Top 5 Essential Items for Every Mom's Purse

 When you're a mom, everything in your bag needs to serve some purpose. There is no room for random items. Your bag needs to be curated with ease of use and purposeful placement in mind lest you find yourself frazzled and frustrated and you dig through your bag while trying to comfort a crying child who needs a snack, stat. Here are the top five items that need to be in mommy's bag of tricks at all times.

Snacks
Kids get hungry- all the time. Usually, this happens when standing on a crowded bus or while in a long line at a store. Keep a snack in your bag at all times to avoid the hunger meltdown. Small bags of crackers or dried fruit and nuts are a compact, self-contained treat that could save your sanity at a moment's notice. And don't forget the juice box either. Thirst usually follows closely after hunger and having a healthy juice box on hand will eliminate the possibility of having to buy a can of soda or other too-sugary beverage on the go.

Tissues
Hands get sticky, and noses run, tears fall. Having tissues or wet naps will be a suit saver when you pick the kids up on your way home from work. Not to mention when you feel overwhelmed by your kids and your day, and that tear is about to slide down your own eye, those tissues can be used for you too.

Band-Aids
Skinned knees and stubbed toes always feel better with a Band-Aid on top. Keep a few around in case your little one takes a fall on the playground.

Crayons and a small pad
When kids get fussy, and you need them to self-entertain for a while, pull out a small box of crayons and a kid-sized coloring pad. Children love to create and draw, and this trick will usually keep them entertained for twenty or thirty minutes.

Advil or other headache-busting pill
Headache medicine can be mom's lifesaver. When you've forgotten the snacks, and the last tissue's been used, if there are no crayons and you gave your last Band-Aid to the other mom in the park, pop an aspirin and feel your headache dissolve just long enough to get the kids home, fed and into bed.

Now for the big question- how do you carry everything around without looking like a bag lady or if you're a working mom who can't cart around a baby-specific bag day-to-day? The bag you used to cart around these all-important items can be any shape or size as long as it provides easy access for you at any given time.