It’s impossible to ignore that times are changing drastically, and with 2020 being the year of reckoning, it’s unsurprising that many of our needs (and wants) have changed. Whether you’ve given yourself a bag-buying ban due to a stricter budget, or you’ve simply realized that when you carry your bags and what you put in them has changed, for many of us 2020 has served as the perfect time to reassess our current collections.
I recently moved from my small apartment in New York City to a larger space in my same downtown Manhattan neighborhood. The move was fairly last minute, as the real estate market has been more tumultuous than ever before, changing day to day and minute by minute. My roommate and I chose to wait out the extension of our lease to see where our budget took us, and we happily found a larger space that our budget could still accommodate.
Having more room also means more storage, and even though I have taken every single item from my last apartment into my new one, I know that now is the time to truly evaluate the bags that I own. Admittedly, I have more bags than I even realize, and when I began packing up my old apartment and pulling out every item of clothing and accessory from each corner of my closet, I realized how many bags I actually own. I haven’t done the full count in detail, but I believe it is somewhere around 20—10 premium designer bags and 10 contemporary.
Packing, moving, unpacking and organizing has definitely shown me that I need to be better at rotating my bags and not favoring some of my newer purchases. However, assessing what I currently own has also helped me to realize that I need to work on not only paring down my collection a bit more, but also truly be better about analayzing a bag and how it will function and work in my day to day before I add it to my collection.
As of yet I haven’t parted ways with any of my bags, though I am currently in the process of deciding if I am going to sell my Gucci GG Marmont Black Shoulder Bag. I’m looking at how it fits with my current style these days and trying to decided if it is worth keeping since I don’t really use it as much as I anticipated I would. Have you sold off any bags from your collection recently? If so, what and why?
All of my Michael Kors bags except for one, all of my large bags except for my work bag, and any bags that I haven’t used in years. I didn’t sell these bags. They’re not worth the time. My kids said that they wanted to try to sell whatever my relatives don’t want.
I got rid of he bags because I no longer needed to carry large bags once my children got older. I also needed to stop hanging on to things. I basically realized that as much as I liked my Michael Kors bags, I felt like I had outgrown them if that makes sense. They don’t feel as grown up as they used to feel.
It’s mind boggling how spacious that my closet is now as I also purged my clothes. I lost 40 pounds and kept it off for the last two years. They should have been thrown out a long time ago.
Just sold a small vintage Coach tote bag and a small vintage Ferragamo black canvas shoulder bag last month. Sold them at a really low price. And a Givenchy medium blue nightingale at the start of the year. I had 2 of them and i decided to keep the tricolor version because i have the same royal blue color in 2 different bags already (chanel mademoiselle and goyard st louis tote). Im loving the extra space in my closet. And the extra money i made is going to my birkin fund.
I recently re-homed 3 Kate Spade saffiano leather bags from my closet to the “for future” section for my 2 daughters. I bought them when my girls were infants/toddlers because I was determined to not lose my fashion sense/identity and they served a “fashionable yet functional” purpose – ones that I could wear, feel like myself in, 100% carefree and not worrying about sticky hands ruining something.
My kids are older now so I’m usually carrying my premier designer bags and seeing the unused KS ones in my closet just gave me negative feelings. The closet makes me happier when there are less items in it and when I truly love them all.
I sold three bags on poshmark (Polene, and two ferrigamo, and a Longchamp to thread up)
I also sold my Chanel chain-around-maxi. I found a gorgeous blue jumbo on Fashionphile, and I really wanted it. I knew with the pandemic, my need for a larger bag like the maxi is becoming less and less. Fashionphile offered me more than I purchased it for, so I felt like it was a good time to sell and put the money into the jumbo. I LOVED the chain around maxi, but I honestly just didn’t see myself using it much in the next six months. I ask sold my BV pouch at a huge loss. That sucked. It’s a great bag, but I bought it in January with the intention of using it for spring/summer social events, and other than a few dinners out, I wasn’t using it enough. I never carried it in the day because of the lack of strap or handle.
For me, I hate holding onto bags I don’t see myself using. I’m definitely annoyed I got swept into the pouch hype. Lesson learned!
I sold three bags on poshmark (Polene, and two ferrigamo, and a Longchamp to thread up)
I also sold my Chanel chain-around-maxi. I found a gorgeous blue jumbo on Fashionphile, and I really wanted it. I knew with the pandemic, my need for a larger bag like the maxi is becoming less and less. Fashionphile offered me more than I purchased it for, so I felt like it was a good time to sell and put the money into the jumbo. I LOVED the chain around maxi, but I honestly just didn’t see myself using it much in the next six months. I ask sold my BV pouch at a huge loss. That sucked. It’s a great bag, but I bought it in January with the intention of using it for spring/summer social events, and other than a few dinners out, I wasn’t using it enough. I never carried it in the day because of the lack of strap or handle.
For me, I hate holding onto bags I don’t see myself using. I’m definitely annoyed I got swept into the pouch hype. Lesson learned!
I really need to unload some bags. I think I’m around the 50 mark! Yikes. I do have a Balenciaga vintage bag up on ebay but no one seems to want Balenciaga bags these days.
This spring and summer I’ve sold a bunch of Longchamp bags, a couple of Mulberry bags (even Alexa, which I’m very surprised about) and a Tiger of Sweden, luxury and contemporary wallets and other accessories like scarves, key chains etc. Several other bags are still going to be sold and some are also being donated.
Covid changed a lot, I had been thinking about some serious downsizing for a long time but after all the s**t that went down in early spring and ever since, owning expensive bags and wallets started to feel very unnecessary. I dug out my Kipling bags and fell in love with them all over again.
I did purchase a Coach Field tote a couple of months ago but it’s been in nearly constant use ever since I got it. It’s obvious I needed this bag in my life. No regrets!
I recently sold a Saint Laurent bag and my Chanel Reissue 226. The Reissue seems to be one of those bags that I get a “craving” for, and then after having it for a few months, I get tired of it and end up selling. I almost never lose money on it since I always buy it pre-owned, so it’s not a big deal, but I just need to remember that THE BAG DOES NOT WORK FOR ME.
I’ve slowly whittled down my wardrobe to seven bags and I’m planning to sell two. One is a small black Givenchy Pandora, the other is a small black Celine Sangle, but I’m on the fence with that one. Looking to add a new bag eventually, a Reissue 225 in black/ruthenium would be a dream, though that won’t be for a long time.
I almost admire you girls and guys that are capability to reduce your handbag number to those numbers. I do not try. I think that the reason is that we should have different principles to get to those numbers. My principles for my minimal numbers roughly mentioned here. Number 1: I use my handbags and rotate in a daily basis ( minimal 2 per day, a working one and a smaller after work). Number 2: I select my handbag based on color to match the daily outfit (ok, I choice the clothes based on the bag I want to take with me, jeje) and size for the purpose. I classify by colors in around 8 colors including: black, beige, red, green, orange, yellow, blue and brown and by size in 3 categories: large, medium and small. Therefore just based on those 2 concepts I need at least 24 pieces. The models and shapes are also a big concern not just size so it would increase the number and there are shapes that you would not use more than occasionally but I would not take out of the collection. I can understand that it is easier to reduce for those that prefer to using the same handbag for a week or more. We are all handbag lovers but we have different approaches to how we enjoying wearing handbags. It is always interesting to read your points of view.
I can truly relate to you too. I try to have at least 1 bag for each color but more on My favorite color which is pink. I have 32 designer bags based on my last count. I want to sell more but i dont want to get rid of my vintage bags especially now that they are on trend again. And the rest of my bags are classic styles. Will never sell those. I try to buy 1 classic bag from each brand but i always break that rule. I have multiples from givenchy valentino and of course from LV chanel and hermes. And just like you i try to have 1 small size and 1 big size for every color. Except neutral ones. Im good with just 1 black and 1 beige.
I have been unloading all of my Coach bags, except for a select few my mother-in-law gave me. Prior to the pandemic I would’ve kept the majority of my bags, but now I am considering selling a few more, even a few of my Hermes, because I simply don’t have a huge need to use them! This could change of course, pending a vaccine or similar events. 2020 has made me evaluate what I’m doing with my life and how I’m spending on tangible, unnecessary goods.