To take my handbag to bed?

[hellcarryingahandbag]

Hi all,
I have always put everything I will need or want in my handbag, and taken it to bed, or the room I’m going to sit in. I am not in good health, so I like to have everything with me. The thing is that I put things in my bag that I want to put in a different room, or that I want to have handy, I don’t go out with the cordless landline in my handbag or anything . My grandmother has always done the same thing, and my mother thinks it’s lunacy. I am never without my handbag, as I feel better knowing everything I need is easily accessible. Are my grandmother and I right or is my mother?

Very sensible to do that.

I have done in the past, and will again (did for a bit when the cats needed twice daily medication, as I kept it in my bag and gave them the night dose when I went to bed with it for instance), don't right now as there's nothing I particularly need in it.

I think it's perfectly sensible to keep the stuff that's so vital to your day to day life by where you are.

I always take my bag to bed. Always have.

@hellcarryingahandbag

I take mine to bed because it has my bank cards and my car keys in it. I know someone who had her car keys stolen from her hall and car was then taken. She rang the police because she heard her own car being reversed off the drive. Luckily the police chased the car thieves but her car was a write off because it crashed while being driven at a high speed. Most thieves are after cars so I always keep my keys near me at all times.

I have a heavy lamp beside my bed and if an intruder came into my room, they would fall foul of the lamp...

Hmm baseball bat or a lump of 4x2 in my hand. I'd fancy my chances against someone trying to swing a "heavy" lamp at me, if I was a burglar.

@PhilCornwall1

I keep a police truncheon under my bed.

They're ridiculous and unprepared?

No, it's because we don't need all the kinds of things you carry in a handbag. If I need to go out, I grab keys, phone and wallet. Nothing more needed.

If I travel for work (often), my laptop rucksack is my "office" (as long as I have that, I can work anywhere) and I have a small case for clothing, if staying overnight.

I keep a police truncheon under my bed.

I've normally got my wife next to me, she's scary when pissed off!

@PhilCornwall1

My husband sleeps in the other room because of snoring etc so I got one off ebay for protection.

It seems sensible to me, especially with health/mobility issues, you know where stuff is and have it easily to hand and organised. Some folk are saying they keep the things you listed in a bedside table so those things are also easily to hand, you just happen to have a portable version. And it if makes you feel secure, there's no harm done. Er, you don't actually sleep with it though, I presume? Would be all stiff and lumpy under the covers.. :)

Also, when I take my handbag upstairs with me at night, I know where it is the next morning, so I don't have to look for it, and it's to hand if I need to put anything in it before going out.

I get that not everyone does this, but is there really any need to refer to people who do as crazy, weird and bonkers? Just because someone does something differently from how you do it, that doesn't mean they're weird or crazy.

I haven't owned a handbag for years < cowers in shame >

but I have my bumbag with me always
Sometimes it sneaks in bed with me, as it has my phone

@BigChocFrenzy

So really no difference then.

@BigChocFrenzy

I did not know you could still get them .... I think they are horrible! sorry

I do this, but with a rucksack rather than a handbag.

It has in a supply of my different medications, purse, phone, tablet, chargers, earphones, tissues, 2L water, pens, diary.

I then add in snacks, hand cream, TENS machine etc as needed.

I have chronic pain and mobility issues and live in a house, so it stemmed from the need to "pack" a daybag for a day spent upstairs (same level as bathroom).

@MrsPlesWearsAFez

I used to use one of those for camping ... do you find it a bit big?

About 26 years ago my handbag was stolen when we were burgled. I left it in the hall. Never. Ever. Again. It took literally months to resolve. You have no idea how much it all adds up to until it happens. In those days I lost an address book too - irreplaceable.

This.

The car keys are in the hall, if people want to steal a car which is a high value item, they are probably likely to be more daring so might come into bedrooms looking for keys, so I leave the keys downstairs. My handbag has debit and credit card, glasses, work keys, cards and id, travel passes, mobile phone and sometimes driving licence/passport etc. I really don't want to lose all that. It is stuff that is of limited use to thief so they are unlikely to come looking for it( if the spare car keys are in the hall ) but a nightmare for me to lose.

I also have a small 'fake' purse with an old credit card in and some other out of date store cards. I leave that on the stand under the car keys as well.

Obviously losing the car would be a pain but the insurance would take care of that and it would be one thing to replace, not my whole life as contained in the other stuff in my bag. So yes I take my handbag up to bed but leave the spare car keys hanging in the hallway

The only time I have done anything similar is when I was backpacking when I was much younger and would put my passport, cash, any important documents in my bag under my pillow as I was sharing a room with 12 strangers.

What I found life changing was not using a handbag at all. No more worrying about trying to find a nice bag, no more worrying about losing it or having it nicked whilst I'm out, no more dead weight slung over your arm or shoulder. Most of all, no more DH asking if I can just squeeze a random thing into my bag...

Buying clothes with good pockets has been helpful - men's jeans have deeper and wider pockets so I buy them. Jackets with zip up pockets so I don't worry about dropping anything.

So much easier and quicker going out now - I just grab my keys, phone and a purse which is just large enough to hold my driving license, credit and debit cards and some cash. It felt very strange the first few times and I was convinced I'd need something I didn't have. But I found out that I don't need to carry round paracetamol and plasters and a hairbrush and a brolly in case it rains and some makeup and so on.

My mum always kept her handbag by the front door, while issuing severe warnings and threats to any of us children who left the front door open, or opened it to strangers.

(Perhaps she and other mums who did likewise are the reason the MN consensus is never to open the front door to anyone who gives less than three months' notice! )

I fear that if you left car keys in the hall and the car was stolen, that the insurance company might be awkward about paying out because you’d made it easy for the thief

I do the same, my bag contains medication, tissues, make up, notebook, pens, phone - I have it near me at all times.

I find this strange, I take my phone and a glass of water to bed with me and that's it. I don't want to be carrying huge amounts of unnecessary stuff with me when I go out and wouldn't have time to keep putting things in and out when I'm at home.

I have a ‘stuff’ bag. It’s quite bulky because it contains my iPad, iPhone, headphones, Switch, charging leads and other bits. I use it to move my things from room to room and it comes to bed with me because I use my iphone/iPad in bed.
My ‘stuff’ bag doesn’t leave the house, it’s just used to move my things around. I have other ‘outdoor’ bags that I occasionally use and I don’t use a purse.

A small makeup bag for touch-ups (this is always there)
Earphones
A crossword book and pen
Tissues
Phone charger
Reusable shopper (because if I take it out, I forget to put it back in when I need it)
Sweets
A nail file
Sunglasses
My purse
A mini sewing kit (in case I tear a hole in my clothes)
An inhaler

I quite understand if you need meds or an inhaler but apart from that, it's bonkers!

I take nothing up to bed with me. Why do you need a mini sewing kit by the side of your bed at night?! Do you wake up and mend a hole in your nightie?!

Sunglasses? Well... I suppose if aliens come and their spaceship is a bit bright in the window, you could pop them on...
Do you suffer from insomnia and wake and do a crossword?!

I take a pint of water up with me to bed and that is it. Handbag is downstairs and out of sight. I cannot be arsed with trailing a handbag round with me everywhere I go!