To expect my DDH to put less in his pockets!

I too love butterflies, but I do at times suffer a little because of his far greater (than mine) dedication to the cause. My DBH is small fry compared to your DBH, but he still works fulltime and is an athlete and a singer and has so many other hobbies that I can't keep up. I can quite see him getting more dedicated to it when he finally retires, though. I can think of far worse things that he could have felt like doing in his spare time.

janerowena we met through a love of natural history and it is my love too. My DBH was county recorder for many years and he was also Countryside Officer and Head of Natural History for our area. He still give wildlife talks, walks and runs courses on the subject. May have crossed paths sometime.

Ha! Yes i have a man like that. Swiss army knife, magnifying glass but also a pair of binoculars and a camera usually end up going in my bag too. On our recent holiday i made him take a small rucksack to carry it all. Apparently carrying a swiss army knife around is in case you have to skin a rabbit for survival , i suppose the magnifying is to start the fire.

Flower in that case, you have my very greatest sympathies as DBH (dearly beloved husband) is an area butterfly counter and identifier. I am a Butterfly Widow during the summer holidays, but it does mean that we are allowed to go for walks through areas usually not open to the public. At these times he carries a large rucksack and I carry a shooting stick and a kindle. The coffee goes in his rucksack.

What I find odd is that my DH doesn't fold in his car key therefore the actual key bit tears his pockets. He only has to click the wee button and the key bit folds in. It mystifies me!

NT shops often do quite suitable manly bags.
My DH has a neurotic fear of damaging his pockets which leads to an obsession with getting rid of change. The more useful aspect of this is that he stashes it in the car so there is nearly always change for parking or supermarket trolleys. Less useful is the dumping change on the kitchen surface when he comes in or insisting on getting rid of all those pennies when paying for things in shops

My DDH's trousers look like bike panniers. May try the sporran, he will need a rather large one though

The Scots have a solution - a sporran, but it's not a good look with trousers.

DS1 has a man bag. When last seen, he was still using a rather tatty canvas satchel, but I think he was on the lookout (probably on Ebay!) for something more sophisticated. OTOH, his brother prefers to fill his pockets, his computer case, his bike panniers... No wonder he can never find anything.

This gave me a good laugh, too! My OH hardly uses a mobile, but has just acquired DS's old iPhone, so that may change. He has an indescribable hanky which I make sure gets replaced whenever I notice it's beyond decency. And an ancient falling-apart wallet that he's reluctant to give up as it has a zipped compartment for coins, and we've found that new ones seem to have a popper compartment, which he doesn't like.

If anyone can guide me to a wallet with a zipped compartment I'd be most grateful!

These replies have made me laugh!
I had a similar idea to a man-bag: what about one of those leather belts with a pouch on each side that are used to carry small tools when working on a job?
DH has one.

jjay DDH means Dear Darling Husband.

janerowena interesting regarding the other items you were expected to carry. I often used to carry the tripod when bird watching also a scope. he trundled along with a 600mm lense (not digital then) He also has three cameras around his neck. (used to be three) one black and white - in the old days, one landscape and one close up. Now it is just two. A camera bag, a little bit of a nuisance when trying to man the Puffin cross roads at the Wick on Skomer Island. His camera bag is likely to sweep enthusiastic visitors off the path and DDH is supposed to be manning the public. Binoculars too.

Interesting that your DDH also photographs butterflies, my dear one has written a book entitled The Butterflies of Hertfordshire. Dedicated to moi.
Dedication reads 'The butterfly lives not days but hours and has time enough'

Love that dedication.

May buy him a man bag for Christmas

Your posts made me laugh out loud. If my wee OH filled his pockets like that he would not be able to stand up!!

What does exasperate me beyond measure is his constant search for his glasses, accompanied by suitable oft-repeated expletives! I have bought him various device to keep them upon his person, to no avail as he forgets to use them. Perhaps I should just suggest he puts them in his (entirely empty) pockets!

What does DDH mean ?

Oh merlot. and

He's registered blind, jingl Lost his peripheral vision thanks to a stroke but he can sure as hell see straight in front on him!!!

'It's in my blind spot' is often a good excuse for CBA syndrome.

I had the opposite problem - and solved it with a very smart leather manbag! He gave me everything to carry and I was buying larger and larger bags and eventually I had problems with my shoulder. I rebelled at that point. Looking back, I can't believe how I let it creep up on me like that. He too carries, or would have liked me to carry, camera (insects, mainly butterflies) hanky, glasses case, sunglasses, wallet, keys, binoculars, the odd bit of shopping - I was a veritable beast of burden, he was quite appalling. He had to start carrying my bag for me, it was so heavy, so I think it was a case of, a manbag was the lesser of two evils. Now he loves it and it just looks like a rather posh dark brown leather satchel. I would only take a very small bag out with me when my shoulder was in pain, he had no choice, because I didn't forget and just take his bits and bobs out of habit.

Merlot

I love the handful of washers in the guide dogs for the blind collecting box! Sounds like the blind leading the blind.

I was watching the Christmas Sewing Bee last night (DH was hiding behind his fishing magazine) and one of the former contestants was making a bag for his partner. This brought forth a snort from DH - not because the man was gay but because he was making a manbag!

I have spent all my married life mending worn out pockets, picking up nuts and bolts from the bedroom floor and hyperventilating when the washing machine sounds like a Sherman tank negotiating a flight of stairs. I've watched Swiss Army knives being confiscated at airports and seen him smile broadly as he posts a handful of washers in a Guide Dog for the Blind collecting box. He boasts that his pocket knife - a farmer's speciality with a castrating blade - has been in his family for over sixty years!!

Whenever he picks up my handbag he mutters, 'What the hell have you got in here?'

My DH is the same. I dread it when we go through security at the airport and he has to divest himself of all the paraphernalia he carries in his pockets. Despite filling the tray with stuff, he usually manages to set the scanner 'beeping' and has to go through again. It then takes him another fifteen minutes to re-assemble himself at the other end. Anyone would think he had never travelled before!

I mean re hoarding habits. You've already said what he's like generally

It sounds as if he has a 'pocket-sized' hoarding habit.

What's he like otherwise?

Man bags? could that be the solution, maybe if you hinted you are buying them one as a present the horror of the suggestion might make them have a clear out...