You become a pack animal if you’re going to be out of your house for any length of time exceeding three hours. This problem is compounded if you are trying to save money or exercise, because it increases the amount of stuff you’re schlepping by orders of magnitude. Today I am working only one of my jobs (well two, if you count the fact that I can do some of my PA stuff from my laptop at Job 1) and I brought with me three bags. Between my backpack, my tote bag full of gym stuff/my lunch and breakfast, and my purse, I took up two seats on the train. This is why I leave earlier than I need to–so I can have a seat and not worry about the delicate Tetris situation of getting all my stuff wrangled onto my lap/onto the floor (but resting on my shoes, so that it doesn’t actually touch the disgusting grimy floor of the subway car.) If you’re trying to save money by either making your own coffee or, in my case, getting it from the cafe where you work for free, one of your hands will be occupied with a reusable cup of some size and bulk. This prevents the easy reading of a physical book, so you need to make sure you have something loaded onto your phone for entertainment purposes or else you’ll be left alone with Your Own Thoughts.

Whenever I see people on the train without a big bag I think: do you have so much disposable income that you can buy yourself lunch out every day? Do you work at one of those magical unicorn tech establishments where they feed you for free in exchange for your fourteen hours of labor? Are you one of those Truly Better Than Me people who can work out at home before leaving for work? (I can never manage to get up early enough to swing a morning workout.)

Anyway, all of this is just to say that I walk around New York feeling like this lady :