What's In My Bag - MINIMALIST EDC Essentials

Do you want to know what’s in my handbag? I try to have a minimalist approach to my everyday carry essentials so for anyone who loves EDC, minimalism and handbags – or purses – keep reading!

I’ve identified 41 items that I carry in my handbag in different scenarios. I try to keep the items I carry to a minimum and select small, lightweight versions of everything. I’m not claiming to be a minimalist, but I suffer from shoulder and neck pain so the lighter my bag the better. And to help those outside Australia, here we tend to call all women’s fashion type bags “handbags”, rather than shoulder bags, clutches, etc. And they are never called “purses”. A purse is something you keep your coins in!

The items I carry

My car key

Like most car keys these days it’s big and chunky. I know that some car keys can be programmed onto a smart phone so the sooner Audi do that in Australia the better, then I can leave this at home!

Driver licence

Whether I’m driving or not this is my primary form of identification, so I always have this on me.

Trolley key

I use this to unlock supermarket trolleys, so I don’t have to carry a coin. I never carry cash, and I got caught so many times before I got this.

Breath mints

This one is up for review. I really don’t need them very often, but this is a tiny, slim holder – I think Michael got it from an animal welfare conference in New Zealand about 15 years ago!

Canadian travel charm

Maybe I’m superstitious but a friend gave me this good luck charm for travellers many years ago and I’ve carried it ever since.

Costco card

Costco cards can’t go in my iPhone wallet, so I’m stuck with this one. I could keep it in the glovebox of the car since I only ever go there in the car so this might get eliminated!

Emergency $20 note

I don’t use cash in Australia at all. This became part of my carry about 10 years ago when I let my car run out of petrol. NRMA – roadside assistance – brought me a can of petrol but I needed $20 cash to pay for it! I had to borrow from the business I’d stopped outside of, luckily, they were nice enough to lend it, even though they didn’t know me. It was a plumbing business, and we’ve used them for our plumbing issues ever since. And yes, I did repay them!

Fold up shopping bag

To avoid excessive consumption of disposable bags.

Glasses screwdriver

To tighten those tiny little screws when the arms of my glasses start flapping around.

House key

Just the one. I don’t feel the need to carry every key I possess. I always wonder why people have to carry big bunches of keys, like an olden day’s prison warden.

Safe key

More of a money tin really – we just keep left over international currency in there between trips. Nothing major, it’s more so we know where it is than for security! I keep the key with me for security though, rather than need.

Hand cream

This tiny container is perfect – I like things as flat as possible. I refill it with a fairly thick cream – a runny one might leak.

Lip balm

No explanation necessary!

Anker magsafe power bank

For phone low power emergencies – that time I ran out of petrol I’d also forgotten to charge my phone, and I didn’t have a charger in the car. Another thing the nice plumbing business lent me was a charger!

Rolling Square InCharge X xmall charging cable

I can use it to charge anything USB C, Micro USB or lightning if there is a USB A or C outlet to plug into. The MagSafe power bank can give my iPad a tiny charge using this cable, if I’m really desperate!

Nasal decongestant

I tend to get a stuffy nose quite a lot.

Pen

Always good to have. I have a LAMY Safari pen I bought in Japan, but it’s a bit big and chunky. I love it but I’m thinking of getting a small pen like a Fisher Space Pen or something made for EDC. The pens above are NOT to scale!

Hand sanitiser

Even before Covid I usually had it but now it’s more important than ever.

Shout wipe

If you’ve seen my video on packing for a six-week trip you’ll know I tend to be a bit of a messy eater.

Small mirror

This is the tiniest mirror I’ve ever found. I got it, well we got two of them, at an animal welfare conference in Washington DC in 2011. It was a gimmick – “looking into this will show you who can save these animals” kind of thing. But I’ve carried one ever since for makeup touch ups – it’s all I need and so tiny!

Small scrunchie

When it’s hot and sticky and I’m out and about my hair annoys me so when I’m about to go completely mad I get this out and pull my hair back. It looks awful but sometimes that just doesn’t matter!

Small tin of medications

Just a few painkillers, antihistamines and antacid tablets. I wrap the scrunchie around this, so they’re always together. The tin is from some souvenir breath mints I bought at George Washington’s home, Mount Vernon.

Smart AirCard

I bought these from a Kickstarter, they work the same as Air Tags, but they’re flat so easier to carry in small pouches and bags.

Sunglasses

But not very often since I can’t drive in them or read my phone in them. And only when its sunny of course! I keep them in this soft pouch, which doubles as a lens cloth.

SwissCard NailCare

From the makers of Swiss Army knives and with similar functions. This one doesn’t have a blade, but it does have scissors that airport security in Australia don’t like so I have to remember to remove them when I’m flying. It also has a nail file, a magnifier, tweezers, four screwdrivers, a ruler, a toothpick, a pen and a pin.

Tissues

Just a small pack. Not this whole thing, just one of the individual packs.

Torch

This tiny one is powerful, has different brightnesses and even a UV light – I do NOT recommend you use the UV light in a hotel room, or you may never want to leave home again!

My American Express cards

AMEX earns the most frequent flyer or membership rewards points, so this is our primary card for spending. We have two versions currently, the Platinum and the Qantas Ultimate cards. We’ll give up the Platinum just before it renews because the benefits don’t match the annual fee.

MasterCard

Outside of the USA a lot of places don’t accept American Express, so this is our back up card. It also earns frequent flyer points. I review my cards every couple of years to make sure I’ve got the best one for our spend patterns.

Another MasterCard

It’s a belt and braces kind of thing but this is a backup to our back up credit card. The limit on our other MasterCard is a bit low and sometimes I can’t use it when I need it. This card has no annual fee and doesn’t accrue points so it’s only for use in desperate times!

My Qantas Frequent Flyer card

I don’t need it for my frequent flyer membership but it’s also a cash card that allows me to transfer funds to other currencies and withdraw them overseas. If you’ve seen my six-week trip packing video, you’ll know I forgot to take it on that trip!

Coin purse

For travelling to the USA or Japan, which are the only places so far I’ve needed to use cash. When we go to Egypt next year, I suspect I’ll need it too.

Handheld fan

A sometimes item, depending on the weather.

Hero Clip

This can be used as a carabiner to attach things to my bag, but the real reason I have it is to hang my bag up on restaurant tables or in public toilets where they don’t have hooks – looking at you Norwegian Prima – I had to use this to hang my bag on the handle of the toilet cubicle!

Metropolitan Museum membership card

Only when visiting New York City. It’s a perpetual card so when I’m in New York and renew my membership I need it. I don’t renew the membership if I’m not going to be in New York.

Nitecore NB10000 power bank

When I bought it – actually I bought three – this was the most compact 10000 milliamp hour power bank. I think it still is but there may be an updated model.

Opal card

This is used on the Sydney public transit system, so I only need it when travelling to Sydney.

Passports

These are only needed when travelling internationally but I also take them on closed loop Australian cruises.

Tenegui

Or Japanese towel – in Japan the public toilets don’t usually have any way to dry your hands, so it’s customary in Japan to carry a tenegui. I find it useful to have on hand when travelling, to clean up mess, wrap up leftovers or things like that.

Umbrella

Weather dependent of course!

A $65 voucher for a local plant nursery

It’s probably expired – I think it dates from 2021!

My bags

Now for the bags! Forget about minimalism here!

Once upon a time… it was BIG totes!

I used to favour the large, tote-style, Michael Kors shoulder bags. I got rid of them all a couple of years ago, except for one that I really loved. That was back in the days when I carried a massive, but beautiful, Tiffany wallet. And I used to wonder why I always had a sore neck and shoulders!

I went to this Fossil doctor’s bag –it seemed so small at the time but looking at it now, it’s huge!

When I put all my cards on my phone I stopped using the Tiffany wallet. Nowadays my credit cards are all in my Apple Wallet, and my loyalty cards are in this great app called StoCard on my iPhone. Update – StoCard were bought by Klarna so now my cards are in the Klarna app on my phone.

Then I sized down…

Once I stopped using the massive wallet I could really size down in bags. I started with this beautiful Tiffany bag Michael gave me. It was the first bag I owned with a wide “guitar strap” style strap and it was so much more comfortable to carry then the ones with narrow straps.

These two Fossil bags are great but if I overload them the narrow straps cut into my neck and shoulders. They’re good for, say, a quick day trip to Sydney because I can fit a little more in there, like my iPad.

Mimco

Mostly I use a handbag from Mimco, which is an Australian designer. They aren’t too expensive, and I really like them. I have the Jett in citrus yellow, and red; the Jett concertina in black, the Jett mini in Dahlia, a gift from a friend and my tiniest non-evening bag; and two camera style bags, one in pale pink and one in bright pink.

Other bags

I have a few other camera style bags, this Gucci Disco bag knock off, this black JAG one – I don’t really like black bags anymore so it might be goodbye time for this one – this MARCS one, which is just a bit too small because it’s divided into two internally – I’ve been thinking of cutting out the fabric divider. And this Ted Baker one, I love this colour!

Then last but not least, the Mia Tui Isobel, a brand that Emma Cruises recommends. I have it in smokey blue. It’s amazing what this bag can hold for the size. It just grows and grows!

Quick trip to the shops

When I take a quick run to the shops, or to drop Michael off somewhere – he doesn’t drive – or to my Pilates or powerlifting classes I use one of these small pouches to carry the bare minimum.

This pink one’s the best because it fits my driver’s licence – until the Australian Capital Territory allows licences in phone wallets, I have to carry this when driving, so annoying!

I also put a Smart AirCard, and my car key and the trolley key into the pouch. And that’s it, plus of course my phone.

Longer trip around town

I live in Canberra, which is a city that does not have great public transport, and is really spread out, with lots of bush land in between town centres. That means I’m always driving so I don’t need a lot of things that people who walk or use public transport carry.

When I go out for longer in Canberra, say to a day at the office or to meet someone for brunch, I carry one of my handbags, usually one of these Mimco bags.

I attach my popping out to the shops pouch to the strap of the bag, so that’s my car key, drivers’ licence, trolley key and Smart AirCard accounted for – some bags even have a special loop to attach it!

I carry a keyring with a house key, our safe key, a glasses screwdriver and the Rolling Square InCharge X keyring cable. The decoration on the key ring is big and heavy, but this is a sentimental item, I just love that beautiful silver cat so I’m keeping it around for now.

If I have other keys, they’re carried separately. If I have a work key, it goes on the lanyard with my security pass, which I only take if I’m going into the office. My post office box key is kept in the car since I always drive to the post office. We only have one car but if we had two, I wouldn’t carry the key to the car I wasn’t driving, but most people I know do. Weird!

I have a small red wallet that I use to carry my Costco card, emergency $20 note, and the plant nursery gift voucher. It occurs to me that I could probably stop carrying this wallet and put those things elsewhere…

I keep everyday carry essentials in a small mesh zip pouch I bought from Amazon. It holds my lip balm, hand cream, my pen, another Smart AirCard, a torch, the SwissCard NailCare, a Shout wipe and my Canadian good luck charm for travellers. It also has breath mints, fold up shopping bag, MagSafe power bank, nasal decongestant, small tin of medications, scrunchie and tissues.

Everything else goes directly in my handbag: fold up shopping bag, hand sanitiser, mirror, and if necessary sunglasses and lipstick.

You may be wondering about some of the things I don’t carry in this scenario – I don’t carry physical credit cards in Australia, and I have an umbrella and a bottle of water in my car. Because I always have my car it’s a bit of a handbag extension sometimes. I also have reusable grocery bags in there.I don’t have anything else in my car though. I don’t understand why some people travel around with everything but the kitchen sink in their cars!

Domestic travel

When we travel domestically, we almost always fly, even shortish distances like Sydney. Michael doesn’t drive and I really dislike highway driving.

Most of what I carry for domestic travel is the same as around town. But I do remove some things and add in others!

I remove the plant nursery voucher, the Costco card, the emergency $20 – I associate that with my car, so I don’t feel I need it away from home – and my car key and trolley key.

And I add in the Nitecore power bank, and the umbrella and the handheld fan, if I think I’ll need them, and the Opal card if I’m going to Sydney. I usually change over to a handbag with a bit more organisation, since I’ll be accessing things more during our expeditions. My three favourites for travel are the Mimco bright pink bag, the Mimco Jett concertina and the Mia Tui bag. They all have card slots and additional pockets to keep things sorted.

International travel

For international travel I use one of the same three handbags I just mentioned, although I did find the Jett concertina a bit tight on our last overseas trip, so I may need to look at using something slightly bigger in future.

When I carry our passports, I use a pink passport wallet and I also carry my physical credit cards and driver’s licence. I’ve found some places still need a physical card, particularly some hotels and a lot of places in Japan.

If I’m going to the USA or Japan I add my coin purse. I usually add my tenegui, and I may carry an umbrella depending on the weather. If we’re going to New York I take my Metropolitan Museum membership card.

I don’t take my keyring – I attach an individual house key to the key leash in whatever personal item I’m taking on the plane.

Future changes?

When I write things down and read them back to myself, it always occurs to me that I can change them up in some way. I’ve thought of a few ideas to streamline things a bit more so I’m going to play around with those – you might see another blog post on this subject soon!

If you’ve enjoyed this, you may like to read about what I carry for long haul flights, or what I pack for a cruise!