Dear Coach Purse,
We've had a lot memories over the past six years but I am afraid it is time to part ways. As I am sure you remember I bought you six years ago after I received my first bonus check from my first real job. I could have used that $300 to pay down my rapidly growing credit card balance or put it in my bare bones savings account. But, no. Instead I choose you. You should feel honored! You see at the time I needed you. To me you were a status symbol. You made me feel like a better person. I felt as if I was an adult and that I had finally arrived in the world. By proudly displaying you over my shoulder I felt stylish, affluent, and entitled. Which was exactly the opposite of who I really was at the time. I was beginning to drown in debt and I had more payments and financial obligations than I had the money for. So I clutched on to your leather straps and tried to forget about all of that. Because after all, I was 22 years old, and I deserved a $300 purse.
Over the past six months I have felt quite silly carrying you around. You just don't fit into my life any more. I'm a woman who makes her own laundry and dish detergent. I'm a woman who paid off over $25,000 in debt on one meager income in less than 15 months. How much sense does it make for me to carry around such a luxury item? It's not just my new frugal lifestyle. I have realized I don't need you any more. I don't need you to make me feel like a better person. I don't need the approving compliments from complete strangers. I don't need you to make me feel important. I have realized that I am a pretty awesome person on my own. When you are on my shoulder I feel like a walking advertisement for your company. I don't want other women to see you and think that they must carry around a status symbol too. I don't want to be seen with you. The bottom line is: I have outgrown you.
I have been meaning to give you up for a little while now but it just didn't make sense to get rid of a perfectly good purse. You were the only one I had left! Finally, I have a good excuse. A sippy cup full of sour milk leaked all over you and you reek to high heaven. I actually smiled when this happened because I knew I was finally free of you. Yes, I know I could go and get you professionally cleaned. But I am over you and the time has come for me to move on. Do not worry. I won't be carrying around my belongings in a grocery bag. I have ordered a beautiful hand made purse from an Etsy artisan that was made right here in the good ol' USA at a much more reasonable price. It will serve as both my purse and diaper bag so I won't have to cart two bags around any more. It is just a better fit for my lifestyle.
I want to thank you for your years of a service but with this letter I would like to bid you adieu.
Sincerely,
Hannah
Wow, I needed to hear this! Living in Italy it seems that a lot of women I know carry around designer bags, especially Coach ones. But it's just not me, it's not what I value, and I would much prefer to have that Etsy bag on my arm anyway! Thanks for helping me keep perspective on what really matters.
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