To consume or not to consume?

Since Christmas, Mr K-E and I have been on a strict retail ban. The main reason is that we are going to put our flat on the market this summer (fingers crossed) so we are trying to get rid of stuff, not accumulate more. When we move to a bigger place, the retail ban will be lifted and I will probably engage in a shopping frenzy.

We have already performed several "culls"; getting rid of clothes, shoes and other assorted crap that just fills up your living space. I have taken several binbags of shoes and clothes (some still have the tags on) down to the charity shop but man, there's still a long way to go.

However, symptoms of retail withdrawal have begun. I spend my evenings looking at handbags on Gucci/Dior/Mulberry/Balenciaga websites, licking my lips and whining. I haven't bought shoes for more than three months. I don't even dare to go into shoe shops because I know I am weak.

This is a dangerous weekend for me because Mr K-E is away and Selfridges is just a bus ride away. Must resist.

The hardest thing is that it's not about the money - I can easily afford that £850 bag. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a blip. (That makes me sound like such a show-off biatch, but I'm not, I promise.) It's the fact that the handbags I already have lie around on the bedroom floor and sometimes I even forget about them because they are buried under piles of semi-dirty clothes. Not to mention my Catholic guilt about people living on $1 a day while I feed into the great consumerist lie i.e. that buying more "stuff" will make me happy.

I also don't want my Boss to think I'm overpaid. Note to self : must keep up air of genteel poverty at work.

That's a Gucci "princy" in chocolate leather. Be strong, Katie -Ella, be strong.