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Vintage Leather thank you forthis post! Yout took the thoughts right out of my head and put them in clearer words than I´d ever been able to do!
Oh yes, declaring a handbag to be a grail is definetely a strange thing to do and reveals a collector´s or even hoarder´s mindset.
It´s nothing but an item- nice to own, but suddenly I put a meaning onto it and form an emotional bond while reality fades...
I am a serious collector with clear tendencies towards hoarding. I openly blame myself for loving items, giving them a lot of importance, sometimes letting them take over my life in lieu of a "real life", anything exciting or meaningful going on.
And all the items - no matter how much joy they sparkle- sometimes become a mental load. A suffocating one!
As I said: I am a crazy collector and it´s not only handbags. They are the smallest part. The biggest part definetely is my pram collection- yes, actual baby prams and as my spouse is into them, too we have formed a serious collection of over 800 prams and dolls prams so far. They take over a lot of room, need a lot of work and at the moment are on my personal back burner. They were trying to eat me alive so I am ignoring them until the love spark ignites, again and will go back working on them with passion.
Other collections are 80ies cowgirl boots, pram rattles and vintage clothes... (not a few... when I´m honest I could kit out a vintage shop.)
People keep telling me to reduce all the items, not to form a load none of my offspring will ever be able to handle...
Vintage is a nice field to browse- mostly cheap and unique- something to pick me up from a mental low or stress like eating chocolate. It holds less guilt than buying more expensive items. (I never buy more than I afford, though and keep my finances stable.)
Your post really made me aware of the whole situation.
Ok, here I stand. And I know I´m crazy.
This is a good place to stand.
You said: "I haven't stopped collection and shopping and hunting, but I might need to work on that. Because I take on the mental burden when I decide to buy the bag, the sin comes then. Does that make sense?"
Yes, it does!
Still I keep hunting, too.
But as soon as the pattern behind it is in the open, it´s much easier to reduce it to hunting without pouncing.
Window shopping, keeping watch lists and then thinking it over.
Do I really want this item? Do I need it to use/ display/ complete a section of a collection or is it just a random piece for a quick soul-fix?
In this case I go and get the chocolate and turn the computer off! Actually I did just this twice today... and do not have the feeling I missed out on anything.
