To bring you up to speed... aka: Why I am going to hell in a handbag

Although I am not a religious person (my family raised me as a Catholic, but I do not practice or identify as such), I sometimes feel like I am going to hell in a handbag. I have a problem in that I am too good at shopping.

I set limits for myself, like "only when this is 80% off," or "not until you sell $200 worth of stuff you already own" but I always meet them.

And so I shop more. I KNOW I don't need anything else. I am a smart person. I have closets (yes, plural) full of increasingly beautiful, contemporarily relevant, flattering, high-quality clothes and accessories. I know many have more than me, and even more have less. I am fortunate to be in such a shallow, materialistic predicament.

Conceivably, I could go entire semesters, maybe even a year, without repeating outfits. I often find that at the end of the season, I still had many outfits left in the queue that never got to be worn.

In a way, my closets have become self-sustaining entities, in that I often sell to make room in the budget to replace. I have a budget from the stipend and salary I have from teaching undergraduate courses. I don't always sell in order to replace, although that should be a new self-imposed policy. I have some minimal debt. I should sell to squash it instead of buy new.

This week I bought a few things.

Steven by Steve Madden Director pumps in black.

I coveted these for a while as they reminded me of Chloé ones that exceeded my price range and heel height threshold. I found them on smartbargains for more than half off. I also got free shipping. They haven't arrived yet.

I ordered a Marc by Marc Jacobs softy zip clutch from standardstyle.

It was marked down, then I had a coupon code which made it inexpensive. But the order never arrived. I called the company and discovered that they were out of stock. So I bought this gold one on ebay for even less. The gold is peeling in parts but the leather is nice. I also wrote the company asking them about a replacement for the defect.

I won a By Malene Birger cardigan on ebay. It is still on net-a-porter for a lot of money. I got it for very little. It is beautiful but sort of itchy and already too warm for this unexpectedly balmy April.


For my birthday I bought a number of things.
Marc by Marc Jacobs Softy Max tote in Camouflage.

Twinkle by Wenlan dress, Elevensies skirt, and James Coviello Orchard Walk jumper from Anthropologie
DVF Dutch dress from DVF.com

I also sold a number of things.
Botkier E/W Trigger Satchel
MBMJ Luxy Leather Faridah

And had birthday money to spend. I don't think it evens out though. This is a problem.