While we were all caught up in the Net-a-Porter sale yesterday (and if you weren’t, you should go check it out immediately), another major sale launched, but with less fanfare: the Neiman Marcus sale, which boasts well over 500 discounted designer handbags, not to mention shoes, accessories, jewelry and clothes. In terms of sheer volume, this is the sale of the season to beat thus far.

Knowing that certain things never go on sale is one of the realities that most bag lovers face every day, but it doesn’t have to be. For so long, we’ve told ourselves that we have to buy designers like Chanel at full price, because the brand doesn’t put bags and jewelry on sale and buying secondhand can be risky – those were just the rules of the game.

If you’re an online shopping veteran (and we know you are), then we don’t have to explain this to you: the Net-a-Porter Sale just launched, and you want to get yourself over there right now to have first dibs on all the incredible stuff in the first round of discounts, which run up to 50% off regular retail. There is literally no time to spare.

Since it’s mid-morning on the day before most of us (at least in America) get a three-day weekend, I’m sure you need a little bit of online shopping fun to distract you. Don’t let me twist your arm or anything, but Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of the summer sale season, which means that sites like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale’s have taken a ton of fresh markdowns on handbags and beyond, and all of it is in-season stuff that you can wear for months to come.

We know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for the first big sale of the season to launch and signal the start of sale season, and here it is: the Nordstrom Half-Yearly Sale is on, and in it you’ll find a ton of handbags. In particular, fans of Marc Jacobs, Reed Krakoff, Alexander Wang and Marni will be pleased – the sale includes loads of covetable bags from those brands, plus contemporary stalwarts like Rebecca Minkoff and Kate Spade.

This summer, there’s only one thing that everyone on the PurseBlog team wants: handbags as bright as the July sunshine. Everything about summer is flush with color – the plants, the sky, the clothes – and this summer, your bag better follow suit or it’ll be left out of the fun (and you along with it). This weekend marks the official start of the season, and if you’re not prepared with a bevy of bright bags at your disposal (and even if you are, everyone always needs another bag), Gilt.com has an absolutely killer selection of kate spade new york bags that are just the pop of color you’ll need, all at below-retail prices that make stocking up the only option.

If you haven’t thought about California contemporary brand Linea Pelle in a while, it might be time you seek out the brand’s bags once again. They’re casual, made of wonderful, soft leather, and best of all, they won’t absolutely empty your bank account – everything on the brand’s website currently retails for less than $400, all the way from mini crossbody bags to large, carry-everything tote bags.

We’re one week closer to the arrival of summer and mere days away from the three-day weekend that unofficially begins the beach season, and it seems like it was just yesterday that we were all complaining about the cold and its refusal to leave. (Ok, it sort of was yesterday – it got downright chilly in New York at the beginning of the week.) To console yourself for the fact that it’s not quite Memorial Day yet (but so, so close), we’ve taken done our usual Friday thing – scoured the Internet for bags that are on sale and begging to be purchased.

As we inch ever closer to summer, we also inch ever closer to the full-on spring collection sales, and online retailers are starting to put more and more interesting things on markdown. As we always do on Fridays, we’ve taken the liberty of pre-shopping those new markdowns and finding the best of the best bag deals to present to you, our dear readers.

Now that May, glorious May, has finally arrived, things around here seem to be heating up for good, finally. That also means we’re inching ever closer to summer sale season, and although it’s not here quite yet (be patient, my friends), retailers are starting to mark things down here and there to try and move through spring’s finest wares. That means that the bags you’ve been coveting all season long might be a little more affordable than they once were, and as we always do on Fridays, we’ve scoured the Internet to see if today is your lucky day.