For a while I held on to the fashion magazines. I lived vicariously through the glossy pages, envisioning myself in the clothes or with the new lip gloss. I figured it was harmless because I wasn't actually buying anything but I was wrong. Really, I was just torturing myself with stuff that I wanted but could not have.
You see, I now look at fashion magazines the same way I look at malls. They are evil. Pure and simple. They are evil because they are loaded with ridiculously expensive things that alter your perception of what is affordable and what is not. My eyes nearly bug out of my head when I see the price tags of some of the items. $2,000 for a handbag, $800 for a pair of shoes, $550 for a sweater. It makes it so that when I see a pair of shoes for $220 I think they are a bargain! It builds us up to a false sense of practicality. Comparatively the $220 pair of shoes are a much better buy than the $800 pair of shoes so you are making a frugal decision, right?
Not to mention that fashion magazines are designed to make you feel, well, bad. Ever notice how in those "what's hot, what's not" sections, the what's not was what was hot last month? So now that you've run out and bought the latest trend you have to hide it in your closest or risk being passé and drag yourself back to the mall to buy what is hot this month. And the cycle repeats and repeats and repeats. You can never win.
Along with banning the mall I am now banning fashion and beauty magazines as well. I'm not saying that all magazines are bad. Just the ones that try to sell an impossible lifestyle. Magazines should be inspirational, educational and informative, not a test of willpower.
Maybe it's time to start subscribing to a personal finance magazine instead so I will be more tempted to save instead of spend!
Monday, March 27, 2006
Throw away the fashion mags
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7 comments:
Subscribe to a personal finance magazine?
Well you could, but those magazines are extremely lame
Full of ads (really really full of them, at least as much as in fashion magazine) trying to sell you extremely err, "useful" stuff, like the most expensive Mercedes-benz available, the most expensive digital camera, the most expensive Watch with zillions of options like a gps tide calendar.
These magazines are the economic counterparts of fashion magazine:
They are made for people who already HAVE truckloads of money, not people that want to MAKE money.
Magazines are evil for they are making cheap statements and commentaries about what people SHOULD do and SHOULD NOT do. We are all different, and we should all do it our own way, well ok except for some basic advices and tips but is this worth chopping down entire forests for that crap?
Well you know me so i will finish with that self interrogation :
Isn't my commentary definitely a collection of "statements and commentaries about what people SHOULD do and SHOULD NOT do" ? :D
Hey , I should print my own magazine!!!
or at least a blog...wait, that didn't turn out so well! :P
I avoid the mall and haven't looked at a fashion magazine in ages. I think I can directly correlate my higher level of happiness and self-esteem to that fact. I'm with you!
You are so right! I never saw it that way, but it is so true.
Even People magazine is like that. WOW, I am so not going to even look anymore.
Thanks! Made my night!
your answer to my commentary was evil and mean :P
i kid i kid!
Well i was just making fun of myself, héhé.
Only 5 grands and you're (almost) free, way to go !
what about national geographic?
that's informative, entertainig and educational.
I like Money magazine.
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