Spring is here! What does that mean? It’s time for florals, lace, and sandals, pastel colors, light cardigans, and flowy dresses. Spring means more sunshine and less clothes. That’s right. It was fun staying warm in cozy jackets, fluffy scarves, and bulky sweaters, but now that spring is here, we’re ready to soak in some Vitamin D and put those warm clothes away until next fall. One other accessory I would like to put away for the spring is my huge handbag. Sure, it carried a lot for me over the cold, winter months, but looking back, I barely needed 95% of the things I lugged around with me all winter. If you’re like me and aren’t a huge fan of carrying around a handbag regularly, keep reading. I have a list of 10 reasons why carrying a handbag sucks. When I’m done, if I missed anything, feel free to respond in the comments below. I would love to hear your reasons why handbags suck and pockets are life!

1. Only one free hand.

   Carrying a handbag means that of the two arms you have, only one is completely functional. If you’re like me and have somewhat of a larger handbag, then typically you have to carry the handbag on your forearm. Even if you tried to put it on your shoulder, it tends to just slip off and end up right back on your forearm. The solution you might say is, “wear a crossbody.” But a crossbody handbag isn’t exactly the most flattering. I mean, the strap pressing right in between your boobs, not cute. Let’s face it, carrying a handbag forces you to lose 50% of your arms’ full functionality.

2. Shoulder pain.

   You’re carrying that handbag on your forearm or shoulder. Do you ever find yourself switching arms when holding your bag? I do it ALL THE TIME. That’s because carrying a handbag causes so much shoulder pain. But as women, we have taught ourselves to just tolerate the pain and brush it off. There’s no way that regular use and carrying of handbags is good for our shoulders.

3. Handbags collect junk.

   The bigger the handbag, the more junk it tends to collect. I mean, it’s the easiest and quickest place to put something that you don’t want to toss. Or, it is something that needs to be tossed, but there isn’t a trash can near you at the moment, so in the handbag is goes, straight to the bottom, only to be forgotten about because we’re busy doing other more important things. Because I end up collecting so much junk, my handbag gets heavier and heavier making my shoulder pain worse. Just can’t win.

4. Carrying other people’s crap.

   Don’t you just love it when your friends or significant other sees that you have a large handbag and then proceeds to ask you to carry their crap. This happens to me EVERY TIME! When we’re out, my husband is always putting his keys, wallet, and phone in my handbag. I already don’t want to carry my own crap, and now I have to carry his?!! Ugh!

5. Can’t find anything.

   With collecting all that junk and carrying other people’s crap, when I need to find something like my own wallet, keys, or phone…good luck! I can never find anything! My lip balm is never in the pocket I originally put it, my phone never stays in the same place, and my keys are always tucked in a corner all the way to bottom of my handbag. I’m always spending several minutes trying to find what I’m looking for and I’m always getting frustrated when I absolutely can’t find it.

6. Germs. 

   I’m not sure I need to say anything else. Whenever I’m out, especially at restaurants, I am always trying to find the back of my chair or another chair to place my handbag on. I refuse to leave my handbag on the ground. The germs and nasty ground is no place for your handbag. But then I go home and where does that handbag go? On the ground. I have caught myself on many occasions putting my handbag on my bed so that I could find something only to realize that I’m just transferring all those germs from the bottom of my handbag to my bed or my other clean counters in the house. And what does that mean? More cleaning for me! Yay! Not.

7. Easy to lose or forget.

   How many times have you been out and started to leave a place only to realize that you left your handbag behind? I have done it so many times now that I probably have an underlying anxiety issue so I don’t leave it behind. Because our handbags aren’t attached to us, it is so easy for us to forget it somewhere or lose it. And with money, credit cards, license, and other personal information, it’s not really safe for us to be doing that.

8. An extra thing to carry.

   Nowadays women are working just as much as men, if not more. Which means we carry other things with us like laptops and lunch bags. Carrying a handbag is just another bulky item that we carry that isn’t a necessity such as food that keeps us alive and well, and a computer that pays for the food to keep us alive and well, and that expensive handbag that seems to be more of a burden than a cute accessory. A simple solution would be to carry your wallet, keys, and phone in your laptop bag or something, but what happens when you need to run errands and don’t need to carry your laptop bag around? You still need that handbag!

9. Difficult to accessorize.

   I started Pocket Passionista because I love clothes with pockets, but that doesn’t mean I have the best fashion sense. In fact, I’m not great at accessorizing. I’m a minimalist. Hence, the love for pockets. I tend to wear the same pieces of jewelry on a daily basis. When it comes to handbags, I’m not that person that likes to change my handbag to compliment my outfit. I wear the same handbag for days or months until I get bored and decide it’s time for a change. And most of the time, I wear a plain and simple black handbag. Not to mention, the idea of transferring all my items from one handbag to another seems so daunting. Actually, I have attempted this a few times and failed each time, miserably, because I always forget something in the other handbag that I end up needing, but don’t have in the new handbag.

10. Expensive. 

    Cute handbags are expensive. Need I say more? All my handbags cost way more than the amount of money I actually carry around with me. I don’t know why I do this to myself. I spend money on handbags to carry things around, most of which I don’t need, only to get annoyed and frustrated that I have to carry it around in the first place. Expensive handbags are more of a fashion statement and are a way to maintain your status quo. But in my opinion, it’s not worth it. Especially not after mentioning the other 9 reasons why carrying a handbag around sucks.

What’s the moral of this post you ask? This is just more concrete evidence that having pockets in women’s clothing is a far better alternative to handbags. Pockets help us free our hands, reduce shoulder pain, clean our lives from clutter and junk, and help keep important items close to us. Pockets also help keep us from picking up unwanted germs, we’re less likely to lose or forget important items, and we tend not to carry unnecessary junk. Best of all, pockets allow us to find other, more flattering accessories compared to the handbag, not to mention we could potentially save money from buying those expensive handbags. All-in-all, pockets for the win! Please share your thoughts in the comments below on why you think handbags suck.