The rise of the DIVORCE registry: Women leaving marriages can now ask friends for gifts

We’ve all heard of a wedding registry, but the divorce registry has been gaining popularity in recent years.

It’s exactly what it sounds like, a record for single people trying to rebuild their lives after a breakup.

Sometimes when you break up with someone, they might take half of the essentials you used to build a home together, and you’re left without these important household essentials as you set up your new life alone.

When Jenn Clarke got divorced last year, she not only had to deal with the fallout from her separation, but also the daunting task of starting over.

As family and family began reaching out to ask how they could help, the 35-year-old financial controller, who moved from Michigan to New Hampshire after the end of her six-year marriage, wanted their help in a more way.’ tangibly and meaningfully.

It was then that she turned to record of new beginningswhich was founded by New York sisters Olivia Dreizen Howell and Jenny Dreizen.

Their website is a destination for newly single people to start a divorce registration among a host of other services from their team of experts, including therapists, lawyers, nutritionists, and even matchmakers.

“I got divorced and with that I moved across the country… with a new apartment, a whole new life and a whole new city,” Jenn told DailyMail.com.

‘All these friends and family come up to me and ask how they can help, what they can do. The registry was just a perfect place to have something tangible and meaningful to give to people.

“And it also helped with the financial burden of moving … and the emotional stress you’re already experiencing from going through something as difficult as that.”

Jenn said she needed “very basic things,” like kitchen utensils, towels, a shower curtain, and nice bedding.

“It’s easy to buy something quick on Amazon, but … people want to spend money on you, be there for you and take care of you,” he said.

Singles can set up their own registries on the Fresh Start Registry, but to make that job a little easier, they also have the option of selecting a pre-selected package.

The company’s “quick start guides” range from $99 to $500, but there are also some designed specifically for the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.

As for people’s reactions to her divorce filing, Jenn said she initially talked to her mom about it “because it might seem a little weird, right?”

But she decided to go ahead because there were so many people who came up to her and asked how they could support her.

“Everybody’s reaction was really a little grateful, actually, that there was a real, tangible way that they could help you because it’s hard to know what to do in those situations, hard to know what to say.” It’s hard to know… what you need.

“Flowers are pretty and all, but something practical that you’re going to use in your everyday life is really cool.”

Olivia and Jenny started Fresh Starts Registry in 2021 after they both ended a long-term relationship.

Olivia’s eight-year marriage, now 37, had come to an end and Jenny, now 35, had been engaged to her partner of 10 years before they split.

Olivia had stayed in her marital home with her two children and her sister came to help her pack up the ‘more emotionally charged’ items she received from her wedding.

“And as we packed up all these items, I thought, you know, this is the time when people need these support items from their community. This is the time when they need the new bedspread and the new sheets, the new forks and knives, half the things are often taken out of the house when you get divorced,” Olivia told DailyMail.com.

‘I googled a bit, there was no such thing at the time as a divorce registry or even…a registry to help people through any of these big life changes.

“Our background is in marketing, so we filtered the idea for a while, and the real… theme of Fresh Starts is that our goal is to take the overwhelm out of life’s courageous decisions.”

While they don’t collect user data on their “news,” the nickname the sisters have given members of their community, they can measure their success through another metric: the growth of their team of experts.

‘When you empower people through these big life changes, you make a big difference in their journey, so our experts help empower those people, and then when we support the experts, they work to advance that. trip with our newbie. So it’s very important to us,” Jenny said.

“We’re seeing consistent 15 percent month-over-month growth in our expert community, and that’s picking up as the press does.”

The sisters also wanted to make it “very clear” that they “never tried to capitalize on anyone’s vulnerability,” adding that they made “cents” from affiliate links on their website.

The money the company makes comes from Fresh Start Registry experts who pay $37 a month in exchange for “seminars, workshops, support, marketing and public relations,” Olivia said.

But Fresh Start Registry isn’t the only business aimed at helping singles who suddenly find themselves alone.

Divorcist, which launched in January of last year, is also another gift registry for the ‘newly single’.

“Our vision is to make divorce and separation a dignified stage of life,” its website says.

‘Use our free registration to show your friends and family the practical ways they can help. Maybe it’s a new set of bath towels. Maybe it’s a cash gift. Maybe you need help walking the dog.

Co-founder Eliza Cussen, from Wisconsin, previously told the New York Post: ‘Our mission is to make divorce and separation dignified.

“We really saw the need… Women get the concept right away: we’re trying to elevate divorce, separation and breakups to the same level as a life event.

‘Not a happy one, but one that deserves recognition.’