About a month ago, I posted in one of the Facebook mom groups looking for a Thirty-One rep to buy a tote bag. Specifically, the large utility tote. My research had shown that this was the perfect size and shape for bringing to the pool, hauling loads of cupcakes to other locations, and helping to carry groceries from the car. Plus, those adorable prints! I got my first large utility tote (at a nice discount) and I fell in love. I quickly fell down the rabbit hole into obsession.
Once a get an idea into my mind, it’s tough to get it out until I act on it. This can be great for pressing through adversity, but decidedly less fruitful in other pursuits. If I decide that I need a green, cable knit sweater, I’ll be goddamned if I’ll rest unless it’s cuddled up wearing my new, green, cable knit sweater. I was quickly adding Thirty-One “likes” on Poshmark. I was contacting reps on Facebook and asking if they had certain prints. I got invited to a Bingo event. I even watched a few minutes of a Facebook Live. I was in deep.
Last week, my mother in law hosted a Thirty-One party for a family friend who recently got into the biz. Her ‘mentor’ was a woman who has been selling the product for about a year and a half and had a ton of stuff. As she excitedly told us all of the ‘thirty one uses’ for each product while passing bags around the circle of women in my mother in law’s living room, I thought “This is great. How cute is this bag? This would be perfect for…”
me, to myself.
I’m a former Tupperware rep, so I guess I’m an easy mark. Tupperware was fun for me. I got a bunch of free stuff, bought some discounted stuff, made a little money, and was on my way. But I can see how women are pulled into an inventory and debt black hole with this stuff. I still have Tupperware in my basement that has never been touched by human hands. Most MLMs say that they don’t want you to buy inventory to sell, but it’s hard to justify having a party where you look at a catalog of stuff you can’t touch or try. It’s tactile stuff, that storage and org. You need at least one of everything because who would buy a $50 bag they’ve never seen in person?
But that sign up package, tho! That’s pretty impressive. Lots of people sign on with these companies just for the discount and the onboarding package, and Thirty One totally has their number. They have two onboarding packages. The Signature Kit is $99 and includes some classics – things you’d actually use day to day – but not really any of the new and exciting ‘fashion’ items. This is the kit you buy if you just want a considerable discount for your own use. The second option, the Deluxe Kit, $179 and includes 2 versions of their new purse with zippered flaps you can change out (I don’t get it), another purse, a different pillow, and some totes and thermals. This is the kit you buy if you actually want to sell this stuff.
I admit that I got sucked in. For a few days I thought, “Should I just sign up? I’ll get a bunch of stuff, I can order some Christmas gifts, and then I’ll probably be done with my MLM venture.” It was enticing, for sure. I’m a bags girl and I love the idea of perfectly organized things in perfectly organized bags and totes for a perfectly organized life. My actual life, though – NOT PERFECT. The large utility tote I purchased a month ago? I have yet to take it to the pool (it’s the end of August, btw), I never remember to put it in my car when I go grocery shopping, and the last time I needed to transport cupcakes to a secondary location was actual years ago. The bags would be perfect for a multitude of things, but a multitude of things I mostly already own a bag for accomplishing. Rationally, I have a purse. I have a tote. I have a bag that clips onto my shopping cart (HELLO ALDI) and can be filled with groceries, then toted directly into the car. I did use my new tote for laundry and to take to a parade last week, but I have other things that could have accomplished that job satisfactorily as well. Things that do not cost upwards of $30.
But honestly, I love the print! It makes me happy to look at and I enjoy owning it. As Marie Kondo would say, it sparks joy and is thusly considered ‘worth it’. Most of the stuff in that onboarding package? Not my dream prints. Not something that would spark joy and not ‘worth it’. That’s not to say I’m entirely purged of the Thirty-One bug yet, y’all. I think the basic products are good quality and useful. If the spring season brings cute prints that I absolutely adore it might be something I’d like to get down with. But for now? I’ll stick to purchasing useful things in prints I love.