Feeding My Magazine Addiction Just Got Tougher

A couple of years ago my husband was paying the bills when he came across multiple invoices for my magazine subscriptions. At the time it was Cottage Living, Southern Living and Traditional Home up for renewal. He started to rant and carry on that I was spending a fortune on magazine subscriptions and questioned how many I had. I quickly did the tally in my head (the ones already mentioned plus House and Garden, Country Living, Vanity Fair, Home, Midwest Living and Better Homes and Gardens). Apparently he thought that was too many (Too many? Not enough!) and did the quick calculation that we were spending about $120 a year on decorating magazines.

Being fast on my feet I quickly pointed out that decorating is my one addiction, my hobby, and my passion and that perusing magazines brings me great joy much like golf does for him. And to say my husband likes golf would be an understatement. He loves it. It's his passion and he's very good at it. So in order to stay good at it he has to play alot. And as you probably know, golf is not a cheap sport. It's not like basketball where he can just go grab a ball and head to the driveway and play some hoops. No, golf requires shoes, clubs, greens and cart fees.

So I pointed out that he plays golf an average of 5 - 6 times a month with a conservative estimate (depending on the course) of $30 a round. He sat in his chair, checkbook open, pen in hand, looked at me and said "Should I renew for one year or two?" I tell you, the man's not stupid!

It looks like we'll be spending less on magazines this year though because sadly times are also tough in the shelter magazine world. This morning's Washington Post newspaper reported three of my favorite magazines: Cottage Living, O at Home and Country Living (my perennial favorite) have all announced their demise. With fewer magazines to peruse nightly, I'm going to have a lot more free time on my hands. I may actually start watching television. What are the good shows these days?

BREAKING NEWS........I went to the Washington Post online to see if there has been a correction to the announcement that Country Living is one of the magazines that is shutting down and discovered they changed the online version to read Country Home. A couple of other readers posted comments questioning the accuracy of the original article in today's edition. Turns out they must have been confused and it's Country Home not Country Living. Either way, I'm sad.