Stop Checking Your Bag Obsessively

So there you are, just walking along, seemingly without a care in the world, when the urge strikes. You try to fight it for a while, ignoring that strange desire pulling at your nerves, until at last, after a futile struggle, your hand reaches down and inside your bag, where you dig for a few minutes to make sure that everything is still there. Once you’re satisfied, you close your bag and go on your way once more.

Until the urge hits you again several minutes later. You think, “Did I really check everything? Were my keys in the pocket? Do I still have my money in my wallet? What about all my cards? I don’t think I saw my phone in there earlier. Let me just check again...” And then you proceed to open your bag again and sift through the contents to check if everything is intact.

Then maybe a half-hour later—well, you know the rest, if this sounds like you and constant bag rummaging is a habit of yours.

There are many reasons why you feel the need to do an inventory of your bag’s contents several times throughout the day—or even as you walk from one block to the next. First of all, and this is understandable, you can’t be too careful. It might turn out that someone had given you the slip and taken out something from your bag without your knowledge, so you have to be absolutely certain that you’re not missing anything.

Then you might also have gone through a pretty hectic moment, like maybe the lines were just too long at the grocery store or the coffee shop, and you hurriedly took out your wallet to pay for your purchases. Maybe in the middle of it all, you dropped something from your bag. Of course, it might also occur to you that maybe you’d forgotten something, whether you left something at home, in the restaurant, or at a store.

Whichever situation applies, it all boils down to one thing: You’re afraid that you lost something, period. But what stresses you out is that you’re never really sure that everything is safe and sound, and that you might have just been caught unaware at some point, that’s why you don’t know if your things are complete, thus prompting you to routinely check your bag.

Having more confidence that your belongings are intact is really up to you. But there are some things you need to do to hopefully help you cut down on your bag checking.

1.       Be organized. Before you leave the house, carefully inspect your bag, noting in your mind where you put your wallet, your organizer, your phone, and other important items. Make it a habit to stash them in the same spot every time you go out, so a cursory glance will show you right away where everything is. Then once you’re done, close your bag right away.

2.       Buy a secure bag. We mean something with a zippered closure. There are purses that use a magnetic closure, but don’t really entirely cover the opening, and others have no buttons at all.

3.       Don’t get a bag with too many pockets. Pockets make for great storage, but this just leaves you with a lot of room to put things in. You’ll end up stopping and checking each one to make sure there isn’t a wayward item in each of them.

4.       Get a smaller bag. If your bag is too roomy, there will be too much space for your things to move around in, and you’ll end up getting worried if you rummage around for something and not be able to find it easily.

5.       Keep your cool and don’t get frazzled. Even if you’re in a rush to pay in a crowded diner, make it a point to really stop, carefully get the money you need, and then place your wallet in the spot from where you took it. Don’t just yank things out when you need them. Then you might stop wondering if something fell out when you took out your wallet or your phone at the pharmacy earlier.

6.       Always carry your bag securely. If you know that it was always kept close to you, then you’ll remember that there’s no way someone could have gotten into it, and thus, there’s no way that anything could have gotten lost.

...then be careful about it. Don’t keep stopping abruptly in your path to give your bag a once-over. You might catch the attention of bag snatchers who would be wondering if you’re carrying anything valuable.

Or considering checking only at certain times. You might  do so before you leave the house, when you get to work, before you leave the restaurant, and when you’re about to go home. These situations at least give you some reason to look inside your bag. But otherwise, you should remember that it’s an unnecessary chore. It’s really not easy to give this habit up, especially if you’ve had it for years. But take it slow and take it step by step.