too many magazines

I have a long history of buying magazines. Girly English comics when still at primary school, things like Princess Tina and Jinty! Later - Dolly magazine, then Cleo, Cosmopolitan, Vogue, Tatler and Harper’s Bazaar (UK). For a couple of years I was obsessed with American magazines after going to Hawaii for a holiday (Glamour, New Woman, Vanity Fair). Bought our first house in 1988, then added all the Lovely Homes mags to my reading. Also gardening magazines and Grass Roots when I started gardening in earnest.
I even, heaven help me, bought a couple of Bride magazines when I was getting married and a couple of baby type magazines when I had the first one.
I think at my worst in about 1990 ( in my twenties, just married, renovating) I was probably buying a glossy something every couple of days.

The last four or five years I have subscribed to one magazine per year – all of them housey/ decorating/ garden/ countryish/ foody things ( I was still buying others too, but not in such high volume).

Interestingly, with every magazine, by the time the subscription was ending I was sick of them, barely reading them and would then cancel for the coming year.

Last year I subscribed to an overseas one after buying it a few times over the counter.

When the sub started it had lots of retro-vintage-op shoppy type decorating, interesting recipes and , groovy do-able gardening. Then after about 3 months they sacked the editor and the focus changed and I knew ( for me) the magazine was doomed. Sure enough, it instantly became the sort of publication where the people featured said things like, oh our renovating budget was $80,000 and blew out to $250,000 but it was worth every cent! And the boring houses featured were just open plan 40 square nightmares full of new stuff bought by people with too much money and no creativity or style.

At the same time, my Dad had his stroke, slid quickly into dementia and life in a nursing home and died at the end of November. The magazines, looked at briefly once during the madness of my life last year, piled up in the bookshelf. I bought other different ones at various times, again, I’d read one article and add them to the pile. In December, I let the magazine subscription expire. Last weekend, I collected sixty or so magazines from around the house and started working through them. Mostly I can’t even think why I purchased them. Some favourite themes in a few, but why I've purchased others – no clue.

This year I’m giving up on magazines. I don’t read them so it is a crazy waste of money. Especially as work buys every magazine I used to read (guess who has added their old favourites to the library subs when review time comes up every year, and we are all asked for suggestions?) Anyway all the magazines are right there if I want them – which I don’t. I just have no interest any more. I prefer reading blogs and newspapers and bits and pieces on the Internet and now I’ve discovered The Design Files blog I’ll never have to buy Lovely Homes again.