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22 August 2008

Cold Turkey on Magazines and Confessions

Cancelling all my magazine subscriptions has been one of the best things I've ever done, I'm still receiving two as I'd already paid the subscription, but these are due to run out in October.

Magazines are the ultimate in lifestyle selling, they tempt you in with glossy pictures depicting how wonderful your life would be if you bought certain products, they make you believe that owning a certain handbag or going on a wonderful city break makes you a better person, and this fairly intelligent person fell for it all!

In the past, using a credit card, I've bought at least five Burberry handbags and two purses, I've bought two Coach handbags and three purses, all of which have been sold on eBay for a pittance. I've also bought really expensive candles to make my bathing experience better, and as every one with kids will know, sitting in the bath uninterrupted for thirty minutes when the kids are young is fairly impossible, so these candles just gathered dust. As for city breaks, the fact that I know New York as well as my local city, would tell you how many times I've been there!

It took twenty years but I'm so grateful that I woke up and realised just what a mess I was in. I'm so grateful that I've finally realised that possessions do not identify you and that I do not need to live my life straight from the page of a magazine. This is not to say that having nice things is a bad thing, if you can afford them, its great, but if they are paid for on credit, please realise just how hard it is to dig yourself out of debt.

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11 comments:

  1. Good for you!

    I canceled mine a while back and have never regretted it! You don't get tempted and you don't have piles lying around making you feel guilty for paying for them and then not having the time to read them.
    ReplyDelete
  2. I wish I could get my husabnd to cut down his magazines. they cost $9 - $14 each and as I'm writing this I can count 23 sitting on the coffee table, there are more in the bookcase.
    He just is a sports magazine addict! I've just decided to accept it's an argument I won't win, but it does bug me when I add up what they are worth.
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  3. I stopped getting magazines years ago. You can rent them free from a local library. The other day I picked up a woman's mag for the first time in years. There were so many ads to get a woman to buy anything, I couldn't get my eyes to focus.

    Don't miss them at all.
    ReplyDelete
  4. thanks jennifer - you're right, there's never enough time to read them all.

    louise, ouch!

    boomie, I have to admit I was quite surprised, but very pleased, when I didn't miss them.
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  5. Hi, I just found your blog, and want to say that I agree about the magazines. I have subscriptions right now to seven...but after they run out this year and after I am not going to renew them. I can get copies of all but one at the local library. And you are so right about the ads and articles, tempting us to buy the new this or that. I can get sucked in pretty easy. I also think for me the internet is tough too...like I joined a site called Purse Forum because I love handbags too...but then you see pictures and hear about people having $2000 handbags and you think "well, why not me?"..it puts your thinking in a crazy place. I liked your comment about the candles too. I agree, it's easy to get persuaded to buy expensive Seda France or some other brand of candles when you see someone like Colin Cowie on Oprah talk about entertaining, etc...but in reality the cost really isn't worth it!
    Thanks,
    Kelly
    ReplyDelete
  6. I don't buy magazines any more either. I do get them free from work though, does that count?
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  7. Great post! I agree completely!

    Hope you had a good holiday? Will email soon!
    ReplyDelete
  8. Well said. I've stopped subscribing, although every once in a while I cave in and buy a single issue. I found I had a couple of problems with magazines - one was that I was actually feeling *guilty* as they piled up, never having enough time to read them. And then the second, more insidious problem, is that it would make me feel somewhat dissatisfied with what I have.
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  9. Hi kelly, thank you and thanks for visitng :)

    dd -free's fine with me! :)

    ft - welcome back and thank you, hope you had a good break too :)

    retiredat47 - I agree, they do really pile up, there never seems to be enough time to read them. Thanks for visiting :)
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  10. Hi Laura,
    Here in Seattle, I could get my magazine fix at the public library. The same was true when I lived in Alaska -- scores of publications, some mainstream and some really obscure or specialized.
    However, I agree with the point you made about a lifestyle being sold. The more things you see, the more you're likely to want.
    In fact, I somehow got a free subscription to Metropolitan Home -- I think it was a MyPoints thing -- and tried to pass them on (unread) to a relative who's in financial straits. She said she'd better not read it because it would just remind her of all the things she doesn't have.
    So I take it over to the local laundromat, to give people something to read while they're waiting for their clothes to dry. It's a great place to leave unwanted magazines. Be sure to cut off the address label, though -- in this age of identity theft, one can never be too careful.
    Thanks for stopping in and leaving a comment at Smart Spending. Now that I've found your blog, I've got it bookmarked. Good luck with your journey toward the debt-free life, and congratulations on the progress you've made thus far.
    ReplyDelete

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