Pilot Pen Australia marketing manager Barbara Oliver said handbags were an everyday necessity but their use was so personal that it largely remained a mystery.

We wanted to conduct a definitive survey on handbags to find out what daily items women keep in them, how they use them and what they do with them, she said.

A sample size of 1488 Australian women revealed that 34.5 per cent spend at least five minutes daily scouring their bags, which adds up to 81 days in a lifetime. A further 18.5 per cent spend 10 minutes searching their bag.

About 47 per cent described their bag as cluttered, 31.5 per cent as dis-organised and 13.7 per cent as chaotic. Only 3.7 per cent of women knew where to find everything in their bag.

Horsham Strandbags manager Michelle Dunlop said people with larger handbags tended to search for items for longer.

People tend to purchase the bigger tote bags, but that means they just put more items in it and it becomes less organised, she said.

Ms Dunlop said sling-across handbags were becoming more popular.

They are big enough to store your phone, purse, keys and all the essentials and they can be easily organised with all the compartments, she said.

The survey revealed a wallet, pen, smart phone and make-up were the essential items kept in handbags.