and gaining twice the pleasure…
As this year is my year to REDUCE everything in my life I had to make the difficult decision not to buy any magazines AT ALL, all year, unless there are extreme circumstances why I should need to.
As I usually head straight for the magazine isle when I enter Sainsbury’s to do my weekly shopping this was, I thought, a step too far but I have even surprised myself and after seven visits so far have managed to browse, but not buy, any magazines, and although I feel a bit guilty at reducing Mr Sainsbury’s profits I hardly think my ‘no magazine spend’ will send them into administration.
Of course this decision has been made so much easier because one of the Christmas gifts from my better half was a subscription to Country Living so I am not totally without my little bit of monthly pleasure and I quite like the surprise I get when I arrive home one day to find it waiting for me on the mat.
It was during the early days of my withdrawal that I suddenly hit upon the idea of rereading last years copies of Country Living and Country Homes, that I had saved. So at the moment I am rereading the March issues and when my new Country Living arrives for April I will pick out the April 2012 ones to read and it is just like having bought new ones.
This time round though, after cutting out any recipes and articles I want to keep, I will be putting the older copies in the recycle bin so that I do not end up with a magazine mountain, however I will hang on to the new 2013 copies so I can reread them all over again next year.
where the journey takes me 
I was just discussing with my mom today that this year’s February issue of a women’s magazine is much like last year’s February issue, and so on. I am lucky to be able to read loads of magazines at the library where I work – I can read the current issues on my lunch break. I don’t buy a lot, but I like music magazines and I do keep and re-read them quite a bit.
LikeLike
I must have a look in my local library and see if they still do magazines. I often used to borrow some when our girls were young and we were a struggling one wage family! I think with all the cut backs that they may have stopped now but maybe I could start a magazine swap with someone until then I will keep rereading my old issues as like you say most of this years is very similar to last years.
LikeLike
I too made the decision not to buy lots of magazines this year. I have my Country Living and Vegetarian Living subscriptions and now I have Radio Times on subscription so that means I don’t have to go to the oh so tempting magazine aisles when I visit Sainsburys, phew, it was getting hard to resist, although I did like reading all the wacky attention grabbing covers of the womens weeklys, so I may miss that 🙂
I have about four years back copies of Country Living and I think I might do what you are doing and read my way through them and then sell them off at the car boot sales we will be doing over the Summer, they always sell like hot cakes.
Sue xx
LikeLike
I didn’t realise you could sell back copies although mine would have a lot of pages missing!
LikeLike
I think this is an easy one, you soon lose interest in them.
And, having noticed the price of some of the magazines, it’s got to be a good saving.
Good idea with the subscription though, the only magazine I get is Saga by life membership.
LikeLike
I didn’t know they did life membership in fact I am not sure I have ever seen a copy of Saga. I am a bit of a magazine addict for the lovely pictures in Country Living and the like as I probably aspire to that kind of country life as I was brought up in a tiny South Yorkshire village and loved it.
LikeLike
I re-read magazines from previous years too. Lots of the articles are pretty much the same each year and it’s nice to revisit as I often find an article I wasn’t interested in last time is now right up my street.
LikeLike
I have found that I missed some articles the first time round and have come across recipes that I remember thinking I would make and then forgot about!
LikeLike
I confess to a magazine Everest. If not all of the Himalayas put together. But a lot of them are interiors mags which I do refer back to, to get ideas for the house. So, in my mind, worth keeping!
LikeLike
I’m coming to your house for my holidays just to have a read of your magazine mountain. I love going to the hairdressers more for being able to read the magazines than having my locks trimmed! Do you do Bed and Breakfast?
PS I am vegetarian so no mouse or pheasant burgers!
LikeLike
I’m also getting too many magazines; it’s not so much the ones I subscribe to (just a couple) the real problem is that every organisation I join seems to have its own magazine now. And then storage becomes an issue – so I think, like you, I also need a new system for dealing with them.
LikeLike
What a shame we all live so far apart otherwise we could each buy a different one and pass it on, satisfying our need to read them but not have to store them.
LikeLike
What a resolution! I haven’t bought any magazines for over a year, not even the Christmas issue, not because I wanted to, but due to my salary reduction!However, although difficult the first month, now I’m used to it and I reread old issues, too.
Before taking them for recycling ()the actual one), keep two. You might need them when you read my next posting!
LikeLike
I’m intrigued now and looking forward to your next post!
LikeLike
After throwing out all my Martha Stewart magazines last year, I decided to not buy any magazines in 2013 and save myself a small fortune! I really miss buying Country Living Magazine but I do have back issues from over a decade ago! Like you suggest, I will now go back and read last years currant month and do so fo the coming year. A lot of stuff they print is repeated anyway isn’t it? The £4.00 I used to spend on County Living each month now goes on a bunch of £1.00 daffodils a week instead!
LikeLike
I think the £1 daffodils sound a much better bargain than the £4 magazine and they are so cheerful when trying to get through the dark late winter days. Had I not got the subscription for Country Living as a present I would not have been buying it this year either.
LikeLike