I enjoy perusing magazines--so much so that I kind of don't loathe waiting around at the dentist office or the Jiffy Lube or whatnot. Doesn't matter if it's Family Circle or Family Dog. Mother Earth or Mother Jones. I find them all interesting. However, once I'm done with a magazine, I'm done. Finished. That's why waiting rooms are so great. I can leave the magazines right where I found them, keeping the clutter out of my home.
Nevertheless, the car and I are pretty healthy, so I don't spend that much time in waiting rooms. But I have subscribed to more than a few magazines over the years, most of which I've just been stacking up and up on my bookshelves.
So, why was I holding on to all of these old magazines? Did I really need to fill my bookshelves with their colorful spines all facing outward as if to say, "Look at me--and look at my titles! Aren't I well-fed, well-versed, flexible, well-adjusted, worldly, wine-savvy, and stylish?" (Amazon.com, by the way, offers some unbeatable prices on magazine subscriptions.)
What to do, what to do . . .
Why not send them back to the waiting room? A woman from the Brighton-Allston Mental Health Association got in touch with me through my Craigslist posting looking for a new home for my old magazines. Being a private, nonprofit organization, money is tight--and waiting room niceties, like magazines, are a bit of a luxury. The facility serves a low-income demographic and likes to let its clients take home a magazine if they wish. Sounds like my old magazines will indeed be put to good use.
So, what do you all do with your old magazines? Are they accessorizing your bookshelves, too? Have you read them all? Ever refer back to them? Still have your copies of Sassy from 1988? Please, do tell.
_________________________________________________________________________ © 2009 Good Karma Housekeeping. Because less really is more.
