I participated in the Northwestern Habilitation Employee Health Fair yesterday in the St Louis area.  It’s a facility for mentally disabled adults, and a couple of the nurses there organized the health fair for all the employees.  It was well organized and put together.  There were fourteen vendors including myself.  There was PNC Bank, AFLAC, Sam’s Club, Medical West, a representative from the company with EAP, Usborne Books & More, Mary Kay, Avon, Organo Gold, Scentsy, a massage therapist, a woman who does exercises with weighted hula hoops and my Soul Purpose booth.  We were all networking and talking with the employees, I was feeling very comfortable if I may say so myself.  I was talking about the Soul Purpose products, getting people registered for my giveaway and really networking with the other vendors.  

Disclaimer….I am not a hater, really.  I will tell any woman, do your “thang” to make a living for yourself.   I’m sure trying, see my display?  

Here comes the lady selling the knockoff designer purses, sunglasses and jewelry!  Have you seen a swarm of ants when they discover a new crumb of bread or something on the sidewalk?  They scurry over to get to it and work that crumb like it was gold!  I have never seen something like that until yesterday.  They dropped us all like yesterday’s news and went over to the lady selling the purses!  She could barely get her tables set up before they were swarming her table grabbing those purses, trying on glasses and jewelry.  She couldn’t keep up with them!  One woman spent $150 on four purses.  I was astonished (I really was) looking at the women hunt for the purse of their liking.  Needless to say, she had a very successful day.  The ladies were all walking around with their new purchases, proud of them, talking about what they were gonna wear with them, etc.   This is my question….

How long will knockoff purses last?  They aren’t as durable as the “real” thing, so why keep buying them?  I will admit I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to this.  I shop at the discount stores, I love a bargain.   I’ll shop just about anywhere if they have something I like.  I learned long time ago when my girls were small that you can’t buy all their summer clothes from Walmart or Kmart because the quality wasn’t that good.  One good wash & dry and they shrunk, or the original shape was gone.  I shop there and buy things from both stores occasionally,  but I don’t put clothing I buy from either store or stores like these in the dryer and I wash in cold water only.  Also, check out my girl Donna on her new blog, discount thief , she tells us where the discounts are so we can save money.  Ok back to the purses….I own several designer bags, but every last one I’ve purchased has been at a discount.  The Coach outlet in Las Vegas, Dooney & Burke online with their 50% off sale every month, and my new favorite is the Army Exchange because the Mr is retired military.  In this picture of me, I got my Michael Kors for $100 less than retail!  The point I’m trying to make is if you are going to spend your money on a designer purse, then by all means do it, but get the real thing.  You are worth it, don’t cheat yourself, please ladies.

I know some are gonna say, we can’t afford the real thing.  Then don’t buy it, that simple.  Get yourself a good quality purse that you can afford until you are able to buy a real designer bag.  That’s how I did it, and most of them I’ve had for years.  I don’t own that many because it’s not a priority.   Most of mine are vintage ones  from my mother, those are all over 25 years old.  She was a true diva.  Let me know what you think on this subject, maybe I’m way off.