Magazines - entertaining or demoralising?

I buy Take a Break, Chat, That's LIfe, Love It, Real People because I like doing the competitions and I also send in letters, tips, photos which I get paid for. I also get letters and tips in My Weekly but I don't buy it anymore because I couldn't tell the difference between one week or another

At risk of lowering the tone here ?.
I get Take A Break most weeks, read the stories and articles, and then do the competitions..... one day I’m going to win that star prize. ?
My neighbour buys Yours and then we do a swap so it’s basically BOGOF!
As a bonus we then pass them on to other friends ..... and there is also a magazine lying around for any visitors to read.?

Too expensive and full of adverts which I know pays for the content. Yet to find my kind of magazine.

only Art or National Trust

Yes, I notice this in my daily newspaper too. I’m sick of seeing pictures of Liz Hurley scantily clad, telling us how old she is, and new ‘celebs’ showing off their perfect bodies a week after having a baby. They don’t live in the real world, have access to cosmetic surgery, etc, and try to make us ‘normal’ folk feel inferior.

We have a subscription to Readly where you have access to loads of magazines and newspapers on your tablet. Fantastic value. I'm sure you might find a magazine to interest you there.

Magazines these days are ridiculously expensive and half filled with adverts. You can buy a book for less. I enjoy the magazines that come with the Saturday and Sunday papers best.

I love a house magazine, and my children buy me a subscription as a gift from time to time. However, I do agree that they are "aspirational " - old rectory in The Cotswols, etc; and the lady of the house is, often, an interior designer, rarely a doctor, nurse, teacher. My children refer to these publications as property porn.

I get Living Etc and love it, even though the houses/apartments in it are really on another super-scale of living. Doesn't make me feel bitter or anything, just gives me a few ideas for after that lottery win.
Why read magazines that depress you? Maybe you could try the one called Breathe!

I think Gransnet is far more interesting than any woman's magazine! All human life is here as The News of the World newspaper used to boast. Saves money and is always a great read. OP is right - I can't be bothered reading about c list celebrities and what they are wearing and how we should be having more "me time!"READ GRANSNET INSTEAD. How many of you agree?

Always enjoy reading/looking through Hello and OK mags at the hairdresser but wouldn't bother to buy either, full of people I've mostly never heard of and nothing worth reading. Do get the monthly RHS mag and that's useful.

Don’t read these ‘glossies’ Thousands of excellent books out there . Why would you read this stuff?! The only one I do read and it’s on subscription is ‘Free Inquiry’ ....it drops through letterbox every couple of months.

I do buy women’s monthly magazines, prefer them to the weekly gossipy magazines. Always articles on food, books, gardening, fashion and beauty and short stories that I enjoy. I agree that the celebrity features are annoying though, I tend to ignore them! Also like the odd home and travel magazine.

I think it's a good idea to buy special interest magazines but I am yet to find one that caters for my special interests....... sitting around doing as little as possible, only wearing clothes that are comfortable and cheap and, of course going on Gransnet for hours on end!!!!!
Any ideas, please?

The only magazine s I have regularly are Logic Problems and 'Crime monthly'. However, I am going to look for the oldie and look at People's Fiend as well.

I dropped my subscription to Woman & Home for various of the reasons you mentioned but particularly the sponsored fashion pages that use ultra thin models. I'm pretty skinny, naturally, myself but I don't like seeing these girls who live on cotton wool in order to make a living.

The only magazines I ever read, because they are part of my membership, is the National Trust and the Institute of Advanced Motorists. Usually just skim them and bin them. I don't buy magazines otherwise.

TRY THE PEOPLES FRIEND loads of stories couple serials

good articles and cooking pages good buy all round . i pay every 12 weeks and get delivered and save money. well worth it .

I stopped buying them years ago hampster58 for that very reason.

Depends which magazines you read and why you read them!
I personally steer away from the "celebrity" ones and often the ones that reckon certain women can do it all are basically because the women have often had outside help , be it from nannies/nurseries for their children and a good PA for their business side!
I often wonder if, somewhere down the line, they will sit back and wonder at what they have missed in their private life such as time spent with husband or partner, their friends, their children etc?
When all is said and done, you can only do what you can do and everyone needs to make time and appreciate what they have and cherish those around them .

The only magazines I see on a regular basis nowadays are the supplements which come with the weekend newspapers. The fashion is laughable and many other articles are of little interest. Items about people are more interesting and aren't
always about 'super women', thank goodness.

I used to get interiors mags, but rarely now. I know what my taste is and feel I don't need to worry about the latest trends.

Only buy a gardening magazine nowadays after looking for best subscription rates. Get given others occasionally though. Expensive and full of adverts. Articles don’t seem to have any depth in them, Then there are the articles on healthy eating, you then turn the page to find recipes for amazing cakes?

hamster58

Loved reading all your messages everyone! I’m definitely going to look up The Oldie as I’ve never heard of it. I don’t actually buy these but was given a pile so felt almost obliged to flick through them. I’m so pleased I’m not the only one feeling as I do. Yesterday’s stand out thing I noticed was a fashion shoot showing a ‘perfect’ woman wearing an outfit suited to tea at the Ritz costing around £700 in total, and she was pushing a wheelbarrow full of leaves!!! Don’t think anyone would photograph the clothes I would wear to do that ….

That "pushing a wheelbarrow" made me laugh out loud hamster58

I stopped reading/buying them years ago. Very demoralising! They are so expensive, too, considering most pages have an advert telling you to buy something, be something, do something! Sometimes I buy gardening magazines. Better to buy a nice book once a month! Easy recipes with 5 ingredients from Jamie Oliver (and others probably). Gardening books etc. They don't have loads of adverts making you feel inadequate and they last for years!

I tend to read magazines like Country Living and Period Homes and look at the lovely houses and gardens and get ideas that I can convert on my budget for my own home and garden. I also love to read about crafts, artisan workers and the food recipes and food producers in these sorts of magazines. I'm not really interested in the others.