I agree about trying to read some of those fonts.

I too am cutting back and getting all sorts of "low" prices. Rehman--Country, Birds & Blooms-- are getting way to much ads and to me the wrong type for the mags. Good Housekeeping ---no cute stories any more, just ads for the skinny youngish people. You can also go to the library, look at thrift stores, garage sales etc.

I have let all my subscriptions run out for the same reasons that you stated. I did see a garden magazine in Walmart that I would have bought if it had not been priced at nearly 10 dollars.

Maybe I'll go to the library more often.

I dropped all my subscriptions since most of my favs folded like Cottage Living , and Country. Country Living is a shell of it's former self, and skinny with tons of ads. Don't get that anymore after many years.

Same here....many months/years ago. DH picked up a magazine recently...finished it before we got home (6 miles) one recipe that sounded interesting. We at the KT do better than that...thank you very much! Nanny

I loved National Geographic, but dropped it

I saw a magazine I would have bought in iPhone Apps but at $29.99 at Chapters/ Indigo decided it was about three times my price resistance.

I haven't purchased a magazine in close to five years now. When we first moved here I ordered two years of Better Homes and Gardens thinking I'd find some ideas for our new home. Rarely did I open them and when I did, I found nothing that spoke to me. Not that there weren't beautiful photos and great articles inside, just not for me personally. I get more inspiration from fabric or a piece of furniture I find or in the garden from the plants/trees we see to purchase, so why pay for paper I'll only have to recycle?

I used to get a few, but now just get Everyday Food.
There are only 2 good Canadian ones, and Mom gets them both, but even they are getting to be far more geared to the younger set. They are more into fashion than anything else. Didn't used to be like that. I get them when she's done with them, but she's pretty discouraged with them too.

I was given some Family Circle and Woman's Day not long ago. Years and YEARS ago I would buy them and they were good, but geesh, it's pages of precription drugs and disclaimers. What a waste.

You'd think with subscribership dropping they might think they are doing something wrong and fix it.

I only subscribe to two, Smithstonian and National Geographic. My trash can is filled with offers for magazines, cheap...Don't want them.

I have another reason not to subscribe anymore....many of them - like Reader's Digest - are apparently going out of business and, I'm sure, we probably won't be getting any money refunded. Does make me wonder about the publications that Reader's Digest bought a few years ago....Reminisce, Birds and Blooms, Taste of Home, etc. Wonder if they will fold as well. (I LIKE those!)

I'm in the process of letting all my magazines expire. I didn't have time to even read them. As I "finished" with them, I'd put them in a box and leave them at doctors offices or the laundromat. I was spending way too much! And my local library has almost of them, for free.

We get way too many. At least once a week we get a promo for mags. The prices have gone down so much Harry thinks we need to have every one of them. No thank you. My gripe is too darned many ads in them. Harry hates them and tears out all the pages with ads on both sides. When he's done, there's hardly anything left!! For magazines I refused to renew, after I got too many renewal notices, I just wrote on them the reason I wasn't renewing and sent them back (postage free on my end).

Magazines have gotten way too expensive for me and are filled with ads. I haven't bought any for years and I am an avid scrapbooker and stamper that used to love the magazines to see new techniques. Now I can get it all on the Internet free and also there is one Scrapbooking Magazine that I know of that you can download free and read completely. Why on earth would I buy it?

I, too, think most magazines today are a total waste of money. Far too many ads! No wonder so many are going under. I catch up every so often at the dentist or doctor's offices, or sometimes at the bookstore or library. I find I can usually speed through a magazine and pick up what I want (if anything) in less than 10 minutes.

I get a lot of magazines and I read them all, too. I subscribe to them and most of them are under a buck an issue. When I am done with them I take them to my local library where we have a magazine exchange. I often pick up a couple of different ones there that I don't subscribe to.

I started subscribing to several magazines this year because of the low price offers. I read them and then take them to the volunteer office at the hospital. I have found some excellent recipes in the magazines.

In my home, National Geographic and Reader's Digest are the only two we have. Love both of them and the kids and grandkids read them afterwards...

I dropped all of mine also.All they are anymore are ads for this,that and the other!! Very few articles worth reading or looking at.Like Oprah's and Martha Stewart,i like their shows,but i refuse to pay for all those ads in their magazines and they aren't cheap anymore either.
kathi

I loved reading my mother's magazines in the '50s: Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, and then magazines both my parents read such as Colliers, The Saturday Evening Post and Reader's Digest. I loved the short stories in the ladies magazines then for a quick read in one sitting. When I had my babies years later, I enjoyed the short stories in magazines as I had so little time to relax and read, but I could finish a short story in a few days even with interruptions.

Now they are all recycled decorating and cooking articles and wardrobe building. I don't really need that information. But I would welcome some good writing in short stories for escapism and pleasure.

I get 3 and LOVE THEM ALL! :0) Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, House Beautiful & Scuba. CH&L is every other month,that's a boon and it shows local homes and businesses.

I've subscribed to several over the years.. but am lucky to find 1 idea that is worth ripping the page out for. I've let them all expire, but just subscribed to Country Living for $5.99 a year. I might find a good decorating idea, but never use the recipes - I'd rather go online to allrecipes.com and read the reviews before I buy the ingredients and make the recipe.

i've finally given up my sunset magazine...i'd had it for almost 40 years but i'm just not reading it or my bhg anymore...and i've stopped the gift subscriptions, too..the kids just don't have the time and one kid's home is cluttered enough...lol

SheilaJoyce, those were the hay days of magazines. That I miss!

Magazines did have their heyday and it's long gone. I adored Country Living and Country and have many back issues which are an half-inch thick. Today when you remove the ads there's nothing there. And with CL, they started putting fashion in. They try to appeal to young people and are losing all their old readers who want to see old houses and antiques, not recipes and fashion. I had BH&G subscription for three years and dropped it. They have been harassing me for payment . I did not renew nor have I gotten any magazines since it ran out. But I get threatening PAY NOW notices. I sent replies back their postage due.

Do not loose sight of the fact that the appearance and color of ads are not controlled by the editors of the magazine. This is chosen by the advertizer who is buying the space.

About the only choice a magazine has is to refuse to run the ad, and that is not likley to happen unless it contains objectionable content. Its the ads that pays the magazine's bills and profit.

Also be advised that libraries are dropping their subscriptions as a way to keep costs in check. Our local library has dropped about 85% of the subscriptions that it carried last year. We, and libraries around the country, are in a major budget crunch.

I think today's magazines are kind of like the old 8-track tapes... obsolete. The internet and new technology have almost replaced them. My thing is gardening, and if there is something I need to know, I go online to learn about it. Also, it seemed like all the articles in gardening magazines were geared toward climates vastly different than where I live, so I let all the subscriptions drop. I agree with the op, all of them are waaay too full of ads.

Me too! I dropped all the subscriptions and for all the same reasons. I do get a little more exercise now because I walk to the library 3/4 mile from my home to read the same mags for free.

I do make a small donation to the library every year because I use it so much and I believe if we help a little then we will always have the Free public library systems. I make it clear to many friends and family members they need to drop a bit of change in a donation box for the library. Remember libraries don't get the books and mags for free and many have had to cut back on subscriptions too. So when you can please give a little back. Ours accepts books from personal libraries and sell them (If there are copies on the shelves already) to make money for more newer books. I have bought many very inexpensively and them donated them back after my bookshelf has reached maximum capacity.

LIL

We've dropped most of our subscriptions too - we get most of our interests from the internet or cable.

The only subscription I have now is Vogue, which I have subscribed to since my early 20's.

I just want to know why Food and Wine mag has been sending me their mag for the past two months when 1) I didn't subcribe, 2) I don't drink, and 3) I hate to cook! lol

Oh, Miss Minnie!!!! My biggest pet peeve now that my eyes are almost eighty, is that darn pale small print I am supposed to read. Is there really anyone who had no problems with pale green ... or, gracious!.... gray?

I used to give Southern Living as Christmas gifts, until I got annoyed with the add-on for postage! Don't tell me the subscription is $20 when it is going to be $23 after you add postage. I do like the magazine.

Thanks for the opportunity to fuss about this.

I quit subscribing decades ago. First I didn't always read them, what a waste. But my biggest peeve is you're on their mailing lists that they sell all over and you get so much junk mail. Nope, never again. If there's a mag that has something of interest I can buy it, go to the library or look it up on the internet. But with the internet, magazines have become obsolete. Some sites though are starting to charge for access. But usually you'll find the same info elsewhere for free.

oakleyok, could it be someone bought it for you that wants you to start drinking and cooking?