New Year

I like these first days of the year and the crisp, fresh feeling of new beginnings that comes along with them. While some of you were overdosing on Christmas carols and cookies, I couldn’t wait for January 1st to write in my journal: “new year, new me.”

One of my new year resolutions in 2018 is to REALLY organize my closet. It was last year’s resolution too, and while my closet has seen worse days in terms of organization, it’s still far from doing what it’s supposed to be doing for me. It seems like I’ve been searching in vain forever for way to catalog my clothes. Did you know there are apps to help you organize your closet? I have tried them all. And I’ve failed each time. I typically find their methods to be labor intensive and the technology to be clumsy, so they inevitably ended up in my apps cemetery and I end up wearing the same two or three outfits over and over again.

When a new platform named Finery was launched, promising to organize styles and manage my existing wardrobe, I jumped at the opportunity to try it out. The difference between Finery and its many competitors is that it harvests data that already exists—a.k.a. my previous online purchases and organizes them into a visual catalog of items that can be used to create Polyvore-type looks. Purchases made in certain stores can be added after the fact with the easy click of a button.

Full disclosure: nobody’s paying me to give you the skinny on this app. So, here are my concerns with what seems to be an otherwise awesome way of fulfilling my new year’s resolution and sending me straight towards garment Nirvana.

1. If you are a secret agent—or simply unnecessarily obsessed with email privacy—you might not like giving Finery full access to your email account. After all, this is the very crux of their operation; they have to go through your emails to find purchase receipts to locate the items that are potentially now in your closet.
2. If you like second hand merchandise, or flash sites, you might not be able to find your purchases. As a bargain connoisseur and NYC sample sale whisperer, I do make a point of practicing what I preach and shop almost exclusively at NYC sample sales, Gilt, RueLala, and Yoox. I was rather disappointed to find none of my RueLaLa or Gilt purchases on Finery, which means I had to resort to inputting them manually… just like my other [now deceased] apps.

Ugh… Why is the world bent on making it so hard for me to organize my closet?! Despite these issues, I will give Finery a chance. I will also likely write a follow-up article to let you know how it went. I think resolutions are important, and while some of them (okay, most of them… okay, most of mine) fail, they provide what this article calls a “salient reference point” for setting a goal.

Take some time to reflect where you are in life, and identify the key obstacles holding you back from where you want to be. Be clear, set achievable goals and deadlines, and do your best reach them. Don’t punish yourself if you fail—even the incremental changes and smallest victories are worth celebrating. While the freezing temperatures and post-holiday-empty-wallet malaise might prevent you from going sample sale shopping this week, do come back.

We promise you a year of fabulous deals that might surprisingly assist you in sticking to your new year resolutions. That promise is our resolution.

Cheers to 2018!

We recently conducted a poll on The Stylish City website which asked readers to vote on their number one resolution for 2013. Now that we’re already seven months into the “new” year, it’s about time we got around to revealing — and talking about — the results.

We have to say that the poll answers definitely came as a surprise to us. Before we dig into the results, though, know that nearly 300 people participated in this poll, all of them readers of The Stylish City.

Out of those 300 votes, a whopping 31% (read: almost a third of voters) said that their ultimate resolution — the resolution they most wanted to keep — had to deal with their weight. In second place, with 23% of the votes, was “health.”

What we found most surprising, though, was that “relationships” came in with the lowest percentage with only 9% of the total vote. In between the lowest and the highest were as follows: Career/Job: 16%, Money: 11% and Organization: 10%.

Now, we understand that there’s a lot that can’t be answered in a simple poll. Maybe the readers of The Stylish City have super healthy relationships with their family, significant others, etc. and didn’t feel the need to set any goals or resolutions regarding that aspect of their life. The same can be said of our readers’ finances or organization skills. If that’s the case, serious props to the women who have their pecuniary ducks and relationship matters all in a row.

It does seem strange, however, that the “weight category” came in at number one, especially at 8 percentage points above the second most popular resolution of “health.”

Maybe I’m crazy, but wouldn’t you think that your health, in general, is the ultimate goal compared to simply maintaining your weight? Even if you’re trying to maintain weight, drop some L-B’s or gain a bit of muscle mass, the reason you’re doing that should ultimately be motivated by a desire to be healthy, right?

As I write this, though, I must admit that I can see how “weight” may soar to the top of the list, even above health. Not to go off on a tangent, but as someone who’s lost over 50 pounds in the past three years, I strived to become a healthier version of myself throughout that weight loss journey, yes, but what really drove me was a strong yearning to look in the mirror and be satisfied with my appearance. To be able to fit into the coveted size 6, to feel good and look good. I care about my health, but I tended to care more about inches/pounds lost and a dwindling dress size.

This all leads me to a question I have for The Stylish City readers, especially those who selected “weight” as their number one 2013 resolution:

Why did you select the answer you did? And now that we’re over half way into the year, how are you doing on that goal? Have your priorities shifted? Did you fall off the proverbial wagon? Or are you totally kicking butt? We’re dying to hear your thoughts/comments, so share them in the comment section below.

By Wendy Rose Gould

It’s January, time for new resolutions. We all want to be slimmer, wealthier, happier, more loved in the New Year. I was just wondering, what is your one resolution you really want to keep this year?

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WHAT: Kick Off 2013: The New Year, New Shoes Online Sample Sale @ Ruelala.com

WHY: Kick Off 2013: The New Year, New Shoes up to 60% off!

WHEN: 1/2 3pm – 1/4 11am

WHERE: RueLaLa.com

*To sign up & access the sales, please click here.

RueLaLa.com