I’ve been into trying new things via delivery services lately. So far this year I have tried and cancelled two of them. There was nothing really wrong with them, but upon reflection I felt like they both added clutter to my life more than anything.
Image via Quarterly
First, I signed up for curated packages from Jason Kottke at Quarterly. I think this is actually a pretty great idea. I have followed Jason online for years now, so when he wrote about his curated packages for Quarterly, I signed up right away. Quarterly finds people in different fields (beauty, food, etc) that put together, or curate, 4 packages each year and sends them directly to you. Each is themed and the first one I got was the best – food from Jason’s homeland of Wisconsin. So in the middle of a winter afternoon at work, I got Wisconsin cheddar cheese, sausage and bitters for an Old-fashioned (big in Wisconsin, who knew?). Great! But then after that, I got some things that were retro fun but I ultimately ended up passing them along to my nephews, like sea monkeys and Mexican jumping beans. I would probably keep at it if I had my own children and it would be fun to open these packages as a family, but for now I’ve cancelled. I would recommend it for others who are intrigued – it’s always fun to receive surprise packages of curiosities.
Image via NatureBox
I also was getting shipments from NatureBox, which sends out a box of 5 healthy snacks a month, like dried fruit, nuts and edamame. I thought this would force me to snack healthily, but as it turns out I’m just not a big snacker, so it was taking me too long to eat my way through the bags. Again, probably good for a family, but I cancelled.
Now I am super stoked about a new delivery service I’ve found in the form of a personal stylist – StitchFix! Do you remember me blogging a couple of months ago about Lifehacker’s ‘How They Work’ series that I love? This is how I found out about StitchFix – one of the founders of Birchbox named it as one of her favorite time-saving tips. I signed up for an invite this past Saturday, got my login on Sunday, filled out my style profile and my first shipment went out on Thursday. Filling out the style profile was pretty fun. It covers the basics about your measurements, but goes deep on your preferences. You can specify certain patterns (animal prints!) and colors (purple) that you would prefer to avoid, you set price ranges for each items (higher for dresses than shirts, for example) and you rate photo collages of different clothing styles.
For example, this spoke to me:
Image via StitchFix
And this did not:
Image via StitchFix
I’ll get my first shipment on Monday – can’t wait! I know it contains 2 dresses, a tank top, scarf and chambray shirt. No more details til I open the package, though. The cost is $20 for their styling efforts. If I want to order any or all of the 5 items in the package, that $20 is deducted from the total. Otherwise, I just pack everything up and send it back.
I’ll post pictures and details next week after I try everything on and decide what, if anything, to keep.
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