really must know, it was a panty liner…so mangled & mushed at the bottom of my purse, it was literally a cottony mass. =0S TMI?? you said be honest. =0P
CW - sending you love, light and laughter…. keep flying your flag honey. I tell my kids that all the time…
purse… not as often as i should… and the oddest thing I found in there - a smartie.