A Working Woman's Dilemma: expensive handbags

Dear Worldly, High-End Designers,

This is a letter of controlled frustrations. I consider myself a financially responsible woman. I save up a fraction of my paycheck every other week so that I may afford a small portion of my nursing school tuition two years down the line. I tend to splurge on occasion when it comes to great food or a beautiful dress. However, I constantly find myself torn on the issue of expensive handbags. Year after year, I convince myself that I will go the extra mile and save up for a worthwhile, pricey leather bag with enough room for all of my essentials (plus not-so-essentials) and it will be the best splurge purchase I will make for a long time. I tell myself, "This bag will be worth it. It will last a lifetime and you will never have the need to buy another one again."

Then I go online and scout out the competition. My heart sinks- I look at the prices and suddenly realize, yet again, that I cannot afford this. $395 for a timeless, yet simple piece of luggage, which will probably meet the harrows of my possessions- pens that I throw inside without their caps, pastries wrapped in their wax paper that unfailingly slip out and scatter their crumbs to the bottom of the bag. I cannot do such a thing to such an expensive item!!! Furthermore, my conscious simply will not justify the action. $395 could buy a sofa from Ikea, 8 reasonably-priced outfits, 3-4 pairs of Jeffrey Campbell shoes; it could push my savings into the next "thousands," or pay for my groceries for the next4 weeks.

After adding 3 or 4 bags to my "shopping cart," I rip off the band aid and exit out of the window, never to see those hand sewn leather goods again until next year when this fever hits me once more.

This annual trial and tribulation brings me to my request: PLEASE make more reasonably-priced, affordable handbags! There are countless women out there who would adore a beautiful Marc Jacobs bag that would assure them a lifetime of reliable utility storage. It is not that we don't have the style or beautiful taste that other women who own these bags do. Rather, we just cannot afford them!

On behalf of all women out there paying off their loans, saving up for grad school, paying off a mortgage, paying the rent, buying slightly-more-expensive organic groceries because they know it's better for them...please, do us a favor and treat us for all of our hard earned dollars; treat us for the 8-hour days spent sitting at our desks wishing our paycheck would include a refund for the gym membership we must maintain in order to keep our bum from permanently forming to the desk chair we practically reside in! Please, tack off $300 from that gorgeous piece of iconography and allow us the opportunity to make the image of the working woman a little more beautiful without going broke with our only possession, in the end, being a purse with nothing in it.

Yours truly,
Jacqueline

Post script:
I understand there are many retailers out there who provide discounts on these fabulous bags, and to those retailers, I thank you for your efforts.