Toilet rolls, knickers among items found in women's bags

It's a mystery as old as time itself - what does a woman really keep in her handbag?

Loo rolls, spare knickers, chocolate and iPods are among the belongings most women carry with them in their hand bags, a new study has found.

Painkillers, sunglasses and nail files are also most likely to be found deep in the recesses of their bags, alongside more predictable items such as money, make-up kit and diaries, the 'Daily Mail' reported.

Researchers found that only 72 per cent of women actually carry money or ATM cards with them.

The study also showed the average cost of a woman's handbag as 96 pounds, and most of them carry 40 items inside their bags, with a combined total of 110 pounds.

Although women between the ages of 18 and 24 spend the least on their handbags (on average just 89 pounds), they do tend to spend more than any other age group on its contents - a combined average of 153 pounds.

Seen as a girl's most private possession, 42 per cent of women say that someone looking in their bag is as intrusive as reading her personal emails or text messages.

The stigma surrounding a woman's handbag means that men report feeling a mixture of afraid, intimidated and nervous about its contents.

And one in five British men have never even considered taking a peek inside one.

However, 82 per cent of people believe a woman's handbag and its contents reveal a lot about her personality.

A famous chocolate brand that carried the study, teamed up with behavioural expert Judi James.

"The fact that a woman views her handbag as a sacred place that should be treated with the utmost privacy, shows how special her hidden treasures within are," James said.

"The things we can't live without say an awful lot about who we are - your choice of which essentials you carry around with you shows what is important to you in your daily life," she said.

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