Would you step on the scales while holding your handbag? Didn’t think so.

BlackBerry? Check. Spare heels/flats? Check. Make-up, purse, notebook, digital camera, tissues, green tea and lemongrass breath mints, paperwork du jour, hand cream, new Cutler & Gross sunglasses (oooooh!), bottled water, nattily designed Chanel Coco Mademoiselle purse spray, tax receipts, diary because you’re still learning the BlackBerry, at least one magazine or newspaper, passport, portion of almonds/dates/celery sticks or some other acceptable snack…

Well, you get the picture. Even if you keep an immaculate handbag with the bare minimum (that’s the list above for a non-mother btw, Tiny Teddies, juice box, Lego and a pair of pull-ups only weigh you down further), you’re probably still toting more than you’d usually lift at the gym. And that’s if you take the time to jettison the business cards, catalogues, email print-outs, bills and invitations that seem to breed daily.

Seriously, it’s nuts. Yet I couldn’t stifle my giggles when a friend recently thought her new 4WD was playing up because the alarm that sounds when someone hasn’t buckled up went off every time she dropped her handbag on a seat. Surely not. It’s a Mulberry Elgin after all (that’s the bag not the car in case you’re a bloke who has accidentally stumbled across this blog because it includes the term 4WD – sorry, blame Google). Which makes overstuffing this luxe leather sack a crime of fashion.

But there it was. Overflowing with the essentials/detritus of a very full life. A life defined by a demanding career, two gorgeous children with various interests and activities to attend, an equally busy husband and everything that goes along with a stylish working mother’s lot, right there, suspended from her doubtless aching shoulder.

“What? My bag weighs as much as a person,” she laughed. “Even my car is trying to tell me I’ve got to clean it out.”

Remember when we would complain bags were too small to hold everything we need. Now it’s worse, they’re just big enough.

So, what are you lugging around in your bag?

Image Credits: Mulberrry Elgin Bag, Blackberry Pearl, Cutler and Gross Sunglasses, Nikon Camera, Jimmy Choo Heels.