If you could read the title of this post in a kind of cave man/Neanderthal stereotypical type voice then that would be super (and make me laugh.)

I guess this is a kind of two-in-one feature – a “What’s in my bag” (on a day to day basis) plus my quest for a decent baby changing bag. Regarding the latter, I didn’t really like anything. There were a couple of designs that were quite nice ( I must have perused the offerings of John Lewis on at least fifteen different occasions in the months before Mabel’s due date) but who wants to lug around something on a daily basis that was quite nice?

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A few of my best girls have Pacapods and they work really well for them, for me personally they just seemed to be a fairly normal um… bag, but with a few extra smaller zip-up storage compartments inside. I completely appreciate the compartmentalising aspect, I just wasn’t sure I wanted to pay a premium for it. And as I mentioned before I didn’t fall head over heels for any of the shapes, colours or prints that were available at that time anyway. Please do feel free to correct me if I’m missing something glaringly obvious here.

I ended up finding a brown satchel in Zara Man, it wasn’t too “wide” and had a separate pocket on the front, two zippy sections inside and a fold-over part that you could also store stuff in. It was less than forty quid and has worked really well for longer “day” trips. Plus I send it off with Mabel’s grandparents on a Monday as it houses everything she needs whilst I’m working.

As you may know I’ve been toying with the idea of a fancy keep-for-ever designer investment for years, it will likely be a bag as most of you know how much I love womens bags… Yet have never taken the plunge. All of you lovely folk made lots of helpful suggestions so I was encouraged to re-consider my options – quite a few of you suggested Micheal Kors might be worth a butchers so whilst investigating The Selfridges sales in Birmingham I may have had a wee peek. Interestingly (or not, are you detecting a theme here?) it was a subtle yet sexy “flight bag” for men that took my fancy. And guess what? it was reduced from £215 to £95. I may have done a little dance of glee when I read the price label.

Much like my masculine Zara find, the Kors option had all sorts of perfect pockets and zippy sections. Plus the strap was adjustable for cross body wear which for running around London to meetings and jumping on and off tubes is a much easier option than anything hand held or one-shouldered. I can store my iPad, my phone, note book, glasses, make-up bag, hand cream, spare grips and credit cards comfortably. I can also fit a book and/or mini magazine for the train journey AND a pair of flats to change into should I envisage sore feet after pounding the pavements for a day in heels.

As I was clutching my find in the Selfridges queue waiting to pay I wondered if there might be scope for my purchase to work for baby changing also – not necessarily full on “day trips” but certainly the majority of outings we seem to partake in. And here’s the thing – thinking about it, we tend to “pop” out for a couple of hours, no more than 3 I’d say, be it to the shops or the park or tea and cake with friends…. And there we were lugging around enough stuff for more than twice that length of time. Yes we have a very small person, yes we always take a “spare” “just in case” but as well as this big holder of bumpf I was carrying another handbag to house all my garb as well.

Can you see where I’m going with this?

My Michael Kors bag is AWESOME. It works for just about everything – meetings and Mabel. The first image you see is missing a spare change of outfit which also fits in, and there are always two nappies and two muslins, just for clarity.

I do appreciate that my bag is similar to some of the “messenger” styles around but I looked at these and they were a little on the small side. Plus the Mulberry one (although lush) was super spendy and simply didn’t have as many clever separate pocket bits.

Rather than listing every conceivable item I lug around I’ve put together a little box of space saving tips to the right of this feature. Please do leave your experience/advice on changing bag packing and let me know what brand and design you’ve chosen (we love links – please do add them to your comments so we can see!)

Have you ever considered a “man” bag? Obviously James thinks my choice is great – there were some on offer that perhaps he wouldn’t have felt so confident carrying around…

Please feel free to ask any questions as I’m sure I’ve probably left out a few details, I’m working from my Mum’s today as we’re having new radiators fitted (hooray!) which means it will be bloody freezing AND noisy in the O’Shea abode. I’ll do my best to get back to you as soon as I can though.

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{Top Packing Tips}
  • I love this travel changing mat, it really does roll up small and you can keep nappies and wipes in the netted compartments.
  • A large purse is just a pain in the arse to try and fit in these days (plus I used to carry around so many receipts and stuff I hardly ever used), this card holder from & Other Stories is chic and compact, comes in the softest leather and houses my 4 most used cards plus a bank note (or two!) and small change.
  • Most baby products come in neat smaller sizes – You can buy 30g tubes of Bepanthen ointment from Boots for example (I use this size in my bag usually, but it was at my parents when we shot this so the bigger version had to do!)
  • Bottle wise I use the velcro tabbed Tommee Tippee insulated carriers, I simply attach them to the straps of my bag or Mabel’s buggy.
  • Carex Moisture plus anti-bacterial hand gel comes in a teeny bottle and is the only version I’ve tried that doesn’t aggravate my eczema.
  • When you first purchase your bag have a play around with all the bits and pieces you will need to see where everything fits best, you’ll soon get it down to a fine art. Promise.

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