Purseanally, I feel it is bad form for me to keep segueing into handbags at odd moments in other threads, so I'm starting this thread to discuss one of the really important things in life: Handbags.
So today I'm in Kohls, not only with a coveted 30% off coupon, but also $20 in Kohls Bucks which hubby got when he bought some pants and things for school.
Among other things, I bought a black bag I need, which is really cool because it has a shoulder strap with a slide adjustment, so that you can adjust it to any length, not just what the strap holes offer (which is almost always still too long for me).
But what I'm on here to talk about is this bag - I hope you can see this:
This was on sale for being discontinued. It is a Vera Wang satchel and measures about 18" wide at its widest point, about 8" tall, and about 6" wide, both top and bottom - a squarish shape.
So I bring it home and show it to hubby, saying, "I don't intend to use it as a purse, though."
"Let me guess," he says. "You're going to use it as a suitcase."
Yes!
For cosmetics and things like that. I've been looking at all kinds of cosmetics cases, hanging bags, etc., ever since we got the camper. Last trip, I tried using the hard, Tourister cosmetic suitcase that is the remaining working piece of the red suitcase set I got for Christmas before high school graduation. But it has gotten a weird, sweet baby powder sort of odor in it somehow, that imparts itself to what I put in it (and taste, in the case of medicines I put in there in plastic bags). Right now I'm trying to air it out to get that to go away. Plus it is kind of too big.
But I saw this purse, which is large enough for most of that, and doesn't smell awful! Plus my rolling bags are red, so it goes along with that.
The price on this was $129. Of course, this is Kohls, so that is just the manufacturer's suggested retail price really! Then they give their normal, lower price, but that's often like others' regular price. (You have to be aware of that at Kohls; without coupons, you may well be able to get an item cheaper elsewhere, on Amazon, for instance.)
So anyway, it was on super sale as a discontinued orphan item at 70% off, for $38.70. Then there is my 30% coupon off, making it 23.22. Then there's the Kohls bucks applied, which get applied before the 30% off, so it's was really only $14 saved, plus I bought some other things, so I figure about $5 of that could be apportioned to this purse.
Bringing it down to $18.22.
Or, if you decide all the Kohls bucks applied to only this one item, it would be nine dollars!
Very satisfying.
Last edited by Cocoanut Koala; 07-19-2013 at 11:48 PM.
Like the other one, I have no idea if you will see this on eBay, you may have to be on a list or something. It starts tomorrow, I had to put myself on the wait list. It was on the home page for me.
These sales are awesome, up to 75% off, which is how I got my other Coach bags, a STEAL.
(btw, if you really want one and can actually see the bags and want to work out something via paypal so I can buy it for you, I will)
So this is what I got, the Park Leather Hobo, a basic fall/winter bag for me. It was 55% off and I was accepted for the 6 month deferred payment from eBay so that will be like $35 a month.
I bought nada so far. I'm kind of looking for something specific and don't want to get sidetracked into buying just anything because the prices are so good. I did see that one and nearly hit "Buy". It's probably one of the best ones on the site this time around.
Yeah, the last summer sale was better. I need a new wallet and wanted a smaller bag as well, I may brave Century 21 later on.
Oh, btw, did you know you can sign up for similar Coach Factory sales online? It's the same deal, I guess but probably at different times. You just give them your info and they put you on a list and you are contacted via email when there is a sale. I had no idea.
That's some impressive work!
Both technically and artistically.
Does she sell them on Etsy or anything?
she has an eye good enough to have her own line, methinks.
I kinda feel like they would do well with teen - 20s girls whose mothers are fond of Vera Bradley.
That's some impressive work!
Both technically and artistically.
Does she sell them on Etsy or anything?
she has an eye good enough to have her own line, methinks.
I kinda feel like they would do well with teen - 20s girls whose mothers are fond of Vera Bradley.
I'm trying to get her to do that, or at the very least rent a little stall at Portland's "Saturday Market"
She really does have talent in sewing and knitting, but mostly keeps them for herself or gives to family or friends. The girl can do anything she sets her mind to, all self taught.
Well, there are all kinds of wonderful things on that page!
She should totally open a bakery and sell her non-edible goods there too!
Those mug rugs would be a great upsell item.
There's definitely unique marketing potential in such a thing.
But yeah, I'm with you.
She would do great at Etsy or the Saturday Market thing.
(And learn mesh, re-create virtual version and have a store in SL. )
She has a recognizable style and her stuff looks really well made.
In my opinion, she could easily turn it into a career.
I'm trying to get her to do that, or at the very least rent a little stall at Portland's "Saturday Market"
She really does have talent in sewing and knitting, but mostly keeps them for herself or gives to family or friends. The girl can do anything she sets her mind to, all self taught.
I'm trying to get her to do that, or at the very least rent a little stall at Portland's "Saturday Market"
She really does have talent in sewing and knitting, but mostly keeps them for herself or gives to family or friends. The girl can do anything she sets her mind to, all self taught.
Polka dot lining, back zipper, inside zipper and pockets, and the zipper you see is a separate section of the purse that goes all the way down to the bottom.
Eta: I forgot to mention I also had a $10 off coupon on clothes, which she took off that. So it was $29.99, not 39 as on that web site. Take off 30% from that, and it's $21. Minus some percentage of the Kohls cash I got.
Main thing though is I'm crazy about the purse.
(You could use the $10 only if you bought $50 worth of clothes, which I did. I also bought a sweater and a coupla long-sleeved t's.)
Last edited by Cocoanut Koala; 09-18-2013 at 10:38 PM.
So, yesterday younger daughter and I went out for a bit of retail therapy and lunch.
We were at the Macy's Clinique counter when some girl around my daughter's age comes by and in passing tells her she has a cute purse.
I asked my daughter how come, and she said Michael Kors. It was the bag her boyfriend got her this Christmas (they have since broken up).
What is it then, about a $300 purse? Yeah, she says, but you can't stay with a guy for his money.
So what, I ask, all you girls recognize these purses like guys recognize cars? Yes, she says, the name brands.
What are they? I asked. Oh, Michael Kors, Prada, Coach, and she names off a few more.
So, not my little not-real-leather 30% off from Kohls purse, I said? Nope, she said. (It happened to be the jade one with the polka dot lining I mentioned in the post previous to this one.)
But my purse is cute! I protested.
So I have to tell you people that I'm old and totally not with it. (But you knew that.) Which means that when girls and young women pass this little old lady with the nowhere purse in the mall and elsewhere, if they even noticed they did, and if they were even to think anything, it would be, there's a little old lady with a nowhere purse.
There's this whole invisible-to-me world of purses and purse recognition going on.
I told my daughter it's great to have a well-made purse that you know is going to last, like these name brand purses, but I like variety. (Which I do.)
Why, in my day, we didn't even have name brands. Which is true. What there were were for rich people. We had fads, but the idea of name brand articles of clothing and accessories just hadn't developed in the masses yet. (No perfumes by celebrities, either.)
My new glasses I picked out cause I liked them much the best, even though for some odd reason they were the most expensive.
"Kate Spade!" my younger daughter exclaimed when she first saw them. "Mom, you've got Kate Spade glasses!"
"is that supposed to be good?" I asked. Yes, she says.
"Well, that explains why they were so expensive," I said. "But I liked them best, except the little name on the side."
See, just not with it.
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I keep telling my rich sister to give me her year old purses because I'd be thrilled with them (the last I saw was a Chanel bag) even though they're "passé". No one here in my backwater town would know the difference. So far no luck. I can't justify spending megabucks (for me, anything over $150) on a bag.
2 users agreed. You should agree too, c'mon, you know you want to. (click it, click it now!)
Ladies, the Coach Outlet store is online. GREAT prices. You can sometimes get a cute little bag for about $50. Not this year's current line but Coach is collectible so who cares if it's last years?
BTW, bags are the only splurge for me. I spend so little on clothing, shoes, etc. Always looks for sales and am loathe to spend unless I have to. But bags are my weakness. But again, I rarely pay full price unless it's something you can't get otherwise (like, my Louis Vuitton bag, which was the least expensive they make - I can tell a knockoff a mile away and wasn't interested in that at all - plus, it was a "You Deserve This" kind of gift to myself after my divorce lol).
PS: The LV bag now looks like shit anyway. It's about 5 years old, has a tear in it and pen marks inside the lining. Meh. I still love it and use it. One day, I'll send it off to the manufacturer for repairs.
One year I got my daughter a coach purse for her main Christmas present. However, it was a very small one (about $125, I think). She didn't ask for a bigger one because they are so expensive. Neither of us knew about the Coach outlet.
She should be fixed up for quite a while, though, with this Michael Kors bag! Which is nice and big, very practical.
I needed some makeup foundation and my husband had given me a $50 gift certificate for Christmas. I love the Clinique bonuses, but those come only a time or two a year, it seems, so I wasn't expecting one.
Then we get in Macy's, and there are signs saying Clinique bonus with $25 purchase! I squealed and grabbed my daughter and jumped up and down. "Mom, you need to get out more!" she joked.
So I asked the girl if I could split my order (I bought several things) so we could each have one. She said yes! (I would have given my daughter mine otherwise.)
Two cute floral makeup bags each, plus a combo lipstick/mascara thing (I like them, too), moisture surge, dramatically different moisture lotion, some serum, and four eyeshadows.
Here's a picture of it (I hope). It looks like more than it is because there was a choice of lipstick as well as eyeshadow, so the picture shows both. But you really do get two makeup bags.
(We both chose the color set on the right.)
I buy makeup very rarely, cause I don't work out of the house, but I have bought Clinique my whole adult life, as a dermatologist once recommended it to me, along with a couple of other lines that were too expensive. I haven't paid attention to when they have their bonuses in a while, because Macy's stopped sending me notices of them several years ago. So that was very lucky!
I have three vinyl makeup bags from way back when from previous Clinique bonus times. I swear, the suckers are indestructible (unlike these two floral ones). I'm talking twenty, thirty years old! I use them traveling, and now for camping. One in particular is very useful - largeish, with handles and two compartments, the front one mesh. I hang it on a hook on the bathroom wall in the camper. The other two also, still look like freakin new!
These don't have that kind of lifespan, but very cute anyway!
Can I confess that I really want a Gucci bag just so I can say I have one?
I got a Michie bag which is really cool. You buy the inside (base) and outside (shell) of the purse separate. So, then when you get bored with the same old bag, you just buy a new shell and don't have to actually move your crap from one bag to another. It's so cool.
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