# What do you keep in your pockets?



## Estel (Feb 2, 2013)

(I'm not sure what subforum this belongs in; it's not about what to wear, but it is about what you do with your clothes.)

I've been wondering for a while how people use the different pockets of their attire. It's one of those rare questions where Google is actually not much use. What do you hold in different sorts of pockets?

I tend to find pockets indispensable, and hold a lot of things in them - wallet in my back pants pocket, pretty much everything else in my front pants pockets. IPod Touch, keys, little light, pens, mini measuring tape (for thrift store visits)... I'm sure I overstuff my pockets, but it's just so *handy* to have things right at hand. Currently my small travel bible lives in the inside pocket of my winter coat, because I discovered that it fits, and that way it's handy when I want to use it on the bus.

Are shirt pockets good for anything? If you wear a jacket, what do you keep in your jacket pockets? Etc.


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## AJW (Nov 29, 2012)

I keep a wallet in my back pocket and a phone in my right front pocket. Sometimes I keep a pen in my shirt pocket. That's about it.


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## GenteelCountryman (Mar 2, 2013)

Wallet usually finds a home in rear left pocket unless I am wearing a suit. Then, my wallet is in my suit coat, inside pocket. Car key (single key...not big bulk) in suit coat pocket. No pocket on dress shirts. Pen in briefcase; sometimes in inside suit coat pocket. I NEVER leave the house with change. Change collected during the day goes into vehicle ash tray or coin jar on dresser.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Here's the list:

Inside jacket pocket - one credit card wallet (as empty as it can possibly be, to eliminate bulge)

Jacket breast pocket - pocket square

Outside right jacket pocket - handkerchief 

Keeping anything at all in the trousers pockets should be a criminal offence.


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## Snow Hill Pond (Aug 10, 2011)

I like to keep as little as possible in my pockets.

*Normal Routine:* I keep some cash in my trouser pockets for daily expenses. When I arrive in the office, my ID badge, credit card wallet (3 cards max: drivers license, ATM card, credit card), and keys go on my desk. I use my briefcase to carry my cell phone and hip wallet (containing various other credit cards, receipts, cash, membership cards, business cards, etc.).

*Weekends/Going out: *A credit card wallet, some cash, and keys are about it. Cell phone stays home!


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

Wallet, keys, pocket comb, folding money secured with clip, small amount of change and occasionally a cell phone; all distributed/pocketed as seems most logical, based on what I happen to be wearing at the time. I also frequently have a small notepad (shirt pocket sized) and pen in my possession.


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## Mike Petrik (Jul 5, 2005)

Shaver said:


> Here's the list:
> 
> Inside jacket pocket - one credit card wallet (as empty as it can possibly be, to eliminate bulge)
> 
> ...


Being from Chicago's south side, it should not be surprising that I'm a felon. I keep my phone in my inside jacket pocket and a pocket square in the breast pocket, but my trouser pockets get used. My wallet goes in my front right pocket (yes, unusual, but a habit from my south side roots -- can you guess why?). My back right pocket contains a comb and a handkerchief for use and my back left pocket an extra handkerchief for damsels in distress. I have long considered migrating from a wallet designed for trousers to one designed for a jacket pocket. I'm encumbered by only one concern, and that is I refuse to even consider more than one wallet and while I usually don a jacket, I don't always. Perhaps I should consider a wallet suitable for a jacket or trousers, and would welcome advice. Unfortunately, it must accommodate two security cards, several credit cards, drivers license and several miscellaneous cards. My schedule will not allow me to pick and choose which cards I need each time I leave the house -- far too busy for that.


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## CuffDaddy (Feb 26, 2009)

Mike, yet another thing we have in common - a front wallet preference! I drifted that way primarily because sitting on a wallet was giving me sciatica, rather than for security reasons, though that's a nice benefit.


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## blue suede shoes (Mar 22, 2010)

My pants pockets contents are the same in every season, whether it is dress, casual, or summer shorts. 

left front pocket: keys and coins
right front pocket: a thin wallet
left back pocket: cell phone
right back pocket: handkerchief


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## Mike Petrik (Jul 5, 2005)

CuffDaddy said:


> Mike, yet another thing we have in common - a front wallet preference! I drifted that way primarily because sitting on a wallet was giving me sciatica, rather than for security reasons, though that's a nice benefit.


Another reason to dislike the whole skinny pants thing. Ouch!


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

No coat:
Front left: money clip pocket knife by Xikar (it is really a cigar cutter, but has many other uses), car key fob or keys (if I'm driving, house keys stay in the car, fob goes with me, if I'm walking, keys in the pocket, fob at home - cuts down on bulk a whole lot). 
Front right: cellphone
Back right: credit card holder (Will leather, $10 at Marshalls).

Coat: 
Wallet in left inside coat pocket, cellphone left inside right.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

This never varies from jeans to chinos to suits: 

left front trouser pocket - mobile 
right front trouser pocket - wallet
left back trouser pocket - handkerchief

When wearing a blazer or suit, I rarely have anything in the jacket pockets, it spoils the appearance.
Trouser pockets are to carry things in. Jacket pockets aren't.


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Shaver said:


> Keeping anything at all in the trousers pockets should be a criminal offence.


Where does that very odd notion come from? Most British men use trouser pockets not jacket pockets.


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## Shaver (May 2, 2012)

Earl of Ormonde said:


> Where does that very odd notion come from? Most British men use trouser pockets not jacket pockets.


C'mon Earl - we are not really about what 'most men' do on this forum, surely? :tongue2:


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## Langham (Nov 7, 2012)

Shaver said:


> Keeping anything at all in the trousers pockets should be a criminal offence.


I always carry a knife.


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## pleasehelp (Sep 8, 2005)

Depends what I'm wearing. I always carry my wallet in the front of my trousers, and I carry my blackberry in either my trousers or my jacket if I'm wearing one. 

I try to avoid carry keys in my pockets unless I absolutely have to because they are so uncomfortable and they often ruin my clothes. When I get to work I throw them in my desk drawer. 

That's about it. At work I always have a pen with me, but I'm generally carrying it in my hand or in my briefcase. Occassionally I'll throw it in my breast pocket.


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## Estel (Feb 2, 2013)

Thanks for the input, everyone. It's interesting to see the range of practice.


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## justonemore (Jul 2, 2009)

As much as I hate it, everything has to be with me all the time. Private phone/card case: left inner jacket pocket. Pen/notebook/cigarettes: Inner right jacket pocket. Work phone 1: left pants pockets. Work phone 2: right pants pocket. Keys (work related): on belt (keys can really mess up a garment). Wallet: Right rear pants pocket. 

Whenever possible I put it all in my briefcase but I carry alot of paperwork/books & it's not pracyocal to carry with me throughout the day. I confess that I'm "one of those" who tend to empty the pockets whenever I'm statilnary more than 15 minutes(esp. the trousers).


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## Tilton (Nov 27, 2011)

Three cell phones?! I am not envious. 

Also, I do the same. Any time I'm sitting down (of course, unless it is a bus or something) or plan to be within 20ft for the next half hour or more, I dump my pockets out if I feel like it is very unlikely my possessions will be stolen.


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## Yodan731 (Jan 23, 2011)

I wear a suit 5/6 days a week, so I'll go with that as my example.

Jacket:
Breast pocket: square
Outside right hip pocket: 3 keys on ring
Inside left hip pocket: business cards
Inside left breast pocket: iPhone, Lamy Fountain Pen
Inside right breast pocket: handkerchief, leather case with comb, nail clippers, nail file, and a mink moleskine notebook.

Trousers:
Back right pocket: wallet
Right side belt loop: work ID

Shirt pocket: sunglasses (when necessary)


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## Earl of Ormonde (Sep 5, 2008)

Shaver said:


> C'mon Earl - we are not really about what 'most men' do on this forum, surely? :tongue2:


ha ha..good point.


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## JerseyJohn (Oct 26, 2007)

If I'm wearing a jacket, this is a perennial problem for me. I'd like to wear a pocket square, but now that I'm a senior citizen, I also need reading glasses as well as a wallet and cell phone. That leaves me four things for three pockets. When my wife is with me, she can carry the reading glasses (she has a dual glasses case), but if I also need sunglasses or am somewhere where I'm constantly putting my reading glasses on and taking them off, it's a pain in the neck. More often than not, I bag the square and carry the reading glasses in my outside breast pocket, with the phone in one inside pocket and the wallet in the other.


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

I personally find inner jacket pockets extremely convenient, especially when sitting. Shirt pockets, on the other hand, I find to be impractical (not to mention unsightly).


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## William Edwards (Apr 9, 2013)

A shiny gold ring, my preciousssss.

Sorry, couldn't resist.

Trouser pockets; a penknife
Waistcoat pockets; my watch and my mobile phone
Jacket; my wallet


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

William Edwards said:


> A shiny gold ring, my preciousssss.
> 
> Sorry, couldn't resist.
> 
> ...


You carry a pocket watch?


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## MaxBuck (Apr 4, 2013)

As an engineer, I'd think it evident what I keep in my shirt pocket.


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## Zakk (Aug 4, 2011)

MaxBuck said:


> As an engineer, I'd think it evident what I keep in my shirt pocket.


That's what I imagine a software engineer would look like :smile:


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## Chouan (Nov 11, 2009)

Well, it depends where I am. Given the necessity for self-protection in the US, of which I'm reliably informed by many, if not most of our American members, if in the US I suppose I'd need a flick-knife/switchblade, a knuckleduster, a field dressing and a small calibre handgun of some kind for when I get attacked on my way to the newsagents in the morning. In the UK a handkerchief.


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## William Edwards (Apr 9, 2013)

Zakk said:


> You carry a pocket watch?


I do indeed, on my grandfathers albert watch-chain (both watch and chain circa 1910)


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## eagle2250 (Mar 24, 2006)

^^
A very handsome watch. Your grandfather would be pleased knowing it adorns his albert watch-chain!


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

change, my wallet, keys and a few pens.


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## William Edwards (Apr 9, 2013)

eagle2250 said:


> ^^
> A very handsome watch. Your grandfather would be pleased knowing it adorns his albert watch-chain!


Very kind of you to say so, thankyou.


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## Reldresal (Oct 13, 2011)

Chouan said:


> Well, it depends where I am. Given the necessity for self-protection in the US, of which I'm reliably informed by many, if not most of our American members, if in the US I suppose I'd need a flick-knife/switchblade, a knuckleduster, a field dressing and a small calibre handgun of some kind for when I get attacked on my way to the newsagents in the morning. In the UK a handkerchief.


One should also have some kind of symbol to leave behind on the corpses one leaves behind. The Ace of Spades is played out. I use the two of hearts. The smallest heart in the deck...get it?


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## rsgordon (Dec 6, 2012)

A small card wallet in the back that I hope nobody notices. In the front, usually nothing or depending on my activity a knife. I don't like that the clip shows on the outside but it seems better than a massive bulk laying at the bottom of the pocket.


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## jbmcb (Sep 7, 2005)

Traditional wallet in back pocket. Cell phone in shirt pocket or jacket pocket, depending on if I'm listening to music with it. Keys, lip balm and a small pen knife in pants pocket.

Re: Cell phone etiquette.

I route all my calls through Google Voice. I only let it ring twice before going to voice mail, and I keep my ringer on vibrate. If someone leaves a message, Google transcribes it into a text message which it then sends me. If I'm talking to someone, I'll never answer a call. I can check the text message by glancing at my phone later, or pull up the Google Voice app to listen to it. Much less intrusive, IMHO.

I'm surprised at how shocked people are when they realize my phone is ringing and I'm not answering it.


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## Howard (Dec 7, 2004)

jbmcb said:


> Traditional wallet in back pocket. Cell phone in shirt pocket or jacket pocket, depending on if I'm listening to music with it. Keys, lip balm and a small pen knife in pants pocket.
> 
> Re: Cell phone etiquette.
> 
> ...


How much is Google Voice?


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## jbmcb (Sep 7, 2005)

Howard said:


> How much is Google Voice?


The voicemail service is free, but I think there's a waiting list for it. To make calls out you have to pay, just like Skype.


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