This has got to stop. It has just taken me one minute, 25 seconds and a broken nail to find my mobile phone, which had sunk to the bottom of my cavernous handbag without trace.

Along the way, I discovered two bottles of mineral water, my swimsuit, a thermal vest, a pair of gloves, a packet of anti-histamines and a micro brolly.

Not to mention the funky purple-ink pen I bought a while ago. In short, the supersize bag (be it tote, shopper, multi-pocket or, in my case, slouchy number), which still prevails as the arm candy of choice, has become a rather tragic inventory of my life.

I am overwhelmed by the layers of 'stuff' I think I need to get through the day. Like Posh Spice in those hysterical Marc Jacobs ads, I am drowning in my supersize bag.

As a working mother of two with a town country commute linking my two lives, I guess I have got into the habit of trying to cater for too many variables.

I might need a toy to help keep my younger daughter quiet on the school run. Check.

Must pack high heels for evening work-do tomorrow. Check.

Need to lug laptop around everywhere in case I have five minutes free to catch up on e-mails. Check, Check, Check.

This is what else I am lugging around with me. One make-up bag, groaning at the seams.

One eye compact - doesn't fit in said make-up bag so therefore have an overflow system in zip pocket of handbag, which also includes two lipsticks, a lip balm and small bottle of suncream.

Heavy load: Charlotte and her big bag

Two card holders - one for my Oyster card and one for business cards. Six important letters that were sandwiched between my two diaries - one big, one small. Why? Who knows.

One address book, one travel wallet containing BlackBerry, three cheque books and three pens, one purse and 21 cards, from Visa to gym membership.

There's also a cookery book (the idea was to cook a romantic meal two weeks ago), Post-it notes, three hairbrushes of assorted sizes, two small notebooks, one A3 concertina file full of letters, one moleskin concertina file for shopping receipts (don't tell the husband), a guide to London; five more pens - and, miraculously, three have tops.

One pair of black wedges (to rotate with Crocs, currently on feet).

One novel, two railway timetables, two toy plastic dogs, one spare pair of child's knickers, three very old-looking Charlie and Lola plasters, a small tin of mints, half a box of Tic Tacs, chewing gum - four half-finished packets, one packet of lozenges (left over from winter colds), two catalogues (the middle-class curse) Boden and Cox & Cox, two sachets of Calpol, one packet of raisins.

OK, so I am a hoarder. I confess. But, according to a straw poll of friends, I am not the only one who is beginning to loathe these giant handbags and what they so damningly reveal about our lifestyles.

For a start, it is impossible to keep track of anything - in a recent survey, half of the women polled admitted regularly missing calls because they can't find their mobiles.

They are also ridiculously heavy. The average bag now weighs 5.2lb, which is equivalent to three housebricks. I weighed mine and totaled an impressive 15lb - which puts me on a par with a hod carrier.

I am reminded of a very glamorous friend who had to ditch her Mulberry Roxanne - one of the first large It-bags - when she got back strain. It also explains why the hottest new big-bag shape has a multi-way strap so you can wear it across the body.

Tim Hutchful, of the Chiropractic Association in Britain, is unequivocal about the health risks of carrying excess pounds on one shoulder.

Lugging weight which is unevenly distributed on one side of the body, he warns, can affect the neck as well as the back and even cause headaches: 'Women are bound to overfill these huge bags, and carrying a heavy bag has a cumulative effect. We will see more back pain as a result.'

Health warnings aside, why are we carrying all this 'stuff' around every day?

'Our huge and heavy handbags reflect the modern woman's psyche perfectly,' says Dr Pam Spurr, behaviour expert and author of the lifecoaching guide Sex, Guys And Chocolate.

'On the outside, they are a symbol of how successful we are. But on the inside, we cram them full of stuff because we think we need all these things to conduct our lives efficiently.'

That's also why we are so dependent on technology and gadgets such as mobiles, laptops and BlackBerrys. They have become even more important emotional anchors than actually seeing friends, family and colleagues in person.

'At an emotional level, carrying a handbag that's fit to burst gives us a sense of security. It makes us feel invincible in a stressful world because we've got every possible scenario covered. It's all about "just in case",' says Dr Spurr.

Some people use an extra canvas bag for the overflow which can be folded and put back into a smaller main handbag when they don't need it.

'These huge fashion bags we all use look great, but they are useless. We spend our lives rummaging,' sighs entrepreneur Olivia Rocca.

She was so fed up with not being able to find anything that she has invented an ingenious plastic pouch, with metallic silver trim, called The Clear Bag which has see-through, separate compartments for storing essentials such as phones, purses, diaries and keys.

And for the big-bag addicts among us, it can be transferred from one hefty tote to another in seconds.

'Like many busy women, I was always running out to some appointment or other and leaving half my stuff behind in yesterday's bag - so I solved it,' says Olivia.

'Now, I can see everything I need at a glance and I know exactly where it is.'

This all makes sense to me. But when I paraded my Clear Bag in front of the husband, he was bewildered. 'A bag within a bag? What is the point of that? Why don't you just carry a smaller bag?'

He is right, of course. But where's the fun in that? In the meantime, at least I will know where the phone is when it rings. And if it's him, I can ignore it.