What secrets do you have stashed in your handbag?
Our handbags are quite sacred, they house some precious pieces – items we think valuable enough to be carried around all day at least, and in fact the average woman carries around an average of £284 worth of belongings, according to new research.
For a small group of women however the figure is much higher, with just over 7% carrying around bags filled with over £700 worth of possessions.
Mulberry bags are a dream item for many women; in fact they came out on top for the one they would most like to ask in the survey, conducted by Diamond.
Louis Vuitton and Prada followed on the list, but a top label is not the dream of all women, 35% said they are not interested in owning a designer handbag at all.
According to the survey, the average woman owns eight handbags, although 3% of women admitted they own more than 100 bags.
The average spend on a handbag is £39, only one in twenty spend an average of more than £200 per bag.
Diamond managing director, Dave Halliday, said: “As a man, the world of handbags is a bit of a mystery to me, so it’s interesting to find out the handbag habits of British women.
“Our research shows the average woman has £284 worth of belongings in her handbag. It’s remarkable how much some women carry round with them every day, it goes to show how useful a handbag is. I don’t think I could manage to carry nearly £300 worth of stuff in my pockets!”
Perhaps surprisingly most women aren’t that concerned about others having a look in their handbag, only a quarter said they were private about the contents of their bag. Despite so few being private about their handbag only 39% said their partner goes into their bag.
So what do people keep in their handbags? Unsurprisingly the top ten items include what you’d expect with a purse, mobile phone and pens at the top of the list. The average amount of money women have in their purse just £21. However the women Diamond asked admitted to having some less obvious things in their bags, these included:
- A locket of hair from a dead cat
- A voodoo doll
- Crampons
- A flask of brandy
- A piece of coal
- Potatoes
- A set of darts
Some women have clear views on the handbags others carry, with a quarter admitting they judge other women by their handbag. And it’s worse news for ‘metrosexual’ men, with more than three quarters of women saying they find men who carry a man bag a turn off.
Dave Halliday, said: “Considering the views of the women we surveyed, I don’t think I’ll be buying a man bag just yet, no matter how useful they might be. ”