In a similar vein, I keep four things and exactly four things in my pockets: keys, ID, wallet, and cellphone. If I have all four, I’m good to go. Knowing the number (four) makes it easy to ensure that I have all of them with me because I can just reach into my pockets and count.

Also, I never run out of room because I can always add more loose leaf, and if I forget my binder one day, I can borrow loose leaf and slip it in where it belongs in the binder.

And I used to use a messenger bag throughout my 4 years of college, until my right shoulder was aching by the end of the day. I just bought a simple bookbag, and it’s already saved my shoulders and back. It may not open as much as my messenger bag did, but the comfort of the weight evenly distributed on my shoulders is well worth it!

Associate the colour of the case with the item and it will be easier to find and put the items back. Plus the cases can be a reflection of your personality, if you like.

I also purchased a laptop backpack, and when not carting my laptop, I use the back compartment for books. It keeps them separate from the wallet/keys/phone/lunch mass in the front, and keeps them flat and not wrinkled.

I have also wanted to try the Purseket, to see if it would go from backpack to purse easily. I think it likely would, although instead of buying one, I’d sew my own.

I care my lunch separately.

I have also used Mountain Equipment Coop knapsacks since I was first a student many years ago. They have good pockets and internal secret pockets for documents, and mine (I just bought my second one) have gone around the world with me.

In either case, back in the paper days, I used folders with pockets in the covers and clips in the middle. Much lighter and more portable than binders, and more flexible than a spiral notebook. The first thing that would go in was the syllabus, 3-hole punched. Any loose handouts from class went into pockets until I got home and punched them.

To take notes, I used 8.5×11 pads of paper that were pre-punched, which I found much more comfortable to use than a spiral notebook.

Now that I’ve gone electronic, my system is a lot like Drew’s above. I have two small zippered pouches in my Timbuk2 as well: one contains an analog survival kit with aspirin, earplugs, bandages, tissue, hand sanitizer, safety pins, etc. The other contains the digital survival tools: cell phone headset and spare battery, mini flashlight, spare flash drive, and my leatherman micra.

infmom, Tom Bihn makes excellent backpacks. I bought his Smart Alec, and now that my needs have changed, I’m planning to buy the forthcoming smaller Synapse. His bags are sturdy and don’t seem to wear out.

And it’s falling apart. For the second time. He already had a luggage-repair place put the zippers back once. The backpack feels like he carries an anvil in it. Most of what’s in there is paper–contact lists, instruction manuals, schematics and so forth–that he feels he has to have always available “just in case.”

The first time the zippers came out, I suggested that he take all that stuff to the office copier (since it is all work related stuff) and just make multiple copies. One to stay at work, one to stay at home, and one for each remote site he travels to. He already has the contact lists in his Blackberry, so why he carries the paper ones around all the time I don’t know.

Needless to say, he hasn’t done any of that. Today when he said he’d need to take the backpack to the luggage-repair place again, I told him “Not till you get it cleaned out, first.”

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obi.....tterer-20/

Takes care of the issue of papers falling out of traditional folders. It’s also thick enough that you can throw in loose items that aren’t papers per se. Like a notebook, Moleskine, etc.

My best advice is: DON’T have a separate place for everything! It may SEEM like a good idea to have chapstick pocket and an iPod pocket and a pen pocket, but you know they’ll all end up in a jumbled mess at the bottom of your bag anyway (if you’re anything like me, at least!).

Buy a clear or mesh, medium-sized zippy pouch for all your knicknacks and make it your “catch-all” for stuff that would normally land in the depths of your backpack – from chapstick to pens to earrings. Store it in a convenient spot (e.g. on top of your books). Voila, now you have a bag that’s easy to stash things in, that you’ll have to look in often (so nothing will be forgotten), and that’s easy to search through (because it’s removable and see-through).

You might want a separate bag for electronic cables, since those tend to get tangled and easily ruined.