I'm Officially a Bag Lady

I thought I’d be older when this happened, so I’m a bit surprised to admit this at my current age. I am a bag lady. In my case, it’s intentional, but I’m still a bag lady.

I find that being hyper-organized is the only way to survive, so during the weekend, I put everything we need for different activities into different bags. In our van recently, we had a bag and boxes of snacks for Girl Scouts, a bag for a church project, a bag for the school Halloween party and a bag of stuff to give to a friend’s younger children.

In the office, I have bags we are filling with outgrown clothes and toys that will soon be donated to a local charity shop. I have a bag filling up with old cell phones that we’ll give to our local parks department. They give them to seniors for emergencies. I have a lovely bag I use just for church Vestry meetings. I have another one I use only when I’m teaching church school. All my stuff goes into the bag so I just have to pick up the bag and go.

Of course, I have bags in all my coat pockets now. We’re trying to be good neighbors and remove Oreo’s deposits as often as possible. Yes, I know it’s required to do it every time, but I’ll admit I slack off when he makes a deposit in an empty lot.

I’m passing this along to the girls—for better or worse. If they are in an activity, they have a bag dedicated to the stuff they need for it. This has saved us on numerous mornings when we realize—as we’re walking out the door — that they have Girl Scouts. We just grab the bag with all their Girl Scout stuff and go. We’re not running around looking for crayons and scissors and books. Everything is already in one place. They are future bag ladies in the making.

I realize I’m not a bag lady in the traditional sense, but given the number of bags I have for different reasons, it’s clear I’m a bag lady now. I think it’s time to embrace my new status. Anyone know where I can get an “I’m a bag lady” t-shirt?

Shari blogs about life with twins and more at Two Times the Fun.