Purses, bags and personal items that get dirtied in public

[siren_0_0]

To those with contamination fears... how do you keep your purses clean or what do you do when you think it got dirty?

When I'm close to something dirty out in public, first I start wondering if I touched it with any part of my body or not. Like when I'm on the bus and I almost sat down on a seat that had some brown/dark stains on it (eeew), I started wondering if I touched the seat with any part of my body, even tho I know that most likely I didn't, since I'm so careful and I seem to be the only one who notices the smallest stains on the bus. But I think things like, "I'm holding my purse in my hand, which was hovering above the dirty seat when I was checking the seat and maybe it touched the seat or that it got too close to it. When I can't reason myself out of that state and if I think that my purse did get too close to it, I have to throw my purse away. That's one reason I never buy any expensive purses cus when they get dirty or if I'm not sure if they got dirty or not, I have to throw them away.
So I try to buy purses that's made with cloth so I can put it in the washing machine once they get dirty. One time I had this new Ralph Lauren duffle bag and I sat down next to a seat that had brown stuff on it, it wasn't a big stain, you couldnt see until you get up close to it. I was tired from carrying that large bag so I sat down and I was like how can i be so stupid and miss that dirty seat right next to me??
I started freaking out, thinking, "oh great, f**k f**k f**k!! what the hell am i gonna do with this bag now??" Because I was like it probably touched the seat since it was too close to it. And I couldnt use the bag again.
Can anyone else relate?

 

[Lucy2008]

YES!!!

All I can tell you is - brown stains can be anything - sometimes people drop coffee, food - anything - it does not have to be what you think. I know how you think and I know that feeling. I don't buy cloth purse, I buy PVC and wipe them down with clorox wipes, only I forget and don't remember.

I feel for you.

 

[siren_0_0]

Thanks for the reply. It always helps when you have someone to relate to. Is PVC easy to keep clean? As for me, I still can't reason myself out of thinking that washing with hot soapy water is the only way to get something completely clean. But it's also because I don't trust myself and I think i might have missed a spot if I have to wipe it with a clorox or alcohol wipe.

I really need to work on this OCD fear... Honestly, I'm kinda depressed about it right now because I bought a nice purse just last week and I'm going to be returning it this week. It wasn't brown stains that bothered me this time. I got over the brown stain fear, mainly because I didn't sit down on the bus lately. lol.

I feel that i have to return my purse because this one girl was wiping her hand on her butt area of the jeans when she was walking past me and her hand almost touched my purse after she was done rubbing her butt. This didn't bother me until her back was towards me and I could see that her butt area was wet. >_< It started bothering me a lot. Eww why did she do that anyway? It's not like it helps her dry her pants if she feels it and rubs it really hard. Go get a paper towel or something, girl. Anyway I can't throw my purse away this time tho because I'm working on becoming a spendthrift. I've been saving money this week for the first time in literally forever! and it actually feels pretty good but it's soo hard when OCD dictates because I have this urge to just do my routine which is of course throw away "all dirty things"!!!!! lol. >_<