Originally Posted by Sir Lunch-a-lot

Hey all. So, I started taking the bus for a while this past winter/spring, and one thing I quickly noticed was that I did not need to carry a lot of stuff with me while commuting this way. Commuting by bike (in non-winter weather) on the other hand, I filled about half of a pannier (or more) with my rain jacket and pants. Then there were my shoes (I have riding shoes, and then work shoes), tools, spare tube, pump, zip ties, work clothes, and then my books and lunch. I may be missing a few items, but I’m not sure. This fills my panniers round full (usually with the shoes and my water bottle outside of the panniers). When I was riding the bus, I needed pretty much none of this stuff. I had a compact umbrella for rain, but otherwise my “man purse” fit everything I needed by bus: any books and lunch, work clothes depending where I was commuting to, and indoor shoes (so I could switch out of my winter boots). At any rate, I feel like I was packing less by bus than by bike. And going by bus, it was nice because I could just grab my “man purse”, and go check out a store on a whim without having to awkwardly lug such a tremendous amount of stuff with me. Depending which job I was commuting to, I have at times (and may again) have no place to keep my stuff, so I am continuously lugging my 2 heavy panniers, my helmet and my shoes around the building.
Anyway, the point of this thread is not to complain about the problem, but to come up with a solution. There has got to be a way to be adequately prepared for a bicycle commute without having to have so much stuff. I imagine that many of you, being seasoned bicycle commuters, will have already tackled this issue in part or in whole. So, let us pool our knowledge and ideas to see what we can come up with to solve this problem.
Please also note: while “leaving stuff at work” is a great idea, it is very likely that it will not be a viable option for me in the near future, and I imagine there are other commuters for whom this simply will not work. So, while I welcome some of those kinds of ideas if they are REALLY good ones, I am more so looking for ideas that do not involve leaving stuff at work.
I have done a bit of thinking about how to solve bits of this, and here is what I have so far:
Rain Gear:
-Emergency Poncho: These things pack up really small, but do not seem very durable. Perhaps this is a flaw that I will simply have to live with (or try being gentler with them to reuse). I wonder if rain pants would be necessary for this.
-Shoes: I really need something to cover shoes with so they don’t get soaked when it rains. Modded heavy duty garbage bags with elastic straps or something, maybe?
-Something small and compact to cover pannier (Ideally, I would get my requirements down to one pannier that can have a shoulder strap attached to it so it is easy to go places by bike) with. I guess for now, garbage bags, though something compact and reusable would be ideal.
-Change of clothes: I wonder if I can get hold of the camping variety of those vacuum bags so that I can compress any change of clothes I bring. How would they faire as far as wrinkles go?
-Shoes: Some sort of compactable but comfy shoes offering support? Does such a thing exist?
-Books: Bring only my e-book reader, possibly.
-Tools: Keep it down to a multi-tool, pressure gauge, spare pump, tube, patch kit, tire irons, my Swiss Army knife, and a crescent wrench. Possibly make a fabric pouch with slots for the tools so it can roll up nicely.
-Water: Is there some sort of collapsible/foldable water bottle on the market that would be well suited to riding?
So, those are a few of my thoughts. I would love to hear from others presenting their own ideas, sharing their experience, or commenting on any of the ideas presented here.