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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The first question set the tone for the exercise.</p><p>&#8220;Do you have a battery in there?&#8221; Bridget Giunta Husted of Wilkes University asked as she watched her friend, Gina Malsky of Downtown Arts, empty the contents of her purse onto a Times Leader conference room table recently.</p><p>All eyes turned to Malsky and her purse, and then the fun &#8212; and curiosity &#8212; began.</p><p>Nine women who work in Wilkes-Barre agreed to visit the Times Leader for a surprise activity, which became the &#8220;Empty Your Purse&#8221; exercise.</p><p>The reason? A break from the daily grind to see what women actually carry in their purses and, more importantly, why.</p><p>As expected, there were several commonalities, and there were unusual items as well, such as Malsky&#8217;s 9-volt battery. Most women had mints, gum, keys, a cellphone, cough drops, medicine, wallets and make-up.</p><p>Only one had a battery.</p><p>Malsky&#8217;s was the first unusual item that caught the attention of the other participants. She said the battery was for her bathroom scale, but the battery was dead and she needed to replace it ASAP.</p><p>As sincere as Malsky&#8217;s story sounded, the other women made sure to tease her about the deceased 9-volt in her purse.</p><p>And then Cathy Alaimo of Circles on the Square, the first woman to dare to empty her purse, saved the best item for last &#8212; &#8220;Wash Away Your Sins&#8221; towelettes.</p><p>&#8220;Where did you get that?&#8221; she was asked.</p><p>Kathy McLaughlin Coslett, of Mericle real estate, then asked Alaimo for a pack of the towels.</p><p>For more than an hour on a recent Friday morning, the nine women revealed the contents of their purses &#8212; there were some feminine products, of course &#8212; and they laughed continuously as they learned what the others found necessary to have at their disposal on any given day.</p><p>The most impressive item was the badge carried by Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis. Every woman at the table wanted to hold the badge, and some wondered aloud what they could do if they had their own.</p><p>In addition to Husted, Malsky, Alaimo, Coslett and Salavantis, participants were businesswomen Barbara DiGiovanni, Anne Rodella, Janet Hall and Jill Andes.</p><p>What else was uncovered in their handbags? Here we go, keeping in mind that an estimated 90 percent or more of American women carry a purse on a daily basis &#8230;</p><p><strong>&#8226; Cathy Alaimo, Circles on the Square delicatessen and emporium:</strong> In addition to the towelettes, Alaimo had a CD by Elton John and Leon Russell, a Mohegan Sun Casino card, a flashlight, five lottery tickets, sunglasses, ink pens, eye drops, an address book, hand cream, a wallet and a checkbook. &#8220;To be honest, I didn&#8217;t even bring the good stuff I usually carry with me,&#8221; she said without elaborating.</p><p><strong>&#8226; Jill Andes, Times Leader Media Group:</strong> Coupons and gift cards galore dropped out, along with a make-up bag, a vaporizer to help her quit smoking, EpiPens for her nut allergy, hand sanitizer, mints, Tylenol, an empty hand-lotion bottle &#8220;that I could throw away,&#8221; four work files, tissues and a power pack. As Jill said, &#8220;Nothing exciting.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8226; Kathy McLaughlin Coslett, Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services:</strong> She had several promotional items, including flash drives, from her employer, along with business cards and dental floss &#8212; &#8220;You always need a good smile.&#8221; There also was candy &#8212; &#8220;Not much today because I ate it all&#8221; &#8212; a make-up bag, a wallet with plenty of coupons, keys, wintergreen mints, wrinkle cream, a flashlight, glasses, cellphone charger, pepper spray and the recently added &#8220;Wash Away Your Sins&#8221; towelettes from Alaimo. Coslett also carries a keepsake &#8212; a necklace worn by her late father &#8212; &#8220;to keep him close every day.&#8221;</p><p><strong>&#8226; Bridget Giunta Husted, Wilkes University:</strong> Priority items included her cellphone, wallet and keys; then she showed hair clips, a pin she had worn the day before, pens, gum, a checkbook, an expired Boscov&#8217;s coupon, a pouch for all her valid coupons, a nail clipper, Tylenol, dental floss, tissues, cellphone charger, note pad, hand cream, lipstick, lip gloss, vitamins, Altoids.</p><p><strong>&#8226; Anne Rodella, F.M. Kirby Center:</strong> Anne doesn&#8217;t carry a purse &#8212; she totes a backpack instead. Inside it, she had an umbrella, several books, a calendar with a to-do list, a phone charger, an iPad, a wrist wrap, a foldable grocery bag &#8212; &#8220;You never know when you might need to pick up some groceries,&#8221; she said. Also, ChapStick, lip gloss, nail polish (several shades), mints and a card file holder.</p><p><strong>&#8226; Stefanie Salavantis, Luzerne County District Attorney:</strong> After the badge was shown, the excitement waned. She said she had &#8220;just changed purses&#8221; a week ago, downsizing considerably. Inside the smaller version she had &#8220;a lot of lipstick because I&#8217;m on television so often,&#8221; a wallet, hair-ties, keys, perfume, a Tide stick to remove stains, pens, gum, business cards, cellphone and charger. When everyone made it clear they would like their own badge, Salavantis said, &#8220;Well, it comes with a lot of chaos.&#8221; She also carried a set of rosary beads given to her when she first ran for DA. &#8220;Someone gave them to me to watch over me,&#8221; she said.</p><p><strong>&#8226; Barbara DiGiovanni, Wilkes-Barre General Hospital:</strong> &#8220;This is so unorganized,&#8221; she said. &#8220;My house is more organized.&#8221; Barbara carries two wallets &#8212; one with a lot of coupons and the other with even more coupons; a day planner with all of her mother&#8217;s appointments, lipstick, a comb, &#8220;I think these are the keys to my mom&#8217;s house,&#8221; a Tootsie Pop, &#8220;a lot of junk,&#8221; cough drops, Imodium, candy, glasses, Tic-Tacs, a gift card, her husband&#8217;s Lowe&#8217;s card (&#8220;He doesn&#8217;t know I have that&#8221;), and pictures, including a special photo of her late dog, Becky.</p><p><strong>&#8226; Janet Hall, Luzerne County Convention and Visitors Bureau:</strong> Battling a bad cold, Hall had a purse that contained a pharmacy of remedies &#8212; cold tablets, Mucinex, cough drops and more; a spa certificate she can&#8217;t wait to use, an expired coupon to Bed Bath &amp; Beyond, glasses for reading, and when they don&#8217;t do the job, a magnifying glass (&#8220;I can&#8217;t see, I can&#8217;t hear, and I can&#8217;t talk&#8221;). Also, lipstick, mascara, two mirrors, rewards cards, a nutrient bar, a plastic bag, nail file, &#8220;a hair thingy,&#8221; one nickel, and a photo of her first grandchild.</p><p><strong>&#8226; Gina Malsky, Downtown Arts:</strong> Besides the battery, inside her purse were a few items she said were &#8220;stolen&#8221; from her hotel room in Hawaii, a Vicks inhaler, tissues from Victoria&#8217;s Secret, dark chocolate, Band-Aids, stamps, her reliable flip phone &#8212; &#8220;I just got a new one&#8221; because a car ran over her old flip phone. In addition there were family photos, a cellphone bill she claimed was more than her mortgage, a hair brush and hair ties. Malsky also carries rosary beads given to her by one of the children she worked with every day.</p><p><strong>&#8226; </strong>The women offered several comments on why they carry what they carry in their purses.</p><p>&#8220;You just never know what you might need,&#8221; DiGiovanni said. &#8220;You have to be prepared.&#8221;</p><p>The women said a day rarely goes by when someone says, &#8220;I need this or that.&#8221; Husted said it happens all the time.</p><p>&#8220;I really can&#8217;t see the bottom of mine,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Hall said her friends call her purse &#8220;the big black hole.&#8221;</p><p>And the women own plenty of purses &#8212; from 10 to close to 100, ranging in price from a little to hundreds of dollars.</p><p>&#8220;I change purses all the time,&#8221; Salavantis said.</p><p>DiGiovanni noted that men don&#8217;t carry purses &#8212; they have a wallet instead.</p><p>&#8220;When they need something, they ask us,&#8221; she said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Kathy McLaughlin Coslett, director of community affairs at Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services in Wilkes-Barre, empties her purse at the Times Leader on a recent Friday morning. The break-the-routine activity revealed interesting contents in the purses of nine area women. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112716Purses1-5.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kathy McLaughlin Coslett, director of community affairs at Mericle Commercial Real Estate Services in Wilkes-Barre, empties her purse at the Times Leader on a recent Friday morning. The break-the-routine activity revealed interesting contents in the purses of nine area women. </caption0><photoCredit0>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112716Purses2-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Nine women who work in Wilkes-Barre sit around the table in the Times Leader&#8217;s main conference room after they emptied their purses during a surprise, stress-free activity on a recent Friday. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112716Purses2-5.jpg</photo1><caption1>Nine women who work in Wilkes-Barre sit around the table in the Times Leader&#8217;s main conference room after they emptied their purses during a surprise, stress-free activity on a recent Friday. </caption1><photoCredit1>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112716Purses3-5.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">From left, Bridget Giunta Husted, director of alumni relations at Wilkes University, Anne Rodella, director of sales and marketing at the F.M. Kirby Center, and Stefanie Salavantis, Luzerne County District Attorney, smile after they emptied their purses on a recent Friday afternoon. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_TTL112716Purses3-5.jpg</photo2><caption2>From left, Bridget Giunta Husted, director of alumni relations at Wilkes University, Anne Rodella, director of sales and marketing at the F.M. Kirby Center, and Stefanie Salavantis, Luzerne County District Attorney, smile after they emptied their purses on a recent Friday afternoon. </caption2><photoCredit2>Sean McKeag | Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Bill O&#8217;Boyle</p><p>boboyle@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>PURSE FUN FACTS </strong></p><p>&#8226; The most expensive handbag ever created was in 2008 by a Japanese designer. The clutch was made of platinum and more than 2,000 diamonds, costing more than $2 million.</p><p>&#8226; The first documented use of purses came from 14th-century hieroglyphics.</p><p>&#8226; The word &#8220;handbags&#8221; was first used in the early 1900s to describe men&#8217;s briefcases.</p><p>&#8226; Hermes introduced the first handbag with a zipper in 1923.</p><p>&#8226; Gucci began using its cane handles in the 1940s, during World War II, because of the leather shortage.</p><p>&#8226; The average woman owns six handbags.</p><p>&#8226; The average women&#8217;s purse weighs 5.2 pounds.</p><p>&#8226; 22 percent of women said if they could splurge on only one designed item, it would be a purse. Only 9 percent said they would choose shoes.</p><p><strong>Source: ebags.com</strong></p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Bill O&#8217;Boyle at 570-991-6118 or on Twitter @TLBillOBoyle.</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;"> qnen_viM7aU</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;"> YOUTUBE</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnen_viM7aU&amp;feature=youtu.be</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;">&lt;iframe width=&#8221;560&#8221; height=&#8221;315&#8221; src=&#8221;https://www.youtube.com/embed/qnen_viM7aU&#8221; frameborder=&#8221;0&#8221; allowfullscreen&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt; </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;"> Empty Your Purses</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;"> Sean McKeag</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

So, women of Wilkes-Barre, what’s in that purse?