<p>You&#39;re probably aware of the economic gloom gripping the world - unless, of course, you&#39;re not. It seems that no one is immune, not even <em>Vogue</em>, my beloved purveyor of guilt-free frivolity. Whenever I feel guilty for buying something for myself, all I have to do is pick up the latest issue and tell myself, &quot;At least I didn&#39;t spend $900 on flip-flops,&quot; and go on with my life.</p>

<p>This month&#39;s issue has a helpful piece called &quot;The Economists&quot; where their editors show us that &quot;being chic without breaking the bank is, indeed, possible.&quot; I was intrigued (how could I not be?) so I took a look at it. DUDE. Do you know what they call &quot;budget&quot; shopping? A $500 <em>per item</em> limit. That means that you could spend $495 on sunglasses and $350 on flowers and $310 on a cuff bracelet and $475 on (gorgeous) green flats and they&#39;d still consider it &quot;budget shopping.&quot;</p>

<p>I love you<em> Vogue</em>, I really do. But don&#39;t jump on the frugal bandwagon when you don&#39;t have a clue. I&#39;ll stick to looking at your pretty pictures for inspiration and go elsewhere for budgeting advice, <em>thankyouverymuch</em>.</p>

<p>The video below gives you a taste of what they&#39;re talking about. It&#39;s unintentionally hilarious.<iframe frameborder="0" height="463" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://video.style.com/linking/index.jsp?skin=embed&amp;fr_story=a9c1a559675f499e58fc05d06c71e8685a2cbcdb&amp;rf=ev&amp;hl=true" width="424"> </iframe></p>

<p>At the other end of the spectrum is Target. I&#39;ll confess, I&#39;m not a big fan of Target (too much stuff and way too many people in one place.) But it was hard to miss the 5-piece luggage set on sale for $49 on the cover of their Sunday circular: </p>

<p><a href="http://www.everydaytreats.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/06/23/080622_p01ne_rnnk9.jpg"><img alt="080622_p01ne_rnnk9" border="0" class="image-full at-xid-6a00d8341db04e53ef01310fa39bc1970c" src="http://www.everydaytreats.com/wp-content/uploads/6a00d8341db04e53ef01310fa39bc1970c-pi.jpg" title="080622_p01ne_rnnk9" /></a> </p>

<p>$49! What a deal! Too bad you&#39;d have to be an idiot to travel with so much luggage these days. Don&#39;t you have to pay a check-in fee of $15 per bag - <em>each</em> way? Better spend your $49 towards one decent carry-on. Because - surprise! This set is <a href="http://www.target.com/Embark-5-pc-Luggage-Value-Set/dp/B000K1OFPU/ref=cm_reviews_dp_seemore/602-0621319-5106213?ie=UTF8&amp;coliid=&amp;frombrowse=&amp;alt%5Fview=custReviews">nothing but junk</a>.</p>
