My magazine stack at home is akin to a game of Jenga; if I pull the wrong issue from the middle of the pile, the whole tower of glossy paper is going to topple over and crush the dear life out of me. Weeks will pass, the cats will be forced to eat my fingers and my headstone will read ‘He loved his interiors mags’.
It’s an issue that’s been growing – literally – for years now, but I can’t bear to part with a single copy of Real Living, Inside Out, Belle, House and Garden, Home Beautiful or HOORAY (the list goes on, of course). Removing these mags from my home would be like removing a part of me; an amazing, flippable, 176-page part of me.
It’s like the time I threw out my vintage cowboy shirt. It was a total 70’s flashback; a bit country in appearance and with metal buttons that clipped together. The moment I threw it out, there was a fancy dress party that I totally could have worn it to. This has happened with numerous items of clothing I thought I’d never need again. And the moment they go, I wish I still had them.
If I was to throw out one of my interiors mags I’m certain the same regret would surface. Sure, it’s not entirely likely that I’ll need to reference how to spray a wall lamp from the September 2005 issue of Real Living magazine. But what will I do when the day comes and, low and behold, I want to know how to spray a wall lamp?
These mags have not only seen me through countless glasses of wine, mugs of tea, cheese and cracker boards and bottomless biscuits packets, but they’ve seen me through my own style journey, too. To throw them out just seems criminal. Worse still, to cut them – TO CUT THEM – seems like an even more incomprehensible scenario.
Am I alone in this insanity? Surely I can’t be the only one who looks at their pile of mags with a sense of glee – and enjoys nothing more than a flashback afternoon flipping through old issues to chuckle at some of the horrendous trends we once embraced.
Are you a mag hoarder too? I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. How do you display your mag collection (or are they relegated to a life under your bed)? And how many mags is too many to keep?
PS: That stack of mags is just one of many (and I’m running out of room in my house to store them)!
I had a large collection going back around 20 years and I recently recycled all of them except the last 12 months. It was hard to do it but I feel so much lighter without them and the dust they were collecting. And the spaces they left behind have required decorating so it’s a win-win. I’ll never hoard again.
Magazine Hoarder here too! Everything old is new again, who knows when we will need them!
Totally. I’ll need a storage shed soon.
I have had a few culls of late and keep those that have more than 5 articles I would have cut out.
Hmm interesting approach! I’ll keep as many as I can for as long as I can.
I’m a hoarder too and storage is starting to become a real issue. How do you store all of your collection?
Umm…lets just say between my partners books and my magazines, we need a library.
I, too, am a hoarder of design magazines. I will admit that my collection goes back some 20+ years. I am glad to see that I am not the only one who considers it sacrilege to cut up any of these design bibles. Also, garages aren’t for cars but actually for creating magazine libraries!
Sandy
Wow, 20 years of mags is really impressive. I wish I had a garage to store my catalogue.