The Essentials

I am an over-packer. For a 3 day camping trip I will bring at least 5 or 6 shirts, just in case.. This might explain my purse.
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The culprit- don't be fooled, there is more to this purse than meets the eye

My purse is the size of a small duffel bag and is filled to the brim with stuff I need "just in case." It has sometimes been referred to as the "Mary Poppins" or "Harry Potter" bag- as the contents seem almost never ending.
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This would account for the "weight problem." You see, after hauling around my incredibly heavy tote for several years, my back is really starting to feel the effects. This is where you come in. I have decided- in the interest of my health- to cut back and only carry "the essentials."
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Problem is: I don't know what "the essentials" are. To me, it includes everything in my purse and more. So, I have decided to list all of the contents of my purse and ask for your help in differentiating "the essentials" from "everything else."
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Please take a minute to read over the contents and let me know which ones to keep and which ones to keep somewhere else, "just in case"...
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Here goes:

• Sunglasses
• An incredibly stuffed purple wallet, mostly full of receipts and business cards
• A bag of almonds 
• Keys
• A Valentine's note from my sister
• My cell phone
• A letter from work
• Purell hand sanitizing wipes
• A Redbox movie that needs to be returned
• 3 partially full packs of gum
• 5 empty grocery bags
• 3 Protein bars
• A ziploc bag full of vitamin C
• A few Post-it notes with directions and reminders
• Some ads/coupons
• Scrunchies
• Lots of bobby-pins
• Face powder
• My work badge
• A stick-on mustache
• Some band-aids
• A smashed Twix bar
• A recyclable grocery bag
• USANA vitamin paks
• A biodegradable lens wipe
• An almost-empty bottle of Vanilla Bean Noel lotion
• A ticket stub from "The Help"
• A Little Caesar's coupon for free breadsticks w/ pizza purchase
• A small bottle of Dark Kiss lotion
• A bottle of Zicam
• An empty Forever 21 giftcard
• A camera I borrowed from a friend (which reminds me, I need to return it)
• A ziploc bag of Advil
• Some Wint-O-green mints
• A fake pearl bracelet
• Some journal entries I wrote on a piece of paper to tape into my journal later..
• My Planner
• A few used tissues
• 2 spoons
• A ticket stub from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers"
• A program from the Vintage Hollywood Gala I went to last week
• An Ingrid Michaelson concert ticket stub
• A little purple brush
• My Smith's reward card, so I can save 84 cents when I buy groceries
• A letter from my Visiting Teacher
• Stretch Island fruit strips (yumm)
• A Fall Institute schedule
• A small bag of pecans
• A USANA Convention map/schedule
• 2 tubes of C.O. Bigelow Spearamint Lip Gloss-- seriously can't live w/o it
• A bundle of old receipts
• A parking validation ticket
• Eleven 2 cent stamps
• A bag of crushed berry Tums
• 3 empty Ziploc bags
• A lens from my broken sunglasses
• A baggage claim ticket from my trip to Texas
• 40 cents in change (mostly pennies)
• A hands-free phone headset
• A finger light
• At least 8 fortunes from fortune cookies
• 3 library cards
• A ticket stub from Harry Potter 7 Part II !!
• A bobby pin with a fancy button on it
• A reporter's notebook



                          The Goal            prweb.com

• 9 pens

So, which items would you consider "essential" and which items should I remove to lighten my load??
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Leave me a comment and let me know!