Thursday, March 31, 2011

TILT--my new bag (a review)

Today I'm reviewing my new diaper bag. I bought it with my own money, this is just to share What I Love and hopefully it's helpful to others looking for a new bag. All opinions are my own.
About a year ago, I started looking for a new everyday bag. At the time, T was about a year old and I'd been carrying a backpack since she was born (easier when lugging the infant carrier) and I was ready to graduate. I went looking for a messenger style bag, it needed a long strap and bottle pockets on the sides. We're in Phoenix and I constantly carry water for me and the kids. My initial search (online and in stores) found nothing but I found a free diaper bag in my closet I'd gotten from a formula company while pregnant. It was ugly but fit the bill. This is what I've been carrying for the last year:


A bad picture but you can see it is big and plain (and you can see the bottle of water peaking out of the side pocket). I follow a few daily deal sites on facebook and would check them out whenever they had bags. The other day, I scored on babysteals.com. I got this JP Lizzy strawberry Clara bag ($68 on Amazon, not an affiliate link) for $20 plus $7 shipping. What sold me (besides the awesome price)? Interior bottle pockets! Here's a picture of my bag--notice the water bottle on one side and (harder to see) a thermos on the other?: So I get to carry my water and not look quite so frumpy. Here's me in my lounge clothes modeling the bag. It still isn't small, but it's definitely an improvement!
I love my new bag!!! It feels much smaller and certainly it's much prettier. I feel a lot more put-together carrying it (and I love that my water bottles are hidden, such a nice touch!).

I was worried that it might be too small for all my stuff. Typically, I'm like that Midol commercial where the woman dumps the contents of her purse out on the restaurant table and says "I'm a pharmacy." Yes, I pride myself on having saved many a period-stricken friend with my supply of feminine hygiene products and pain relievers. Meanwhile, being a mom added first aid stuff, an umbrella etc. Anyway, turns out this bag can only {barely} fit my necessities (those bottles take up a lot of space!). In the center are my wallet, phone, and bottle of Imodium. In one interior pocket I have my planner and a pencil. In the other pocket, I have one diaper, some diaper wipes, Wet Ones, toilet paper (I use a lot of public restrooms--gotta be prepared!), and fruit snacks. Anything else, I leave in my car so first aid, umbrella and extra supplies are never far away.


My only complaints.... I don't love the strap. The two lengths of the straps separate as well as twist. Annoying. I'm planning to solve this with some sort of cute strap cover, probably from etsy and in a cute pattern to jazz it up. We'll see. The strap also adjusts too easily, like it doesn't stay put at the length I choose. Also annoying and probably not solved by a cover.


In addition, the "magnetic closure" on the flap, isn't very magnetic. I can feel that there are magnets under the fabric, but otherwise I wouldn't know they were there--the flap just falls, it doesn't "stick" to the bag. A minor problem, gravity works okay, but I would've liked the extra security of magnetism to keep the flap in line. Again, not a big deal.


There you have it, my wonderful new everyday bag, helping me look a little less frumpy. For more Things that are Loved, head to the Diaper Diaries.

No comments: