What's In My Bag? Why, A Mobile Office, Of Course.

I am a stay-at-home mom, want to be author (one book written but still needing polish and another started recently), and a serious, overcommitted volunteer (both at my kids' school and my alma mater).  Though I am currently not working outside the home in any official capacity, I am also a certified teacher, so I substitute teach a lot, and an attorney, so I confer with colleagues and occasionally notarize things.  Plus, my family is trying to live on this one income budget, so I cook and budget like a crazy woman.

To celebrate our seventeenth wedding anniversary, my husband gave me a messenger bag that I have been eyeing forever at Barnes and Noble.  What I like the most about the bag is that it is incredibly sturdy and has a thick, comfy strap that goes across my entire body, so it lands right on the hip.  Also, it's more verticle than horizontal.

Does my husband know me or what?  Screw diamonds and rubies.  Give me bags and planners!  (Next on the list?  A personal size grey Malden.  Or a blue Boston Franklin planner in compact size.  How do I convince him how impressive such a gift would be?)

The bag comes with a front zipper section.

And it has these great little side pockets, which would be perfect for my water bottle and coffee cup.

The flap is secure, but opens and closes easily with the magnetic clasps.

In the large compartment, there are two parts.  

The back part is padded and has a velcro strap to hold stuff in.  The front part is just open.

In the front, open pocket, I can fit my netbook (not pictured), my coupon folder, and my planner.  (My planner goes in my purse if I leave the house without my new bag.  My coupon folder goes with my reusable bags when I go shopping.)

In the back portion (where other, more reasonable people would keep their computers due to the padding), I keep some manilla envelopes and a plastic folder.

The manilla envelopes are for ongoing projects.  For example, I recently had a car wreck.  All car wreck related documents go in this folder.  Once everything is fixed and the case is settled, I will file this envelope in my permanent files or toss (depending on what happens).  In the meantime, I need the stuff out of my files and with me because it is an ongoing project.

Other examples of uses of the manilla envelope system include gathering tax receipts for the year, gathering documents for a particularly big meeting, or organizing handouts for a project.

For things that just need to be filed or done, but aren't a project, I use the plastic folder.

The left side is basically my in box.

On the right, I have things that need filing (which I try do do every other month or so) in "file" binder clips and upcoming tasks (like wedding invitations) in next month's binder clip.  Behind those, I have a general "to do" binder clip for things that I would like to get to someday.

Note that all of these things are ALSO written in my planner.  Otherwise, they would disappear from my mind.

The awesome bag also has a place for pens, binder clips, and paper clips.

I keep my bag right next to the sofa...

...next to my netbook.  That way, I can work at home and anywhere else.

I get that people who work full time jobs use briefcases for this purpose, but since I work at schools or coffee shops or all over my house (including my kitchen table, my island in my kitchen, the living room, and my bedroom), I needed this!

Etcetera.