Real Simple (1-year auto-renewal)

I am a strong proponent of living a simpler, less stressed life and I was really happy when I saw an entire magazine was dedicated towards the simple life. After reading it, though, I think what they meant to say was that this is the way to spend money and feel better about yourself.

An idea for avoiding dishes? Buy lots of coffee filters, line your mixing bowls with them and throw them away when you're done. This turns us into a disposable lifestyle, not a simple one. Need to figure out if a window is sunny enough for a plant? Buy a $60 device that (I kid you not) plugs into the dirt, records the sunlight for you and then plugs into your USB port to tell you what it saw. There's an article on an interracial marriage which doesn't sound simple to me, and while it's cool, it doesn't help me learn anything about living more simply.

How about dressing simply? They want you to buy an $85 pair of flats and a $68 belt. Maybe a $70 pair of shorts.

Some articles are helpful. How can you spot a fake bill? Might be useful to know. Other articles miss out on basics. They talk about how a pound of sugar was 12 cents in 1960 and is now 52 cents but they say nothing at all about what it WOULD be adjusted for inflation. Is this higher than before? Lower? Nobody knows.

There are good tips in here. Go to your library and use their vast resources for free. Negotiate with your health care provider for lower costs. Use local playgrounds for exercise and fun. Bring your lunch, don't eat out. Even so, you turn the page and they're suggesting $200 blazers as cool items for the simple household blazers that, honestly, most of us would only wear once or twice given its color and what it would go with in a given season. Never mind the $400 giant black jumpsuit. Not simple.

I'm not saying simple has to be boring or drab but there is a big difference, in my mind, between recommending a simple item of clothing that could be worn every week without an issue and recommending a $400 splurge on something that would rarely be brought from the closet. That belongs more in a "splurge fashion" magazine, not a "real simple" magazine.

So while I appreciate some of the tips here, there was too much emphasis on buying things especially things people simply don't need. I feel the magazine falls into this category itself.

I'll admit it -I buy every issue of this magazine. The title, however, always calls up a wry grin. The simple lifestyle the book advocates isn't all that easy! To achieve it you'll have to go buy the materials for the magazine's simplifying project, then re-arrange your house so you have a place to work on the project (which naturally requires purchasing even more things) and then finally you'll have to find the time to actually complete the project. Of course, to find the time you'll have to buy a new wall calendar and clock and Rolodex. I think the magazine has hit the American pluse on the button -spend limited money and time to help better organize limited money and time, all while reminding yourself how beneficial and FUN all this work is. Oh, and don't forget to turn your repeated shopping trips to Target into "quality time" with your two-year-old in the process. So what do I do with the magazine? I'll go home after a tough day at work, and enjoy a cup of off-the-shelf non-gourmet herbal tea (cracked coffee mug, water heated in cheap saucepan with missing handle) and fantasize about leading the kind of lifestyle the magazine portrays. I read about gifts to buy the boss (as if!) and about knitting scarves, and all those premanufactured pastel "lifestyle accessories." The latest issue has advice on picking chocolates. I have one word on the subject -Hershey's. The whole magazine is far outside my salary, and the total opposite of my garage-sale Western-omelet-at-Denny's lifestyle. It's escapism, pure and SIMPLE.

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Don't get me wrong..I love the two hard cover books, Real Simple Solutions and Real Simple: The Guide to Organized Living. They are gems. However, the magazine simply betrays it's words. As one rater stated, it seems like the reader is cajoled into buying un-needed expensive products, and my god..the magazine is cluttered with ads and inserts, plus it is very hard to turn the pages and read. I realize ads are necessary, but this is extreme, especially for a magazine that supposedly promotes a less complicated and cluttered life for it's readers.

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I subscribed to Real Simple from the first issue for several years. At first it had some great unique ideas, and some really cool decorating ideas. Then, shortly after the second year, they seemed to run out of ideas. Unfortunately, they kept publishing anyway. The ideas rerun so often, if I flip through one now I find the SAME recipes (ravioli lasagna) and SAME tips they had the first year. Huge disappointment. If you are interested, don't commit for more than a year!

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I enjoy reading Real Simple. The articles are informative and the magazine is beautiful to look at. I disagree that the content is not substantial it is a monthly magazine, what exactly were you expecting? I also disagree that the magazine solely targets those in an upper income bracket. While some of the items they suggest are things my husband and I still dream of, there are also items they review regularly that you can pick up at CVS Pharmacy. In fact, the product reviews are probably the most useful part of the magazine. I like seeing purchase information next to something that catches my eye. Real Simple is a welcome alternative to other women's magazines that focus on giving yourself multiple orgasms or figuring out your personality based on astrological signs. If you are interested in browsing through a magazine that gives personal stories, features useful products, provides yummy recipes for nights when you have guests over (or have the time to cook a special meal), and is aesthetically pleasing to the eye this magazine is for you.

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