September 2, 2015

Why I'm trying Stitchfix again


I do have a thing sort of against Stitchfix in a weird way. And I don't like the pimping out of referral links*.  And Stitchfix is like the trademark of basic.  If there was a checklist of basic traits it would look like this:

Pumpkin Spice Lattes
Fall
Boots
Scarves
Stitchfix

I do fit the basic scale pretty well except that I don't like pumpkin so that statistic throws off my basicness and skews the data.

(This is mostly sarcasm. Don't be offended. I like fall as much as the next blogger.)

+However, I hate browsing for clothes.  I don't mind finding something I really like and buying it like I did with a couple of fantastic dresses last spring but I hate the physical act of driving to the mall/store/whatever and looking for something when I don't necessarily know what I'm looking for.  It's a waste of time.  And sometimes I feel the pressure of Well, I'm here so I might as well get this when it's something I don't love.

+And, over the summer, I took a day and tried on every single thing in my closet.  If it didn't fit the way I wanted it to or if I hadn't worn it since we'd been in Colorado (a full year), I got rid of it.  I do have a bag for clothes that are a little too big, a bag for clothes that are for the beach, and a bag of memorbilia-ish clothes.  I can't get rid of my high school soccer t-shirts or Penn State clothes.  No one would be snatching those up at a Goodwill in Colorado anyway.

+In this way, I created a partial capsule-ish wardrobe.  There was no specific number of items I was shooting for. I was just paring down to what I would actually wear.  I was pretty brutal about it too. There was no aspirational thinking. It was Do I wear this? and that was it.

+I do actually wear real clothes every day, but I have a lot of trouble justifying buying them sometimes.  I had a lot more clothes when I was in college, but now is when I need to put together outfits every day. I don't know why I keep dragging my feet.

+I've actually kept track of how much I've spent on clothes this year.  I was tempted to do this in January because Scott mentioned once about money that "went to Target" and he assumed (not in a bad way) that I was buying clothes.  I was actually at the SuperTarget spending $60 on groceries many weekends.  So I started keeping track of how much I spent and where I spent it.  Also, there was a blog post by someone this past spring and she gave herself at least $500 to spend every season.  I was all What?!?! That's so much! 

However, I got a package from Old Navy out of the mailbox a few weeks ago when Scott and I were on our way somewhere and I opened it up and said I bought some new stuff for school and Scott's all You don't need an excuse to buy clothes.  Which is nice.

+I've noticed my spending is primarily at Target, Old Navy, J.Crew Factory, and Gap.  The stuff at Target is mostly sandals/canvas shoes and crew-neck tees.  The stuff from ON, J.C.F, and Gap is usually online and mostly skirts and dresses.  There were also two fabulous dresses I got at T.J. Maxx in May for $70 total.  Those really stand out to me. And there was an amazing tunic from Aerie. And a pair of leggings from Athleta that started out January on an expensive note, but I wore them at least once a week until May so they've paid for themselves.

+AND...drumroll...I actually haven't bought a purse since OCTOBER 2014. That's almost a year without spending $100+ on a purse.  That deserves a standing ovation.  Actually I haven't bought a purse because I haven't had my eye on a purse and I was okay with the status quo.  I do have my eye on this one, but I'll probably wait until Christmas-ish.  I'm good for now.

+If we're talking shoes, I'm not a shoe person at all.  I might get a new pair of brown boots this fall and I'd like a pair of brown booties.  My brown boots are 3 years old and my black booties are also 3 years old.  The only shoes I've bought this year were some canvas sneakers at Target and some $8 sandals that are pretty fabulous.  I get my gold star in frugality in this category.

All of this is why I attempted Stitchfix again.  This is my long-winded explanation: There are two things I got from Stitchfix back in 2013 that I still wear ALL THE TIME.  I love them.  I've always kept that in the back of my mind. Like, what exactly do I have against them? Well, they're overpriced, but I'm not spending lots of money on clothes elsewhere and, really now, time is money because I'm not going to waste time browsing for clothes.  This is easier. It nice to have someone say This is in style right now. Try it on. And it's much less overwhelming than walking into a department store.

I got a box over the weekend and you'll have to come back later this week to see what I liked and what I didn't (i.e. this post is getting to be annoyingly long).

There are two things I was so conflicted over that I had to wait for Scott to come home from his camping trip so he could offer an opinion.

*You might ask how I can sell something like Rodan+Fields and still not like it when people advertise referral links. Well, I invested in running my own business, so I like to think it's different. But the bigger reason is that I believe that Rodan+Fields has something for everyone and I don't think everyone should try Stitchfix. I'm conflicted enough over getting back to it myself! And I just wrote an entire manifesto of reasons. That's dedication toward proving a point.