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Just realized my $8 pen pouch beats the $40 one I carried for 2 years

The zipper on my old pouch finally died in March. It was a waxed canvas thing, real nice looking, but the pull snapped off during a staff meeting and I had to dump everything on the table to get my red pen out. Embarrassing in front of 30 kids. So I grabbed a cheap mesh pouch from the office supply bin, the kind with the clear front. Figured it would last a week. It's been 4 months. Here's the thing, I can see everything without opening it. No more digging for a dry erase marker while a kid is waiting at my desk. It weighs nothing. It cost me $8. The old one looked way better on my desk, no question. But I was always unzipping it to check what was in there, and half the time stuff had shifted around anyway. My whole point is I spent 2 years thinking the nicer pouch was the smarter carry. It wasn't. It just looked better in photos. What's the cheap thing in your bag that quietly replaced something fancier?