The Vivienne Files

Capsule wardrobes inspired by art and nature

  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Articles
    • Starting From Scratch
    • Common Wardrobe
    • Packing
    • Start With Art
    • Project 333
    • 4×4 Wardrobes
    • Weekly Timeless Wardrobes
    • Archives by Date
    • Archives by Categories & Tags
  • Support The Vivienne Files
    • Books, Clothes & more
    • Templates & Color Planners
  • Contact
Home » Many Small Thoughts – Collected

Many Small Thoughts – Collected

I often notice things that I want to remember to tell you all, but much of the time, no single thing is worth a full blog post.  So today, you get a whole bunch of relatively random factoids in one place.  ( can you believe that Spell-check did NOT reject the word factoid?)First up, the weather in Chicago has been uniformly dreadful – bitterly cold.  But my feet has NOT been cold when I was out, and that’s because I wear Bogs boots.  I  wear them with nothing but tights on my feet, and my feet don’t get cold.  Ever.  It’s amazing.

They’re not sleek,and they’re not elegant, but when you’re dressed in 14 layers of clothing and you look like a walking boudin noir, warmth is all you care about, really.

And I wanted to talk about mail-order catalogs.  We all get waaaaay too many of them, and we need to quit getting them.  There enters catalogchoice.org, a service which will get you OFF of mailing lists.  Think of it this way: if you receive a catalog, and you spend 2 minutes looking through it, that’s 2 minutes of your life you can never get back.  You might  find something you’ve always desperately needed, but more likely you either don’t see a thing that you need/want, or you suddenly develop a desire for something that you didn’t even know EXISTED 5 minutes ago.  Either way, if you don’t get the catalog, you’ve saved the time, the trees, and the temptation.  Register and get off those mailing lists.

 
Since the holidays, I’ve received a couple of VERY attractive clothing catalogs.  Really, really nice looking. But I decided to do a little bit of due diligence (as the finance peeps say), and I’ve discovered that these companies are…if not an out and out scam, at least pretty disreputable.  Bottom line: a beautiful catalog is nothing but a document – you’ve not seen the actual clothes,and you have no information about the company. At a minimum, do a LOT of research, pay with a credit card, and keep very close tabs on your order…
 
Books!  Read more!  Especially if you have an e-reader of any sort, you can get wonderful books from gutenberg.org. Free…
 
And if you’re struggling with controlling your shopping, read
 

 

It will help you shop less, and to control your wardrobe for a long time to come.  A very quick read, and highly recommended.I’ve stumbled upon a new internet site where one can sell or purchased clothes: thredup.com.  They send you a bag in which you can send them clothes, and then they sell them and give you a bit of a share of the proceeds.  You’re not going to get rich from this, but it’s a pretty effortless way to clean out your closets.  I’m curious to see how it all turns out – I’m sending them some thing…  I’ll let you know.  And I see some things for sale there that look really inexpensive – it might be a very sensible place to purchase something that you don’t need to wear more than once or twice.  If you have any experiences with thredup, be sure to share!

One final update – don’t ever let Google automatically create your hyperlinks, or your every misspelling will be immortalized forever…

 
Tweet
Pin1
Share
1 Shares

01.25.14 14 Comments

Tags: books
<<Build a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting With a “Difficult” Scarf: Sepia and Light GreyBuild a Capsule Wardrobe by Starting With a “Difficult” Scarf: Liberty London Ianthe Scarf>>

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2014 at 12:41 pm

    Thanks for this!

    Reply
  2. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2014 at 1:14 pm

    Guttenberg.org isn't the correct link. I'd love to know the correct one. Perhaps the Gutenberg Project?

    Reply
  3. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2014 at 1:46 pm

    The link is wrong. It should be thredup.com

    Reply
  4. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2014 at 1:53 pm

    Love these short quick Saturday posts. This could be a regular Sat feature. Janice's Small Talk

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2014 at 2:02 pm

    Janice, When I click on the address you gave for that company that you send your clothes to as mentioned in the post- it takes one to a website for people who sew-is the address correcr?

    Reply
    • Anonymous says

      January 25, 2014 at 2:04 pm

      PS: this is what the site says it is:"Welcome to Threadup.com
      Arts, Needles, Threads, Yarns, Canvases, Embroideries, Stitching, Stitch Patterns, Supplies, And More"

      Reply
    • Pam says

      January 25, 2014 at 3:29 pm

      try thredup.com

      Reply
  6. eclair says

    January 25, 2014 at 2:32 pm

    I read "Overdressed" and HIGHLY recommend it. Maybe it should be required reading…who knows? In any case it has permanently altered my purchases. I even bought a new Bernina after I read it and resurrected my sewing skills.

    Reply
  7. Anonymous says

    January 25, 2014 at 7:23 pm

    I loved the conversational tone of this, like having coffee with a girlfriend on a lazy Saturday morning. And I loved the "bits and pieces" aspect of it. If this could be a way for you to have an easier day once a week, I would welcome it! Brava!

    Reply
    • Anonymous says

      January 27, 2014 at 12:40 am

      I second that emotion!

      Reply
  8. Bookwyrm says

    January 25, 2014 at 10:15 pm

    I've been using ThreadUp for a couple of years now to keep up with my little one's ever changing size (the joys of having a preschooler). At the beginning of a season, I send in a bag and use the proceeds to help by a new wardrobe for her. Haven't tried it for myself but the clothes I've gotten for her are always good quality (which is hard to find in used children's clothes)

    Reply
  9. Anonymous says

    January 26, 2014 at 12:57 am

    Janice,
    I Love this! The idea of short takes on things you find, brilliant!
    Maybe this is the way you can cut back to 4 days of hard work a week?

    Reply
  10. Mary Anne C says

    January 26, 2014 at 3:23 am

    This post was fun. Thank you.

    Reply
  11. Bea says

    January 28, 2014 at 2:41 am

    My feet HAS not been cold. You talk like a school teacher's kid! I love threadup! I have gotten a lot of clothes for the princess from there. She is such a hard fit only the uberexpensive stuff fits. I am NOT going to pay $40 for a pair of jeans for a 5 year old! The clothes are always in excellent condition, even the boy's jeans, clean and priced to beat anyone! Stay warm, we're supposed to get ice tomorrow through Wednesday morning. We are stocked with firewood and plenty of bread and milk!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

logo
The Vivienne Files is a unique personal style blog with carefully-selected capsule wardrobes based on color palettes drawn from works of art, nature, and more. It helps women buy less clothing, and to love what they buy. Read more...
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter

STAY UP TO DATE

Privacy Policy

Recent Posts

  • First Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months - February 2023First Half of Six Paintings, 12 Months – February 2023
  • Accessories! Project 333 based on Morris GravesRain by Kay RussellAccessories! Project 333 based on Morris Graves/Rain by Kay Russell
  • wardrobe of the Week 03WOW Wardrobe Of the Week – January 22 – 28, 2023
  • Bloglovin
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Home
  • Start Here
  • Contact
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · Dazzling Theme theme by Restored 316