There was a time when I was the queen of Neiman Marcus. Back in the day when I worked on Wall Street, I went to Neiman Marcus twice a year, Fall and Spring, to buy my business suits for the season. I bought five suits with matching blouses and spent what now seems like a ridiculous amount of money.
My priorities and circumstances have changed a great deal since then, (not least of which is that one of my life goals is never to wear a business suit again in my life). Back then my cosmetics were from Chanel and changed with the seasons. Now, make-up is less of a concern as I work from home. But these purchases also reflect the self-absorbed consumerism that drove my spending habits. I developed pet spending projects that became obsessions. When I took a trip overseas, one of the highlights was buying an Hermes scarf on the plane ride home. But then, if I had one scarf, wouldn't two be even better? And then there was my Steiff period in the mid-nineties, when I became an ardent col…
My priorities and circumstances have changed a great deal since then, (not least of which is that one of my life goals is never to wear a business suit again in my life). Back then my cosmetics were from Chanel and changed with the seasons. Now, make-up is less of a concern as I work from home. But these purchases also reflect the self-absorbed consumerism that drove my spending habits. I developed pet spending projects that became obsessions. When I took a trip overseas, one of the highlights was buying an Hermes scarf on the plane ride home. But then, if I had one scarf, wouldn't two be even better? And then there was my Steiff period in the mid-nineties, when I became an ardent col…