Dear Boo and Lulu

In case it’s not already apparent, I must come clean and say that I love to shop – much to my husband’s frustration as I overtake our closet and a guest room with my obsession.  Not to justify or defend myself but I don’t have any other vices (not that I would categorize shopping as a vice) – I don’t smoke, I don’t drink (I’m allergic to alcohol – pity, yes), and I don’t gamble (except for an occasional game of mahjong with my cousins).  I have a full time job and make a decent living so I feel like I can shop if I feel like it.  Do I have an addiction?  Hmmm….perhaps but it also brings me joy and it’s just so fun!!  I am especially fond of being on the hunt for a very specific item – the challenge drives me.  Even when they’re sold out, I either hunt them down on eBay or look for a dup that rivals the original in value and quality.

So…I thought I’d start a series on my blog that I’m calling “Knock Off or Knock Out?”  For the purposes of this series, I am defining a knock-off as a duplicate of an original (which is taboo and has negative connotations) that I would NOT recommend purchasing while a knock-out is a fabulous duplicate of the original and therefore, I would recommend purchasing.  Pretty simple, I think.  I know this is not an original concept – Google or Bing “the look for less” and a whole crop of sites will come up.  Take my $0.02 for what it is, another woman’s opinion on what’s out there.

Now I’m not one to buy luxury designer high end items – it’s not practical for my lifestyle or pocketbook so most of the original items I’ll be reviewing here will be from “mall” retailers or online stores like J.Crew, Banana Republic, Madewell, Anthropologie, Ann Taylor, Kate Spade, Tory Burch, etc. while the dups will most likely be from Forever 21, H&M, JCPenney, Lands End, ASOS, or the factory equivalent of the mall retailers.

I hope you find this useful and entertaining…I know I’ll have fun hunting for bargains.  Let me know what you think – love to hear from you!