After buying numerous purses and bags that have lots of handy compartments for all sorts of things, I finally realized I much prefer a bag/purse that is mostly open. I like finding perfect "compartments" for my "stuff" and having it easy to move from one bag to the next.

A variation on that theme is a method supposedly recommended by Oprah who picked up the idea from Hillary Clinton -- they both have small mesh pouches in various colors. One for cosmetics. One for cards (credit, etc.). One for folded bills and one for change. Etc. Thus they don't have much if anything loose in their purse, can easily spot what they need at a glance, and can quickly move everything from one purse to the next.

That's essentially what I've been doing with my various bags for some time now, without the benefit of color-coordination. I just find it easier to keep up with things, find things, move things around that way.

When I had bags with various pockets and zipper pouches and such, I was always forgetting to put something in the right place, maybe tossing it in loose, or forgetting where things were. I went through involved processes trying to see how everything fit best, which often had nothing to do with ease of use. (If my moleskine fits perfectly in this pocket here -- but this pocket here is more difficult to get to in a hurry, I'm either going to stick the moleskine somewhere else when I'm in a hurry, or not use it at all, defeating the purpose of having a capture device.

So give that a little thought. Are you looking for something with various compartments and pouches or something open that you can fill to meet your own preferences?

(And have I totally confused you?)