Is it Possible to Own Too Many Pairs of Shoes?

How many pairs of shoes are too many pairs of shoes? For me, it’s when I have no more room on my closet floor or handy side ladders to house shoes. It’s also the one accessory item, except for maybe jewelry or a designer bag, that you can buy despite weight fluctuations. So if the shoes are cute, they tend to end up in my closet. Either through buying them online because I make the mistake of thinking I know the brand so they will work and they don’t, or in person. Even in person is no guarantee that I will ever wear the shoes again.

I get sucked up into the lust for the shoe.

My husband doesn’t understand how anybody could own that many pairs of shoes. He owns a brown pair and a black pair. But I just get started with basic brown or black. You’ve got to own a pair of flats in each color, followed by medium heels, high heels, open toe, pump, boots, casual sandals, dress sandals, and that’s 8 pair right there, and times two colors is 16 pairs of shoes. If you mix it up with patent leather, versus leather, or suede or fabric, well, you can see where this takes you down a rabbit hole.

There is always that special dress that totally deserves its own pair of shoes. The type of shoes you wouldn’t wear with anything else because nothing else is like that special dress.

And then one day you’re walking across the parking lot at, say, the Sacramento Board of Realtors, strutting in your Sarah Jessica Parker 4-inch heels, when something odd happens. You realize you can’t really walk. Yes, you seem to be hitting toe first but the heel is not following like it should. Slowing down doesn’t help. Nor does averting eyes from the cellphone. Instead, you find yourself prancing around like a 3 year-old wearing her mother’s heels. What happened?

For me, thankfully my team member Barbara can wear the same size. Because a pair of Jimmy Choos that I purchased a few months back didn’t let me make it from the house to the garage. I could not walk in those heels. I don’t know how Barbara can do it, but more power to her. Maybe I’m just coming to my senses when I embrace a desire to reduce possessions, which led me to conclude that I own too many pairs of shoes.

Time for serious shit. Last weekend, I combed through my closet and removed the pairs of shoes we will donate this year to a nonprofit. These appear to number 39 pair. Some of these shoes I’ve worn only once. At least they will go to a good cause, and some other lucky female can benefit from a Sacramento Realtor‘s wild spending sprees on shoes.