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Getting Control of Your Magazine Commitments

Magazines; you know I love them! I had to learn to organize them (as I discussed last week in this post), but then there was another thing that kept coming to my mind. Each time I would go through my stack of magazines to organize them, I realized I regularly get backed up on the actual reading of them.

This lead me to some more thinking. I easily acquire magazines for pennies on the dollar at yard sales, libraries, and thrift stores. I asked myself, "If I am not reading the magazine subscriptions that I pay for in a timely manner, why do I continue to keep my subscriptions active?" With that thought in mind I began a plan to non-renewal plan. You really don't get any better deal on the subscriptions for renewing than if you discontinued and re-subscribed as a new reader. So, I began letting subscriptions expire.

I was floored at how many of those subscriptions I didn't miss! Now, I only have a select few subscriptions. Mainly I keep up with publications that are timely and news oriented, and two that are research oriented. The rest of the magazines I collect are old one picked which I pick up used. Now, I don't feel guilty when I dig in to reading a stack at a time to organize them. I also am pleased that I am helping my family to save money. But what I have noticed the most is the simplicity of not having so many publications coming into the house every month/week. It is almost a peaceful feeling that has come over me in regards to reading.

So take time to evaluate your subscriptions. Would you really miss them if you weren't receiving them monthly/weekly? Consider allowing the subscription to expire and wait 2-3 months. If you are truly missing the publication, then by all means subscribe, but if you find, as I did in many cases, that you really aren't missing it, then save yourself the money! You will find that a certain amount of guilt is alleviated without the stack of unread, but purchased at full subscription price magazines are gathering up awaiting organization.

These are my thoughts.