Three Ways To Reduce Your Risk Of A Purse Snatching

Before the term prepper was coined as common place, women have always prepared and carried an EDC (everyday carry) bag known as a purse or handbag.

As women we have many things to take care of and we want to make sure we always have what we need on us, when we need it. Many of us have kids, husbands, as well as the need to just take care of ourselves. We may need a tissue, headache medication, personal hygiene products. We may need crayons, snacks for the kids. We need a place to carry necessities such as our wallet, keys, cell phone as well as a place to take what the kids or husband no longer want to carry around.

As convenient as a purse may be, it is also a security risk. This last week a 75 year old women coming out of the grocery store was knocked down and knocked unconscious when an adult young man grabbed her purse.

Bad guys don’t usually pick on the strong, they look for easy targets like the elderly, mom’s focused on the kids, or women who are distracted with other things like talking on the phone. Many women, young and old, are walking around with their purse on their shoulder or hanging on to the straps in their hand, easy targets for a quick snatch. I have also seen purses just sitting open in shopping carts, rip for the picking.

Now ladies, first and foremost, there is nothing in your purse that is worth your life or worth you or your loved ones getting hurt over. If you carry a purse and someone tries to snatch it, let them have it. They are already willing to take a risk by grabbing it which means they are in some way desperate. We have all seen videos of women getting dragged trying to hang on to their purse, they end up getting hurt and in the end, lose the purse anyway.

Several years ago I stopped carrying a purse. I felt that it just made me an easier target and I do all I can to not be an easy target.

So here are three suggestions to avoid being a target for a purse snatcher:

1. Stop carrying a purse all together. Now to be fair, I don’t have young kids, so it was a little easier for me to cut the straps so to speak.  However, most of you can carry all you need to carry in your pockets.  Personally,  I have found I don’t need to carry too much. I have down sized in everything I carry and still always have a form of self-defense on me, identification, money, keys, small flashlight, small amount of medication if needed, lip gloss and phone. For the most part, I am not out and about or away from my car or home for long periods of time so why carry a bunch of unnecessary stuff all the time? Plus, I have found that my back and shoulder doesn’t hurt or ache anymore from carrying a huge bag around.
2. If you have to carry a purse or bag, put the important stuff in your pockets so if someone does grab your purse, they only get the crayons, tissues, diapers, tampons and some other non-valuables. That way if the unfortunate does happen and some bad guy does grab your purse they get nothing and you don’t have to cancel credit cards and get a new driver’s license because you will have that stuff in a pocket, plus, your instinct to hang on to your purse is reduced because you know there is nothing valuable in it and that will reduce your risk of getting hurt.
3. Carry a small butt type bag around your waist in front of you, possibly under your shirt. Don’t put it behind you on your back side. That way you will still have some type of bag, but you are not as easy a target as having it just hanging off your shoulder. Remember, bad guys look for easy marks and crimes of opportunity. They are lazy and don’t want to have to increase the risk more than necessary.

These are just a few suggestions; I would love to hear your ideas and solutions for replacing your purse and reducing your risk of a purse snatching.