The Heavy Handbag: My Essentials

My handbag is too heavy.  No matter how I edit the contents, it's never enough to sufficiently reduce the weight.  You'd think that since the phone can double as a camera, an ipod and a laptop, I'd be home free.

According to Real Simple , your purse should weigh no more than 10% of your body weight!  That seems like a lot to me.  Alyssa Shaffer at Prevention magazine, advises holding your bag on your shoulder rather than the crook of your arm.  If you can, wear the strap across your chest like a messenger bag to allow trunk muscles to carry more load, that's even better.  Doctor's recommend dividing the load and balancing it between a handbag and a tote.  Common sense to be sure.  But my purse is still too heavy.

Here's the bare minimum of what resides in my purse, in addition to my iphone that I used to take this photo.  Sometimes a folding umbrella. I'm on a perpetual quest for the lightest most compact umbrella I can find?  What's hiding inside your handbag?

[<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/missnita/2246602555/">Ani-Bee</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>]