The other night on a break from work, I went to a campus restaurant with some people that I work with.
“Hey Jen, grab that chair from the table behind you, will you?” my friend asked me.
“For what?”
“My purse.”
I raised an eyebrow at her. “Your purse needs an entire seat to itself?”
“Well it’s bad luck to put it on the floor.”
I had never heard this in my life, but I pulled the chair over where her purse sat comfortably for the duration of the meal. And upon researching it later, it appears to be a valid superstition.
According to Professional Feng Shui Consultant Katherine Ashby:
“It’s bad Feng Shui to put your purse on the floor […] But besides that, there’s an old Chinese proverb that states “a purse on the floor is money out the door.” Your money, checkbook and credit cards are usually in your purse and putting them on the floor shows disrespect for the order of things and disregard for your wealth and money. You wouldn’t think of putting your bag of gold on the floor, would you?”
After a quick search, I found that it is also apparently a superstition in places such as Mexico, Brazil, and Bulgaria, among others. I don’t think we need to get all mystical because I’m betting (despite not having concrete historical evidence) that this simply stems from the fact that a purse is a whole lot easier to swipe if it’s resting on the floor than in your lap or on the table in front of you.
And if you disregard all of that, maybe consider that University of Arizona microbiologist Kelly Reynolds, says women’s purses routinely harbor millions of bacteria. A study conducted in 2008 found bacteria such as the cold and flu viruses, E.coli, salmonella, and even MRSA.
This picture alone made me think that avoiding putting my purse down was a good idea:
Maybe it’s time to dig out that purse hook that a friend gave me for my 21st birthday again.
I mean, it’s cute anyway. And besides… you can’t go wrong with Brighton, right?
