Raise your hand if you’ve ever found yourself online or in a store, merch in your shopping cart, telling yourself “I’ll need this… eventually”, as you justify the money you’re about to spend.

I see you, sister… and I can relate.

This recently happened to me with lululemon’s Go Lightly Shoulder Bag. I’ve been toting around the same mid-sized Le Sportsac bag for years through multiple fairs, festivals, concerts and day trips. But… here’s the problem with the Le Sportsac bag: it’s a bit of a loud print, and its buckles have always found a way to annoyingly snag my shirt.

While not a daily use item, when you need a mid-size day bag, you NEED it. In the past 5+ years I’d gotten far more than my money’s worth on the $19 TJ Maxx buy, so I decided this spring was as good a time as ever to tone the pattern down and level up my bag game.

Lululemon Go Lightly Shoulder Bag ($78) in black

With a capacity of 9L, this isn’t a small bag. It’s got more than enough space for your usual phone/wallet/43,653 lip colors, but also a bottle of water, some snacks and that light jacket you might want for later.

All details are heavy duty plastic, so if you’re concerned with matching your metallic details to your outfit, there’s none of that here.

There are 3 external pockets, one in front (shown above), which is much deeper than it looks, and two on the back side, which are slim non-zip compartments you can easily slide a few documents or a beverage into for easy access.

At first, I thought it was a big velcro pocket (would have been awesome to stick an iPad or Kindle into, but nope. Instead of a large flat thing, you’re going to have to settle for sticking tall skinny things in those pockets, like paper. Or an emergency can of LaCroix.

The strap is adjustable, so no matter if you like to sling it low or keep it up close, the world is your oyster.

Slight downside, there is only ONE pocket on the inside, which is this zippy mesh one pictured. Its depth reaches down about halfway, and width-wise, it takes its half out of the middle of the inside ‘wall’ of the main compartment.

While the inside pocket is busy taking its half out of the middle, the outside compartment runs the full width of the bag. According to lululemon’s cutesy words printed inside, it’s for ‘sweaty unmentionables’. I say it’s for sh*t I don’t want to lose in the abyss… like my keys and at least one of my phones.

As I mentioned before, the pocket on the bottom is bigger than you think. In the photo shown below, I was able to stick my hand directly in all the way to my wrist.

The compartment doesn’t stop at the bottom on the front panel, it wraps around underneath and finally stops at the back seam. So, you’ve got both the height from the bottom of the bag to the zipper PLUS the width of the bag on the bottom to jam more than a few things in there.

No problem fitting 2 iPhones (a 6S and a 7, no pluses) in the front pocket lengthwise.

THE VERDICT: I’m pretty jazzed about how this bag’s been working out for me so far.

It was perfect for when I impulsively opted to head out to dinner and a concert on my own on Saturday night. In addition to the usual female accoutrements I like to tote around, I was also able to fit an iPad mini (solo dinner distraction, actually started this post on said iPad at said dinner), a bottle of water AND my jacket, so I didn’t need to worry about losing track of it at said show. That was all with plenty of room to spare.

I’m a fan of the stiffer material that lululemon uses in their bags, so they tend to look a bit more refined and keep their shape better than some other cloth options out there.

I plan to get a lot of use out of this bag this year. While it’s a fairly simple design, I’m loving how utilitarian a bag of this size can be. Come to think of it, this can carry a jacket, book and snacks for the long-ass line to the Seawheeze showcase store in August. Win.

Styling Notes

• Swiftly Tech LS Crew in power purple (past season)
• Cool Racerback in bali breeze (past season)
• High Times Pant *Zips in cyber stripe white silver fox (past season)