Wanted: The Perfect Handbag

Listen up, fancy handbag designers!

I have searched high and low and have yet to find the perfect handbag. When I do go shopping for a handbag, I have certain criteria I’m looking for, and I talk to other women to see what they are looking for, and the vast majority of those my age range (40 and over) are all looking for the same things. If I was rich enough to do so, I would create my own line of handbags. But I’m not … so I’m giving some freebie advice to all handbag designers who’ve got the financial backing … Trust me – a lot of women will buy a purse like this if you will just design it! Here are the requirements.

1. It must pass the drop test. When my handbag is full of goodies and I drop it onto the ground, it must stay upright and not tip over and spill out all of the contents.

2. It must have at least two, preferably three, distinct sections inside and at least one of the sections must be zippered. These bucket bags are nothing but a disaster waiting to happen because you can’t find anything when you need it without digging for hours or dumping everything out. They also need to be sturdy so my MP3 player, sunglasses, palm pilot don’t get smushed by other things in my bag.

3. The inside sections need to be big enough to comfortably hold a full size wallet, not just a coin purse. So use a wallet or dayplanner when thinking about the size of these areas.

4. The material used to divide the sections must be sturdy enough that when something is taken out of one section, everything else in the other section doesn’t cave in and make it difficult to get whatever you took out back in. I get so mad when I take out my wallet to pay for something and then go to put it back in my purse only to find that everything is smushed into the middle where the other contents caved in when I removed my wallet.

5. There must be at least one small zippered pocket inside the sectioned areas, and at least one small open pocket. These pockets are needed to house the various lip glosses, gum, breath mints, loose coins, etc that women tend to carry around.

6. There must be at least one outside pocket to hold a cell phone, preferably on the end of the bag, and preferably a cell phone sized pocket on both ends of the bag. I need two cell areas because my husband or kids usually want me to carry their phone in my purse when we go somewhere. So I would love to have more than one space designated for a cell phone.

7. The carrying handles should be adjustable in length, and comfortable enough to not dig into your shoulder, hand, or crook of your arm when carrying the handbag for a long period of time.

8. There must be a least one outside pocket on the front of the handbag and at least one outside pocket on the back of the handbag. These pockets are used for the items we need to keep handy and at our fingertips, like car keys, pens, eyeliner, lipstick, gum, kleenex. I carry my main stash of gum and mints in the little inside compartments, but also need to have some at the tip of my fingers in an easy to get to area for those bad breath emergencies.

9. The material or design on the outside of the purse isn’t really that important, at least not to me. I’m not into having to carry the latest “bling” designer handbag.

I just want something functional that meets all of my needs. I’ve tried briefcases but they are just too big. I feel a bit like Goldilocks … the majority of handbags are either too small or too big … I can’t seem to find one that is just right!

10. Oh, and it would have to be reasonably priced. So … if anyone out there in cyberworld decides to take the challenge and makes a purse / handbag using these specs, please get in touch with me when you are finished because I want to buy a whole slew of them!