Yes, you read that correctly. I was reading the Sunday Paper(ok, just the front pages of the sections, after all it is only the Fresno Bee) and I saw an article called Rental Chic. So the theory is that you either pay a rental fee for a specific purse or pay a subscription fee. The reasoning is that this way you can have those outrageously priced bags and you aren’t tied to just one. To give you some figures to rent a $475 Gucci bag you can pay $79.90 a month. Now let me in my boring logic point out that you could own that bag in less than 6 months if you just saved the money up. Now the other point is so you are not tied to a specific expensive bag. I would suppose this would be especially useful for those wild trendy bags. Bag, Borrow or Steal was one of the places that offer a subscription service. Their base starts at $19.95 a month and that is Cynthia Rowley and Moshino level bags. The highest level(appropriately called Diva) is $99.95 a month and you can get Hermes and Burberry. The Diva even has an option to pay an additional fee to rent a bag from the Couture Collection. I know that this is appropriate for certain trendsetters but is this just reaffirmation of trying to keep up with the Jones? I do have one friend who I can see contemplating, and perhaps even doing this(I will confirm or deny if you are she if you ask) but I think on the whole this is dangerous. We in society seem to feel this need to get things that are out of our budgets to pretend we are something we are not. Yes, I don’t just get my purses at Target, but often on clearance. What statement am I hoping to make…While I would like to look cute it isn’t my priority. I also am saying that this is how I carry my junk and my kids junk. I am just happy it isn’t a diaper bag. I am not saying that there is anything wrong with having nice things that you pay full price for but…Why is it what defines us? Why is it how we judge one another. How about I never wonder how much your purse is and you don’t judge me for mine?