2021 Resolution: Shopping my own bag and SLG collection. Any one else?

[Sparkletastic]

NOVEMBER ACTIVITIES

1. Bags by Brand Showcase!

Each week, share photos of your bags from the specified brands. Choose a posed “beauty” shot or get your bags out and about in action shots!

We highlight 3 brands per week: 2 premier and 1 contemporary in alphabetical order as listed on tPF. Any brands not listed are showcased in our last week. Brands change to the next set each Sunday.

Our first brand week starts now - Sunday, Oct 31. Please share photos of bags from these brands:

• Bottega Venetta
• Burberry
• Alexander Wang

Tip: Grab your photos from last year in the 2020 resolution thread. Search your user name and the brand to find your photos.

2. Special Stories
Thanks @Claudia Herzog for the suggestion

Wear a bag that has a backstory involving a person, place, or opportunity for which you feel grateful.

 

[JenJBS]

Excellent goals and I'm touched that you're donating to DV victims. That's just amazing. There are so many wonderful people on these forums who are spreading kindness and joy in so many different ways. It fills one's heart, it really does.

Thank you! I feel so blessed to have kept my job through the pandemic, and be in a position that I can donate.

 

[JenJBS]

Thank you! And may I just say that I really appreciate how thoughtful you are to each member of the thread. I've always noticed how you carefully note something of significance in everyone's thoughts, and I think it's such a kind act to let people know they've been heard!

+100

 

[JenJBS]

I just reread your post above and the numbers you mention sunk into my head. If you are on the path to curating your bags to 10, you should give us tips ! the fact that you bought six this year just means you reshaped your collection, refined your aesthetic and/or kept yourself sane and happy during covid. your 2020 sounds great from a bag POV!
@jblended said that she looks at her collection as a whole, and I think that’s a good reason to not purge too quickly. . . In case you want an excuse to slow the purge.
actually, if you run through the list made by @More bags, that would slow both the purge and the new acquisition process.
@Vintage Leather ‘s tip of a list prior to purchase would also work (but I’d probably either write it so that an emergency bag could sneak through, or throw up my hands and say, why bother (same rationale for why I don’t keep a food diary During diets.
or you could just boil everything down to @doni’s test: is it me
@papertiger, I am also a lover of variety and obsessional. The hope I cling to is a lot things out there don’t meet the standard that is already in your own closet.
@JenJBS, I love your idea below of donating to the women who are victims of domestic violence. i am sure they would appreciate some of the lovely items to rebuild. @Purses & Perfumes spoke of gaps in the wardrobe And the dilemma of the white purse. Perhaps determine if there are truly holes in yours or if something already in your closet can do doubke duty. . . In other words, if you constrict the ‘holes’ that might be a natural way to to stop shopping.
i think hard and fast rules don’t work for me (just stop or one in one out) but that’s just me. . .

Thank you!

 

[Bag peace]

Thank you! I feel so blessed to have kept my job through the pandemic, and be in a position that I can donate.

As a former victim myself- my only failed relationship where he would put out cigarettes on my face because "it's already ugly, this can only improve it" (thankfully I've been very lucky in my other relationships)- anyway, I fled with nothing but my cat and the clothes on my back.
A gesture like this one would have made me feel...umm...worthy of being alive, after a long time of being beaten and worn down. That's why I had to comment; it is truly an amazing thing you're doing.

 

[Bag peace]

Thank you for your kind words.
Beautifully captured, I love this and remember, yes!
we can appreciate beautiful things without needing to own them.

Oh then, I really am so very honoured!
That was on the editing thread. It was my mantra at the time and I think I made several posts around it. It's really a great principle to follow. Just because something is beautiful, it doesn't mean we have to possess it to appreciate its beauty.
It's the curse of the times as we're surrounded by 'haul' culture and we forget that our homes are not retail spaces. This is particularly important for bags, as they are meant to be utilitarian but are unable to serve their purpose when a collection is so vast that each bag barely gets used in the rotation.

In fact, I really need to re-read that whole thread. It was when I was most myself and before 2020 scrambled my brain and threw my best intentions out the window. As I'm exploring editing with fresh eyes, I'm going to return to the wisdom that was posted in there by so many of our pocket friends and see if it will reinvigorate me and get me back on track. Thanks for the reminder.

 

[Katinahat]

Those are beautiful bags @jblended. I am so glad you will carry them confidently! I think we can all be inspired to take the same action in your comment,
personal goal for me in 2021 should be to just use every one of my bags

Love this goal too. Here’s hoping for a year with more events to make it more possible!

 

[doni]

There are 2-sides to my bag 'coin': Heads, to make me look good, be useful and as functioning part of my wardrobe; tails, to be an amazing object in its own right. I don't mind actually mind

Oh yes, agree so much with this. And if a bag makes you look good, is functional and an amazing object in its own right you have hit the jackpot

This is a great thread, and I think it's the inspiration I need to at least write down some of goals for 2021, which in turn will keep me accountable.

1. I will not purchase anything through Amazon.com. I started this about a month ago, when I realized how lazy I had become in relying on Amazon for simple purchases, and then in turn discovering how little Amazon gives back to its workers, communities, the world in general. Going forward, if I need a new book to read, I will source it through the independent book shop not far from my home. Realistically, I can afford the extra $5.00 to $10.00 or so it will cost versus buying the book on discount online. If I need home goods or cleaning supplies, I will buy them locally through the large national grocery store and the smaller local houseware stores or my local or national hardware store (no Home Depot anymore either since they are a foreign retailer where I live).
*Whew* that's a long post. Sorry about that

Love your goals and this I am adding to mine. I was being quite good about not financing Mr Bezos and his I am so generous I am going to give workers with Covid two weeks sick leave... But in Xmas, and with everything closed here on top, I have to admite I have fallen for the convinience and speed a few times...

For books, in many countries you have alternative platforms and many bookshops now sell online. Even small bookshops have delivery services since Covid. So that is what I have been doing.

Scarf of the Day themes have become very intricate and erudite,

Ah yes indeed, I am in awe of that thread. I find it fascinating and at the same time a bit intimidating

(as an aside, I am now picturing @doni wearing cream helmet Lang leather pants to buy toothpaste at the pharmacy);

And why the heck not?

 

[Marmotte]

I'm in as well!
...enough is enough...

My goals for 2021:

1. No bag purchase
2. No shoes purchase
3. Use and enjoy what I already have
4. Stick firmly to my monthly budget for clothes and accessories (300$)
5. Only buy if the item is at a minimum of 8/10 on a desirable scale

 

[doni]

Is it normal how much I enjoy the discussion on dishcloths?

2) One in, one out. (Confession: there are three bags I considered getting rid of before the new year, that I'm holding on to for use as 'one out' bags in 2021... January 4th I'm donating them to a local women's charity a friend from church works at that helps victims of domestic violence. Many have to leave behind most of their personal items when they flee. I can at least give them a nice purse as they start to rebuild their lives.

Oh this is so beautiful... I usually donate clothes to my church which is just the easiest. I love the thought of giving something pretty to women going through this and so thoughtful to consider they leaving their belongings behind...
Domestic violence has gone up during confinment, I can only imagine the terror of so many women realising that they were going to have the devil home 24/24...

Find my signature style, and get rid of anything that doesn't fit it.

Plus, once you have found your signature style be happy and stick to it for goodness sake!

 

[Hazzelnut]

Oh then, I really am so very honoured!
That was on the editing thread. It was my mantra at the time and I think I made several posts around it. It's really a great principle to follow. Just because something is beautiful, it doesn't mean we have to possess it to appreciate its beauty.
It's the curse of the times as we're surrounded by 'haul' culture and we forget that our homes are not retail spaces. This is particularly important for bags, as they are meant to be utilitarian but are unable to serve their purpose when a collection is so vast that each bag barely gets used in the rotation.

In fact, I really need to re-read that whole thread. It was when I was most myself and before 2020 scrambled my brain and threw my best intentions out the window. As I'm exploring editing with fresh eyes, I'm going to return to the wisdom that was posted in there by so many of our pocket friends and see if it will reinvigorate me and get me back on track. Thanks for the reminder.

It’s a great mantra and one I will definitely be adopting. (Thank you!!) There are so many beautiful bags I admire and lust after, but know that they just won’t fit my current aesthetic and lifestyle.

I’m going to start repeating it to myself before every potential purchase, or if my eye gets caught by something pretty.

 

[JenJBS]

As a former victim myself- my only failed relationship where he would put out cigarettes on my face because "it's already ugly, this can only improve it" (thankfully I've been very lucky in my other relationships)- anyway, I fled with nothing but my cat and the clothes on my back.
A gesture like this one would have made me feel...umm...worthy of being alive, after a long time of being beaten and worn down. That's why I had to comment; it is truly an amazing thing you're doing.

HUGS. I'm so sorry you had to endure that nightmare. HUGS. Really glad you managed to escape.

 

[JenJBS]

Is it normal how much I enjoy the discussion on dishcloths?



Oh this is so beautiful... I usually donate clothes to my church which is just the easiest. I love the thought of giving something pretty to women going through this and so thoughtful to consider they leaving their belongings behind...
Domestic violence has gone up during confinment, I can only imagine the terror of so many women realising that they were going to have the devil home 24/24...


Plus, once you have found your signature style be happy and stick to it for goodness sake!

Thank you. Yeah. Those poor women...

That's the plan!

 

[Bag peace]

HUGS. I'm so sorry you had to endure that nightmare. HUGS. Really glad you managed to escape.

Awww, thanks! It was the hardest thing I've experienced. Other issues I've faced were bigger but easier to accept since they were not of my own doing. Allowing this person to manipulate me when I was grieving for a big loss and then subsequently trap me in his deranged world was my own dumb fault. I knew better but didn't trust my gut.

I was lucky that I found a shelter to assist in my exit (they told me which steps to take) and that everything I cared about most (like family photos) was already in storage from before this relationship. I had been moving a lot and made that decision so as not to lose anything in the process, and it was so fortuitous because I was able to use what I had in storage to start over with little hassle. Life has a funny way of working things out for us.
So my only real responsibility was to get my fur ball out safely and that I did, and he is still with me and thriving with the other two I've since brought home!

I hope it's okay that I shared this here (I've been open about it on the forums previously). I think it's quite important to shine a light on such heavy topics because so many experience it and never share because they are ashamed. But our stories can help others know they're not alone.
Plus it's always nice to note how resilient human beings are. We can overcome anything (even pandemics)!

Edit: Accidentally hit post before completing my thoughts!...
But this isn't about me! Your thoughtfulness will be much appreciated, I'm sure. It's more than the bags, but rather that someone has seen these victims and deems them worthy of nice things. They often get told they're worthless and unlovable, so your actions will go a long way towards acting as an antidote to the hate they've experienced before their escapes, and an even longer way to rebuilding their sense of self-worth. Thank you!

 

[doni]

That's the plan!

To be clear, the angry face was at myself . I (believe I) know my signature style but there are always times when I am tempted to depart and become a, say, head-to-toe cream & taupe put-together adult (too high maintaince and deadly to my complexion). Or a chunky knit + wide/mum pants laid back but cool gal (my small frame and short upper body get swallowed in this plus I find chunky knits itchy and claustrophobic). Or the kind of girl who wears ethereal lacy floor-sweeping Summer dresses (so not me, between-seasons is my only season). Or that stylish amazon sporting a garçon haircut, combat boots and a Jyspiere (to be admired from afar, as @880 would say, I don’t need to be that girl. Specially as I can‘t possibly...). Anyway what I meant to say is, it is not enough to find your signature style, you still have to be alert to fight the temptation of departing from it!

 

[JenJBS]

Awww, thanks! It was the hardest thing I've experienced. Other issues I've faced were bigger but easier to accept since they were not of my own doing. Allowing this person to manipulate me when I was grieving for a big loss and then subsequently trap me in his deranged world was my own dumb fault. I knew better but didn't trust my gut.

I was lucky that I found a shelter to assist in my exit (they told me which steps to take) and that everything I cared about most (like family photos) was already in storage from before this relationship. I had been moving a lot and made that decision so as not to lose anything in the process, and it was so fortuitous because I was able to use what I had in storage to start over with little hassle. Life has a funny way of working things out for us.
So my only real responsibility was to get my fur ball out safely and that I did, and he is still with me and thriving with the other two I've since brought home!

I hope it's okay that I shared this here (I've been open about it on the forums previously). I think it's quite important to shine a light on such heavy topics because so many experience it and never share because they are ashamed. But our stories can help others know they're not alone.
Plus it's always nice to note how resilient human beings are. We can overcome anything (even pandemics)!

Edit: Accidentally hit post before completing my thoughts!...
But this isn't about me! Your thoughtfulness will be much appreciated, I'm sure. It's more than the bags, but rather that someone has seen these victims and deems them worthy of nice things. They often get told they're worthless and unlovable, so your actions will go a long way towards acting as an antidote to the hate they've experienced before their escapes, and an even longer way to rebuilding their sense of self-worth. Thank you!

Happy to hear you didn't lose family photos, etc. Sweet kitten! I have two of my own.

I will disagree on one point. It was not your fault. It was the fault of monster who manipulated and abused you. He took advantage of you at a vulnerable moment. That's on him, not you.

Thank you for being brave enough to share such a traumatic time. HUGS.

Thank you for your kind words. Just glad if I can help them a little.