Thursday, January 10, 2008

Just Say No to Catalogs


When I was a kid, I loved catalogs. I would wait for the Sears "Wish Book" to come every fall and start planning what I wanted for Christmas. And, when I was 10, I got to pick a new bedspread from the Sears Catalog. I was so excited about my blue calico quilt-top ruffled skirt bedspread! It looked somewhat like this, but it was colonial blue and navy:

In high school, I really got in to catalogs. In fact, when I would babysit, one of my favorite things to do once the kids were in bed, was to look through catalogs. In this way I was intoduced to the Hanna Anderson and the Tiffany catalogs. I loved looking through all of the catalogs and imagining my future life. I also used to cut pictures out of catalogs--my favorite was a particular J.Crew model from the early 90s. He had brown hair and green eyes (coincidentally, so does D). I still like to cut pictures out of catalogs for decorating ideas (and recipes from Williams Sonoma).

I still love catalogs, but I'm now completely bombarded with them! I would love to receive a catalogs from selected merchants as often as once per season, but that's it! I could handle 4 LLBean catalogs a year, or 4 from Crate and Barrell, Garnet Hill, Ballard Designs, J. Crew, Pottery Barn, Restoration Hardware, Williams Sonoma, etc. But, I think I receive a catalog from LLBean and Land's End almost every week! And we often get 3-4 copies of the same catalog--one in my maiden name, one in my married name, one in D's name, and one in the name of the previous owners of our house.

Furthermore, I never order from catalogs. If I do order, it's online. Occasionally a catalog will point me towards something I must have (or a good buy), but this rarely happens. I think the only time this has happened in the past year is with Garnet Hill. I purchased a Hanro nightgown from them last week for $48.00--a major bargain. And, before my wedding I found the perfect sweater in their catalog (I ordered both of these items online).

So what's my point here? I discovered today, via the Apartment Therapy blog, an online service called Catalog Choice that allows you to choose which catalogs you no longer wish to receive. I registered today and started going through the process. I'll let you know how it turns out! You can check it out by clicking the link below:


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