What have you learned through your handbag addiction?

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#166
In regards to me I have learned that I didn't really know I had an addiction/love to buying handbags until recently. I was the kind of girl in middle school that hated carrying purses. It was not until like 12th grade, that I yearned for a D&B bag, and it was only because everyone else had one. Then I started to just carry any purse simply because I liked it no matter what brand. I then went through the whole buying purses to resell phase in college, which went pretty O.K. Now I find myself really liking my handbags, it was as if once I discovered Coach, and felt a leather bag in my hands I was on another level. I fell in love with the handbags, styles, colors, patterns, leathers....and that is where I am now. The one thing I have learned is knowledge..the knowledge of knowing how to spot a fake from a real. I have done this mostly because going back to school again, and not having a job at the current moment I do not have the money to spend on bags. This then leaves me to flea market/thrift shop finds which I enjoy because I love the feeling of finding that hidden treasure sometimes for $1.00...or even $30.00 if I really like it.
 
#167
Janinevs said:
Yay for you!!! I do find that when I have a life, I obsess about bags less. My spending season is tax season. I'm a CPA, so for three months of the year I have no life, so whatever free time I have is spent on bag shopping. Bags are easy, because I can do it online and don't have to worry about fit. And then every year around this time I wake up out of my haze, take a gander at the bank account and go WTF??!!!
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As a college prof, the academic year peaks around Feb / March where i feel like all i have is more work more work more work and no end in sight. (I don't teach 8 or 9 mos...I'm an 11 monther because I chair a dept, too). Well, I find myself doing the same thing--whatever free time I have is spent lookng online for bags or going to my local Coach outlet. I guess this also is a little of what another tPF member called "pain shopping." I too look at the bank account and say the same thing, come april. I think of all the stuff I coulda bought for my family. I fool myself into thinking that I am getting a bargain...I so far have bought 2 new and 2 EUC handbags (2 Mirandas bordeaux and black and 2 leather sabrinas) from the Bay and Bonanzle this spring, for a grand total of $1,164. What I coulda done with that money!

But I also think--I am just into fashion and always will be. I don't care if my purses gather others' attention. I just love them on my own. So far DH is thinking this is coool. I'm a collector, and so it's ok. But he also said, stop with your 4 this year, please. ANd I just wish for one more....ANd now I think, why? What am I trying to fill? Probably a need to do something other than work all the time. ANd using this to show what the outcomes of all that work are. Not such a great way to manage the work load and demands of it.

I have no idea, I guess, what I've learned from this obsession that started 2 years ago...but I guess this Q is gonna cause me to think a lot about what I am and can learn from this:graucho:
 
#170
indigo16 said:
Great posts! Here's mine: don't do a beautiful bag injustice by wearing a sloppy outfit! A bag can enhance a simple outfit, but it won't do anything for a terrible outfit.
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I'm guilty, indigo!! Sometimes I like pretending that I can wear worn-down jeans, etc and make my "upscale" bag do all the work to "upclass" the outfit! (How many celebrities do we see doing this number?)

I need to dress prettier to respect my bags! (and self for that matter).
 
#171
I think the most important thing i have learned is self control and to not buy on impulse. Handbags for me is an extremely expensive vice that can cost me at least one to a couple of thousand dollars per bag, so i can't really afford to have bags that "I'm really not sure about" sitting in my closet. I have also learned that if you wait long enough, my holy grail bag will eventually pop up for sale somewhere at a price i am willing to pay (well... most of the time anyway), so it really does pay to stick to my guns and never pay more than retail for a bag.
 
#173
I have learned a lot about my bag obsession recently, I have been closet cleaning and found that just because a bag is LE...it does not mean that I will like it more after a year or two. In fact, most of my LE LV's were sold because they were simply to trendy and after about 2 years I was tired of the designs. I lost lots of money on some of the bags and I learned from that moment on classic is best. I can never get tired of a Chanel Classic Flap and one day I hope to get a Hermes Birkin!
 
#174
i've learned that my husband has purchased nearly every bag in my collection except 2.
i also love to have alot of colour in my collection.
I don't own any black bags.
 
#175
I've learned to listen to my heart, but to never forget to think things over before buying a new bag. I've also learned what I love in a handbag (hand held, medium sized, with silver hardware if possible), and that the best thing is to go for classics instead of 'it' bags or one season wonders. And I have learned that I appreciate hand made bags that are produced in honest labour environments, and that I don't mind waiting for a long time for the perfect one. I have also learned that less is more and that I really don't need 15 high end designer bags, and that the colours that work best for me are browns, reds, greys and blacks. That's quite a lot!
 
#177
I have learned that the years I have loved and appreciated Art Festivals and Museums and Galleries can translate into the quality craftsmanship and design of a handbag.

I have learned that I will never buy another mass produced handbag. And that each handbag I now carry is like art on my arm to me. It is personal.

I have learned that it is just nice to be in a happy place like The Purse Forum. Where we ooooooo! and ahhhhhhhhhhh! and are kind. There are not many places where utter kindness exists, but I have found it here.
:heart:
 
#179
I've learned that I can really stop buying, at least for a long period of time.

I should trust my instinct. If it said this's not working, it's not gonna work even though how hard I try, that's not gonna happen.

Rotate your own bags. You have enough. You just never know so use everyone of them and you will realize maybe you don't really need as much as you think. It's only a matter of want. Not need.

Your style changes. You can still be a simple dresser or whatever, but your style of choice, at least for bags, changes all the time. So, what you think maybe good today, may not be good tomorrow. Therefore, don't stock up. You don't need that bag in every color. Just the one you think it's gonna last in your closet choice. And frankly speaking, that's not really as much as it sounds.
 
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