My First Stitch Fix Review

Have you heard about Stitch Fix?

I first learned about the company two years ago when they were brand-new, but didn’t try their service for the first time until this summer. Basically, Stitch Fix is an online styling service. You fill out an extensive style profile online (sizes, body type, preferred price point, etc.) and a stylist uses that information to put together a personalized box of five clothing and accessory items that ships right to your front door. You pay a $20 flat styling fee each time you have a Fix shipped to you, but that fee is deducted from whatever you decide to keep from the box. When you receive a Fix, you have about three business days to try everything on and decide what you want to keep. If you keep everything in a Fix, you get 25% off the whole box! Whatever you don’t keep you simply slip into a prepaid shipping bag and send back. You can schedule automatic Fixes (as frequently as every two weeks, or as infrequently as a few times a year), or you can just request one whenever you want to. There are no other fees.

The clothing and accessories vary widely in style and price, according to your personal tastes. No two Fixes are identical. They even offer petites and maternity (but no plus sizes yet). You can create a Pinterest board to help your stylist get to know your preferences, and you can leave them notes about what you want, as well as feedback on each Fix you receive. One thing I love about Stitch Fix is the convenience. I like being able to try things on at home and take my time deciding what to keep. Another thing I love is how personal it is. They really take into account your body type, fit preferences, even favorite colors and fabrics. If you are looking for pants for work or a dress for a special event, you can write a note to your stylist and they’ll take it into account. A few of my Stitch Fix friends don’t really like to shop, or don’t have the time, so they love having a stylist choose things for them. I enjoy shopping when I have time and our family as a set monthly clothing budget so I probably won’t get Fixes more than a few times a year, but it’s a fun way to mix things up and a great opportunity to try styles you might not otherwise choose in the store.

Honestly, my first Fix wasn’t great (I didn’t keep anything), but I wasn’t very specific about what I wanted and that seems to be a key to a great Stitch Fix experience. My second Fix, that I’m sharing here, was more on-target. I can tell that Olivia, my stylist this time, really paid attention to my notes and tried to choose items that I’d love. Here’s what she sent:

Everything comes beautifully wrapped and these style cards are included to give you outfit ideas, as well as a personal note from your stylist. I had asked for a pair of shorts, some tops that would be comfortable in the Florida heat, and a summery maxi dress. I didn’t request any accessories this time. Olivia definitely paid attention to my requests and picked up on my obsession with navy, as well as trying to accommodate my love for natural fibers.

Kut from the Kloth Jayme Shorts

These shorts are perfect! They are well-made with just the right amount of stretch, a mid rise, and are a great length for me. I knew right away that I’d be keeping them.

Lavender Brown Silk Tie Neck Blouse

I loved the colors and print in this top, but it was a little short and boxy on me, and it was also 100% silk, which doesn’t exactly suit a work-from-home mom of young kids (not to mention the $98 price tag). I returned this one.

Skies are Blue Cheyne V Neck Top

This top was cotton, which I loved, but it was both too wide and too short on me. Fit is really important to me, so I sent this one back as well.

Loveappella Tarzana Maxi Dress

I wanted to love this dress. The blues, the stripes, the ombré—it’s a beautiful dress. It just didn’t look beautiful on me. So, back it went.

Olive & Oak Pratt Maxi Dress

This dress is similar to a shorter navy and white striped one I have, so I knew right away I probably wouldn’t keep it. The fabric was thick, which I liked, but the top was really big and the straps kept sliding off my shoulders. So I returned this one, too.

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I ended up only keeping the shorts and sending everything else back to Stitch Fix, but I still consider it a successful Fix because I kept something I really needed that fit well and I didn’t blow my budget.

If you want to try Stitch Fix, please use this link to sign up and I will receive credit when your first Fix ships, then share your experience with your friends so you can get credit too! If you do try it, be sure to let me know what you think!

Pooptastrophe: An Update

Remember that post about potty training I wrote more than a year ago? I wish I could say that after I wrote it my son quickly figured out the potty and life has been blissfully diaper-free ever since. I certainly didn’t plan to write about poop on my blog (or anywhere) again. But here I am. I want to share this because I know I’m not the only mom for whom potty training is a remarkable struggle, and if this can help or encourage someone it’s worth it.

After the pooptastrophe messes ended, Lincoln’s potty training status didn’t change for more than a year. I kept buying diapers, and he kept going in them, with the occasional small victory of him peeing in the potty when we could coax him to try. We offered incentives, bought cool underwear, tried bribing with M&Ms and Matchbox cars, but nothing could make him give up his diapers and go on the potty. He flat-out refused to even try pooping on the toilet. (He did poop in the backyard once, but we decided not to encourage that…)

As he passed his third birthday, and then passed 3-1/2 as well, his inner conflict and my frustration grew in tandem. He was old enough to completely understand the situation. He knew he should go on the potty, he knew he should wear big boy underwear like his friends, and a part of him wanted to, but he just couldn’t do it. I didn’t want my frustration to show, so when I ran out of new methods to try, I stopped even asking him about the potty for awhile and just quietly changed his pull-ups. He frequently struggled with constipation from holding it, he would hide from us to poop even though he didn’t need to, and he just seemed miserable.

Finally, two weeks ago, we got truly desperate. His fourth birthday was coming. School was starting in a month and he had to be potty trained to attend Pre-K. The diapers had to go. So my husband and I resolved to get rid of pull-ups, except at night, and just wash a lot of underwear and gently encourage him to use the toilet until something finally changed. We knew it could take a long time, and we even knew he might not be ready in time to go to preschool, and we were okay with that.

The first day of our new plan was so hard. Actually, the entire first week was hard. He peed on the potty without a problem, but he also pooped in his underwear in tiny increments constantly throughout the day. One day I helped him change his underwear 12 times. We had a special bucket in the utility sink for soaking dirty underwear. It was gross. And nothing seemed to change, except that I now had to stop what we were doing every 15 minutes to do an “undie check.” But after a week, things did start to change, almost indiscernibly. Lincoln would sit longer on the toilet (while we read to him) and I could tell he was really trying not to poop in his underwear. But I didn’t want him to get constipated again or make himself sick from holding it. My friend Heather suggested letting him watch or play something on the iPad while sitting on the toilet, and I resisted the idea. We only allow our kids very limited iPad time, and it also just felt kind-of gross to hand electronics to my son on the toilet, but I finally decided to try it. (Something this whole process taught me is humility and willingness to try a lot of things because you never know what will finally work!)

The day I tried it was the day before his fourth birthday. We had just gotten home from a frustrating morning at the dentist and all I was really thinking about was getting lunch in our bellies. It had been days since Lincoln’s last bowel movement and I could tell that he had been holding it all morning. I told him if he sat on the potty, he could play his favorite iPad game while he was sitting and trying to go. When I checked on him five minutes later, he had gone pee and poop in the toilet and was still nonchalantly sitting there, playing his game. He hasn’t had an accident since. After nearly two years of struggling, a silly iPad game was what it took to relax him enough to go, and when he finally went his fear was gone.

A few of the major things I learned through this entire process:

1. Everyone says it, but it’s true: wait until they’re ready. And by ready, I mean practically begging you to let them use the toilet. If you feel desperate and you just want to be done with diapers so you think about trying out a potty training bootcamp with your child who has shown no interest in it, don’t do it. Just don’t.
2. Gauge and know your child. This also probably goes without saying, but every kid handles this differently. They all approach it with different hang-ups. Be sensitive to those things. Will they respond better to a slow, gradual process, or a two-day all-or-nothing approach? Are they willful, or genuinely scared of something? Do they learn by example, by reading a book with you and talking a lot about it, or just trying it themselves? Don’t assume that your strong-willed child will be difficult to potty train, or that the laid-back baby of the family will be a breeze because they’ve watched their older siblings.
3. Never shame them. Shame and the bathroom should never go together. Despite the frustration we sometimes felt with Lincoln during this process, we tried never to show it. Instead of sighing and complaining or berating him every time he went in his diaper, we tried to say things like, “Next time maybe you can go on the potty like a big boy.” I said that daily for almost two years; eventually, it happened.
4. It’s not about you. Whenever I make one of my kid’s milestones or accomplishments more about me than about them, things go terribly wrong. When it’s more about my convenience and not wanting to change diapers anymore than it is about my child’s comfort and readiness, I need to realign my priorities.
5. Gather allies. I was given a wealth of encouragement (and advice, when asked) from fellow moms. I confided in Lincoln’s teachers at church so they knew the situation. I never realized how common and varied potty training struggles are until I confided in other moms and heard their stories. So often we try to gloss over our parenting struggles because we’re embarrassed, but then we end up struggling alone and we miss out on the great encouragement that can be found in simply saying, “Me too. I’m going through that too. You’re not alone.”