I recently got a subscription to Real Simple thru a fund-raiser at my nephews school. I've never been a huge fan of the magazine but usually I find a couple good articles and a decent recipe or two. I do find it odd that a magazine calling itself 'simple' inevitably includes a $200 dress and designer shoes. It's just not the world I live in. But this months issue was beyond ridiculous and I just had to send in a letter to the editor......
Though I thought there were several relevant articles in the March issue I take exception to the 'Living well with Less' compilation of money saving strategies. To start off with the statement, "If you spend $20 a week on fresh flowers (that's $1040 a year!) ... buy a houseplant" is an absolute insult to the majority of Americans trying to put food on the table. And to suggest that we can get thru this crisis by buying less-expensive jewelry is ludicrious.
As for the article following this one, how exactly do you decide to even use the term 'budget' in a piece that includes a $396 jumpsuit?
Where do you people live, because I think you need to take a little trip to reality...it kind of sucks but it's what we have to deal with for the time being. A lot of Americans are finding REAL ways to save money, like gardening, selling a vehicle, preserving food, re-purposing furniture, clipping coupons, riding bikes, cooking from scratch, and buying NOTHING that is non-essential.
...In another section of the magazine they recommend using a coffee filter to line a bowl when mixing together dry ingredients so you could just toss it away afterward and not have to wash the bowl...(isn't a coffee filter is a bit small for this job anyway?)...
And as long as I'm ranting....in the 'New Uses' section, why in the world would you suggest using a coffee filter, which then ends up in a landfill, to avoid having to wash dishes?!?! Here's a thought (cretins) these are DRY ingredients....wipe the bowl out with a dishcloth....they are DRY for heavens sake (or use your t-shirt!!!)
Seriously tho, you need to get out of your offices once in awhile and mingle with the huddled masses...lots of good folks out here.
I have learned to seek my happiness by limiting my desires,
rather than in attempting to satisfy them.
-John Stuart Mill
rather than in attempting to satisfy them.
-John Stuart Mill
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10 comments:
I think I HEART you!!
Did you actually send that letter in???
the only magazine I subscribe to anymore is Southern LIving ... I actually stopped all others for $$$$ reasons and b/c its all just a bunch of BS
and PS my sister and my mom both have those permanent coffee filters and compost their grinds;)
I don't waste my time with most magazines. I used to pick up the ones with save money/frugality type articles until I came to the realization that these people have absolutely no idea how your average person lives. Their suggestions for saving money are meant for the spoiled rich who have money to throw away.
The only magazine I still bother with is Mother Earth News and a small selection of other similar magazines.
A great GREAT letter Maureen, identifying some of the most vapid suggestions I've ever heard.
Yeah, I did Mandy...I guess I can put Real Simple on the list of corporations/publications that embody what is WRONG with this country....right alongside Verizon and Bank of America.
And I do love 'Mother Earth News', we finally got a subscription to that one...quite a contrast :)
thanks gals!
ps. Chorus - I LOVE the word 'Vapid'....it SO fits this situation
n less? I'm sure I'll have plenty of coments on this subject when I get back from Uganda. (I'm just hoping they have toilets there - that part of me I want to remain a little spoiled.)
Great letter...worthless magazine. I find very few magazines useful. I do buy Mother Earth News, it has truly useful info about saving money, homesteading and gardening. Other than that I just look it up on the internet or check one of my many, many gardening books.
wonderful post! Kim
You are awesome! Thank you for pointing out how idiotic some of those ideas are for those of us who live in the real world.
Good for you! That magazine has some ridiculous suggestions. I hope they try and respond back, I'd like to see what they have to say to that!
ashley
I LOVE THIS
I LOVE IT!
Thank you for being the voice of the masses. I admit that I do like their magazine (I splurge about 2x a year) but I do find most of their ideas RIDICULOUS.
Seriously. I think they live on Park Ave.
great letter to the editor
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