Confession:  Pre-baby, I used to buy myself between 2-3 designer handbags a year.

There.  I said it.  Most of the time they were purchased resale (due to the business I was working in at the time) but nonetheless, buying myself a new designer handbag was something I did often and I enjoyed it.  Marc Jacobs was a drug of choice (and still is), with an occasional Tory Burch or even Kate Spade thrown in the mix.

I've always been a bag person.  Even as a kid, I would carry purses with all of my prized treasures inside.  My very first sewing project ever was a bag.  A drawstring backpack to be exact (it was the 90's).   Handbags were just something I was always drawn to.  The first thing I did when I found out I was pregnant was look online at diaper bags.  Yay I'm pregnant!  Now let's pick out a bag to carry all of my--I mean the baby's stuff in!

Fast forward to post-baby present day.  I carry a diaper bag every day, every where I go.  I tried the diaper bag and purse thing.  Did not work.  So I opted for the "smaller clutch with all of my stuff in it that goes inside the diaper bag, but can be easily removed when I'm not with the baby" idea.  If you follow me on Instagram, then you may have seen the clutch that I whipped up one afternoon.

So anyway (being a little long-winded today), I noticed a while back that I hadn't bought a new handbag in almost two years.  I was window shopping at the Kate Spade outlet store when the thought occurred to me.  I bought myself a Marc Jacobs crossbody bag for my birthday while I was pregnant.  All of a sudden, the withdraws started.

I decided to slowly save up some money to buy a new handbag.  No matter how long it took.  But which one to buy?  Go with my standard Marc?  Kate?  Tory?  Between lack of funds and my every waking thought having to go towards keeping a toddler alive, I knew it was going to be a long process.

In the midst of my designer back hunt, I stumbled upon a little unexpected gem in the corner of the Internet.  I discovered Better Life Bags, an organization that helps women in a low income area make money by making handbags.  In addition to that, they also teach women in the US and abroad how to sew, so they can potentially earn a living.  My heart melted.  I love handbags.  I love handmade.  I love non-profits.  And I love that women are learning to sew.

I decided I would rather give my money to someone who worked hard to create my bag, rather than give it to a big name designer worth billions.  This is actually something I had been struggling with lately.  While I was whining that I didn't have the money to buy a new designer bag, there are women in the world (and even this country....and in my own city) who can't afford to feed their children.

So instead of buying my designer bag, I bought a Better Life Bag.  A serious perk of this website is that you can design your own bag, down to the hardware.  I spent weeks trying to decide what I wanted.  I looked at different styles of bags, played with different fabrics, and decided whether or not I wanted inside pockets.

In the end, designing my own bag became too much (even for this design major).  I opted for a "ready to ship" bag that was almost the exact design I was looking into ordering.  Plus, with this bag I didn't have to wait 4-5 weeks for my custom order to be made.

I literally squealed with joy when I opened my mailbox a week later.  My "Cyndi" bag had arrived.  I absolutely love it. I'm already eyeing my next purchase which will probably be the Lydia DSLR camera bag.