What's your criteria for culling the Coach herd?

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#46
rose10 said:
About a month ago i pulled out all my Coach bags. I knew i had too many and it was making me anxious! I knew i needed to do something about it. I got into Coach in 2010 and since then had accumulated a total of 73 bags :shame: plus accessories...most i got at the outlet for a great deal but what was the point in that if i had bags with tags on still sitting in my closet?

This is what i did, i offered the bags first to my mom, i did not sell them to her, simply asked her to pick and keep what she liked. Next, the bags with the tags on that i did not truly LOVE, went back to the outlet/coach store. Lastly i only kept 5, yes you read that right, 5 bags that i was in LOVE with AND that were functional AND i was only allowed to keep colours that i could wear all the time with almost anything in my wardrobe.

To do this felt great! I did not do this for financial reasons but the money coming back did feel great! :) i wanted a more realistic collection of bags that i could carry and enjoy and use. I have the bags that i absolutely LOVE and will carry them till they fall apart. I had to make sure the bags in my collection will wear well over the years and that i will NOT get bored if i carried them for months/years on end. This greatly helped me to achieve the kind of collection i was after.

I have a total of 7 bags now, 5 Coach, 1 Alexander Wang and 1 Louis Vuitton and i LOVE THEM ALL! Next i attacked accessories, i own one wallet for each bag that i have, plus a couple of card cases and pencil cases and such, and i am ok with that.

Let us know how you are doing both health wise and on culling the heard! Good Luck! :) its doable just takes some time..
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Wow...I'm in awe....:worthy:
 
#47
GA Peach said:
What you did was great. I need to consider this, too. I've carried Coach exclusively for the last 20 or so years and I have around 50 Coach bags + wallets, wristlets, etc. I used to buy 2-3 Coach bags per year and give older ones to my cousin but in the last year I went crazy buying Legacy bags and accessories on sale.

I'm finding that there are about 5 bags (Legacy Duffle, Business Tote, Rory, Tanner, and Candace) that I really enjoy carrying and fit my lifestyle. I have duplicate colors for each of these styles and other bags I got on sale that were "too good to pass up". I'm learning to walk away from the good sales but access to FOS doesn't help! :laugh:. I have some time off work next month and I'm going to consider rounding things up to pare them down.
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Good Luck! Let us know how it goes! :)
 
#48
Jadis4742 said:
Lol, everyone here is downsizing and then there's the OP...

***whistles innocently while shoving a new Coach bag into the closet***
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Lol, the need to downsize really comes from within, you need to enjoy what you have right now and what you might buy in the near future :p you might not be ready to part with what you have at the moment and that is OK. :)
 
#49
zaara10 said:
73 coach bags down to 5???! Wow, that's almost supernatural, lol. ;) Good for you! It sounds freeing!
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Yup, 5 made the cut in all respects and are the ones i trulyLOVE. Yes, it is freeing. I know that as my bags wear out i can look forward to owning new ones, that made it all the more easier to downsize. And i have no regrets. :)
 
#51
rose10 said:
About a month ago i pulled out all my Coach bags. I knew i had too many and it was making me anxious! I knew i needed to do something about it. I got into Coach in 2010 and since then had accumulated a total of 73 bags :shame: plus accessories...most i got at the outlet for a great deal but what was the point in that if i had bags with tags on still sitting in my closet?

This is what i did, i offered the bags first to my mom, i did not sell them to her, simply asked her to pick and keep what she liked. Next, the bags with the tags on that i did not truly LOVE, went back to the outlet/coach store. Lastly i only kept 5, yes you read that right, 5 bags that i was in LOVE with AND that were functional AND i was only allowed to keep colours that i could wear all the time with almost anything in my wardrobe.

To do this felt great! I did not do this for financial reasons but the money coming back did feel great! :) i wanted a more realistic collection of bags that i could carry and enjoy and use. I have the bags that i absolutely LOVE and will carry them till they fall apart. I had to make sure the bags in my collection will wear well over the years and that i will NOT get bored if i carried them for months/years on end. This greatly helped me to achieve the kind of collection i was after.

I have a total of 7 bags now, 5 Coach, 1 Alexander Wang and 1 Louis Vuitton and i LOVE THEM ALL! Next i attacked accessories, i own one wallet for each bag that i have, plus a couple of card cases and pencil cases and such, and i am ok with that.

Let us know how you are doing both health wise and on culling the heard! Good Luck! :) its doable just takes some time..
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Wow! That is honestly awesome! What a show of willpower!

I've never let myself get that many bags, but when I was pushing into the 30's amount, I started culling.....it made me anxious to have so many and there was no way I could use them all. I'm the type that if something is not getting used, it's gotta go.....no matter what it is, it's just so much clutter if it's not getting used.

Cute, gorgeous, limited editions, etc. but unusable for me were the first ones culled. I was happier, but still not satisfied so next I culled out multiples of bags, even though they were all different 'editions'.....Sophia specifically.

I set a limit of not over 25 bags at one time for myself. I'm down to 21 and happy with what I have and only one bag on my 'want list'. I have multiples of the bags that work perfectly for me, I don't need a big variety of styles.....just styles that work great for me in a couple of different colors. It took a lot of trial and error (not to mention money) to determine what works perfectly for me, but I now know what is usable and what to leave alone even though it is gorgeous to look at.
 
#52
Compared to most of the collections on here, mine really isn't all that large, so I don't really have an immediate need to purge but I do find myself feeling guilty if I have a bag that I don't use because I see it as wasted money. If I'm on the fence about selling a bag (for example, my cranberry madeline from this past fall) I will still post it for sale but at a price that I think it is worth, not necessarily what it really is worth on the ebay market. In the case of the madeline, it worked out in my favor and the bag sold for the higher price I was asking. I feel as though I didn't even lose any money on the bag since I had carried it for about 4 straight months before selling it. I call that method the; "Pay me enough so that I can't possibly miss it" method. :graucho::p:D

 
#53
Suzanne B. said:
Wow! That is honestly awesome! What a show of willpower!

I've never let myself get that many bags, but when I was pushing into the 30's amount, I started culling.....it made me anxious to have so many and there was no way I could use them all. I'm the type that if something is not getting used, it's gotta go.....no matter what it is, it's just so much clutter if it's not getting used.

Cute, gorgeous, limited editions, etc. but unusable for me were the first ones culled. I was happier, but still not satisfied so next I culled out multiples of bags, even though they were all different 'editions'.....Sophia specifically.

I set a limit of not over 25 bags at one time for myself. I'm down to 21 and happy with what I have and only one bag on my 'want list'. I have multiples of the bags that work perfectly for me, I don't need a big variety of styles.....just styles that work great for me in a couple of different colors. It took a lot of trial and error (not to mention money) to determine what works perfectly for me, but I now know what is usable and what to leave alone even though it is gorgeous to look

Good for you!! We all have a number we are happy with. As long as we use what we have and in general feel good about our bags/collection, its all good! :D
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#56
Jadis4742 said:
I did it! I did it! My first round of culling is done - four bags and three wristlets!

Ahhh it's a little nerve-wracking. I keep thinking 'but what if I want it later?'
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Way too goooooo!!! :D Just say to yourself you will fall in love with other styles later that will work just as well for you. There will always be another bag/wristlet that you want, we all are this way! :p
 
#57
Jadis4742 said:
I did it! I did it! My first round of culling is done - four bags and three wristlets!

Ahhh it's a little nerve-wracking. I keep thinking 'but what if I want it later?'
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Yesterday I bought a bag that I had sold a few years ago. I wanted it for sentimental reasons because it was my first ebay Coach purchase. It was a good deal so I know I'll be able to get my money back someday when I sell it. As long as I know that, I don't feel any urgency to get rid of them.

Just remember Coach didn't make just one of anything. So if you regret selling them, it isn't like you won't be able to find them again eventually.

I've made a potential cut list but I'm going to wait a few months to make sure I still feel that way before I get rid of them.

I think I might use that technique of pricing them high enough that I won't regret it if they do sell.
 
#58
Jadis4742 said:
I did it! I did it! My first round of culling is done - four bags and three wristlets!

Ahhh it's a little nerve-wracking. I keep thinking 'but what if I want it later?'
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Great! And once they are sold and gone, you will find it easier and easier to cull.....and having to do this will make you more selective in your future purchases.

It was easier for me to cull handbags than it was for me to cull Legacy accessories, to which I had wayyyyy too much (and honestly still do) and those were the items I was going 'what if I want it later' about.
 
#60
whateve said:
The bags I'm having trouble getting rid of are the used ones that I don't like all that much but I paid too much for to be able to get a good portion of my money back if I sell them.
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I know what you mean but I try and look at this in a different way...yes, you (we) paid xxx dollars for certain bags...we haven't carried them so they sit. That's a lose/lose thing to me. So I sell one here and there for far less than I paid and...there's an empty space on the shelf AND there's money in my pocket. That's a win/win...JMHO

I'm not an eBay seller but manage to do okay in a yard sale sub-forum of another board I frequent, occasionally CL and other times...to friends. This won't work for everyone but for me...I'm okay with it. I've never had more than 12/15 bags tops, now I'm down to 8/9 or ten and still plan on selling a few more.
 
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