The other day I came across this Groupon:
$10 for a one-year subscription to "dwell" magazine!
I am a big fan of Dwell. And $10 for a year is a steal, right? Totally. A no-brainer. This is why I love Groupon. It helps me save money on things I love and would already buy even without the discount.
So I was all set to partake in this particular Groupon when I remembered...
Reading magazines makes me want to buy things.
And reading Dwell really makes me want to buy things.
Things like... a house.
Back in May of 2009 I wrote a blog post about this very subject. It was time to shed our possessions and I began with the stack of magazines. Getting rid of those magazines had me realize so much about the source of wanting.
Especially fitting today is what I wrote about my relationship to Dwell:
Take Dwell, for example. I love Dwell magazine. The images, the homes, the stories, the ideas it would inspire... but I could never shake the fantasy it sparked. The fantasy and dream for a better life.
What I didn't realize until I stopped reading Dwell is that looking at the perfect images of other people's homes and furniture made me feel lacking. Our home wouldn't be complete until I replaced the living room furniture with that (incredibly expensive) Ligne Roset sofa I saw or until we installed solar panels on the roof. Until we renovated our 2nd bathroom and installed a rain shower head in the first. I compared my life to the lives I saw in those pages and always felt inferior. The luster of our home would lesson each time.
After closing an issue I would look around our house and just feel, ugh. That rug needs to go. Look at our dining room table... it's so boring compared to that oblong white marble table I saw in Dwell.
It's been a few years now since I let my Dwell subscription lapse. Our life looks so different. Yes, we have a baby. We live in a new city. Those are the big and obvious changes. Not so obvious but big in a different way is the fact that I don't feel lacking. We have far less today than we did back when I was a regular Dwell reader, but it doesn't feel that way. Our life feels full. Complete. We have everything we need. And the last thing I want to do is go back to feeling lacking.
Needless to say, I will not be purchasing the discounted year subscription to Dwell offered by Groupon.
Turns out I can't afford it.
P.S. I don't mean to bad mouth Dwell. I seriously adore the magazine. I just know my own weaknesses and refuse to indulge them. That doesn't mean I won't occasionally pick up an issue and be inspired. I know what you're thinking... if I pick up one issue for $5, why wouldn't I just pay another $5 for an entire year?! Well... see above.
If you'd like to read my post from May 2009 about magazines, here it is: "You Really Should Have Read This By Now"
