Favorite "non-parent" magazines

[etwahl]

please share your favorite non-parent magazine! pre-baby, mine were in-style and people (my mindless fun!) now i am more interested in home & decorating, and cooking magazines!

[cuca_]

My all time favorites are Vanity Fair, In Style and Bon Appetit.

[miki]

I always need to have Martha Stewart Living but people seem to either really like or really hate Martha. For cooking I like Saveur (foodie and cultural) and Food & WIne (more practical for actually trying the recipes).

[kristine_elen]

The New Yorker, pre and post baby.

[momtoemma]

My fave magazine is Southern Living. It has good decorating tips and yummy recipes!

[egoldber]

My fav magazines are Bon Appetit and National Geographic.

I also love, but don't subscribe to (any longer):

The New Yorker
Wine Spectator
Fine Gardening
Cooks Illustrated
Threads

[brigmaman]

I like Real Simple. I used to think it was pretentious, but I have found some really useful info in recent issues.

[Karenn]

Right now, the only other subscription I have besides parenting magazines is National Geographic, and I must confess, I look forward to it every month!

[cdlamis]

My favorites are Marie Claire and People (also my mindless fun but I love it!).

Daniella
Mom to Julia 6-13-02
http://www.shutterfly.com/osi.jsp?i=67b0de21b32dc745c42b

[Marisa6826]

My current faves are Bon Appetit and House and Garden. I am just so in love with Dominique Browning's writing style in her letters from the editor. Sounds strange, but it's the first thing I look for in each new issue of H&G.

In case anybody's looking for short stories that are easy reads, Browning has a great book called "Around the House and in the Garden" . Some really wonderful stuff in there.

Pre-Sophie I used to get Martha, but I just got tired of it. Too many adds, seemingly a lot of repetition and it was just really expensive to subscribe to. I used to also do Allure and In Style.

Metropolitan Home is another good one.

-m

[pritchettzoo]

I love Southern Living, Cooking Light, and Real Simple (despite it being grammatically incorrect ;)). Better Homes & Gardens is hit-or-miss for me, as are Gourmet and Bon Appetit. If you're looking for cheap subscriptions, www.bestdealmagazines.com is super cheap AND you can get a 10% rebate through ebates. It does take a bit to start receiving the magazines, but they are ridiculously cheap.

Anna
Mama to Gracie (9/16/03)

[McQ]

I can not tell you how much I enjoy Entertainment Weekly. I love Fridays as I know there's a new magazine in my mail box. Pre baby I'd read it cover to cover in a day chuckling out loud most of the time. Now I'm lucky if I get through one a week but I still enjoy it. DH gave me a subscription about 7 years ago as a birthday present which I thought was lame. And now every time he hears me laugh he makes some crack about it and I have to eat crow.

Allison
~ mommy to Declan 3.24.03

[jec2]

Real Simple and anything cooking related. I get too depressed w/home and decorating magazines while I live in family student housing but still love them.

[kapow]

Hi, my name is Kelly, and I'm a magazine addict, and thanks to motherhood I no longer even bother trying to keep up. My current non-parenting reading list includes the following, although I can't say I get through every issue:

Harper's Bazaar
Vanity Fair
The Economist
National Geographic

I used to love Victoria until about four years ago. They upgraded their style and I miss the quaint old way it used to be. *sigh*

[mamahill]

Vanity Fair and Sunset (a west coast mag, I think). LOVE VF.

[egoldber]

Ah! I miss Sunset!

[nathansmom]

I love People. The mailman knows to run fast if my People isn't in the mail on Monday. Nathan gets to play with his favorite noisy toy while I read the whole thing.

I'm thinking of getting Budget Living. I've bought the last several issues and I like it.

I get Salt Lake City but probably not a good choice for you.

I use to get In Style but I don't have time to sort through 50 ads to find an article and then search more.

I love Victorian Homes. I don't buy this anymore but read it while Nate tears the kids section of B and N apart.

[elvisfan]

People, Good Housekeeping and Redbook

[mharling]

I have significantly pared down my magazine subscriptions. Real Simple and Cooking Light are my staples. We let our Wine Spectator subscription run out, but pick it up occasionally.

Mary & Lane 4/6/03
http://www.shutterfly.com/osnt.jsp?i=67b0de21b356c32425b2 - Halloween Pics!

[tarheelmom]

I am a mag freak - I used to have around 10 subscriptions. My absolute favorite is Country Home, but I also love Country Living, Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, and my guilty pleasure is People.
I used to enjoy Victoria magazine,too, but it has recently folded.

Carmen
Mommy to Ryan and Seth

[flagger]

For me it is:

Entertainment Weekly
Maxim
Consumer Reports

For her:

Martha Stewart Living
Southern Living
Cooking Light

For both it is that magazine with the bunny on the cover.

[houseof3boys]

I'm a junkie and just don't have the time anymore to enjoy them. Here is my post preg list that I still subscribe to and look forward to reading:

In Style - I read cover to cover obsessively
Allure
Elle Decor
Consumer Reports
Home
Martha Stewart
House and Garden
Good Housekeeping
Better Homes

Weaned from:
Food and Wine
Vegetarian Times
Marie Claire
Glamour
Vanity Fair
Southern Living
Family Handyman - don't ask...I am not handy

Space

[NancyJ_redo]

I love Vanity Fair, but rarely get to read it anymore.

[lisams]

Here's my very short list:

Organic Gardening
Organic Style

Lisa

[luvbeinmama]

Reader's Digest
Taste of Home, Quick Cooking, Light & Tasty

[C99]

I get too many that I don't read, so if I haven't paid for it far in advance, it's not getting renewed. That leaves:

Better Homes & Gardens -- this has gotten a lot better since they changed editors in 2002.
Chicago Magazine

I'm letting Martha Stewart Living lapse, and just cancelled Cooking Light. Last year, I also got the Dell Crossword Puzzle booklets and did those somewhat religiously. They're still all over my house with pens stuck in them!

I also buy People or US Weekly in the airport for mindless reading on the plane.

[lizamann]

Favorite magazines we get that I WISH I were reading and have good intentions about:

Natural History
The Economist
National Geographic (I do look at the pictures!)

The one I do usually read and then wonder why I bothered: Real Simple

The one I usually read and usually like: Utne Reader

I think I need to go cancel my Scientific American subscription. It's a fantastic magazine but I just haven't found the time to read it these days.

edited to add: Oh - I have to add Chicago Magazine to the list of usually read and usually like. Thanks Caroline for reminding me!

[nitaghei]

Still read cover to cover
The AKC Gazette

I know!! I know!!! - but they have the greatest dog pictures!

Used to love - The Economist - but just don't have the time or $$$ to subscribe anymore.

Still read the IMF's "Finance & Development" - it's free! And I can still pretend to be an economist.

Can you say "uber-geek?"

Nita
mom to Neel 01/05/03
dog mom to a cocker and a PWD

[sntm]

we have several free subscriptions so we get:

Free:
Saveur (LOVE this, we got it for MIL as a b-day gift)
Budget Living - surprisingly interesting
Biography - to the office, glance through it
People - from my mom, total junk food for the mind, even leaves you feeling bloated

Pay:
In Style - behind 3 months now
Rock and Ice - for DH :)
Feminists for Life - my political mag

plus i get tons of throw-away medical journals. usually keep one in the car to glance at at stoplights, etc.

Used to love:
Vogue
The New Yorker
National Geographic (for DH)
and way way back, Martha Stewart Weddings

shannon
not-even-pregnant-yet-overachiever
trying-to-conceive :)
PREGNANT! EDD 6/9/03
mama to Jack 6/6/03

[km]

Business Week
Fortune
Entertainment Weekly

[cchavez]

Pre-baby it was Instyle....but my subsroption just ran out and I am not going to renew.

I used to like Texas Monthly too.

I am looking for a magazine w/ simple recipes and decorating ideas too. I picked up Everyday Food yesterday and none of the recipes really appealed to me. I will pick up next months issue again and so if any or the recipes appeal to me then.....

[alleyoop]

me, too!

[kapow]

I think Southern Living might work for you. I used to read it growing up and still read it when I visit my parents in Florida. I think it totally depends on your style of living, decorating, entertaining, etc. etc. etc.

[Meatball Mommie]

I get a few now and I've gotten others in the past. I love magazines and I find it hard not to subscribe :)

Currently:
Discover (DH reads it from cover to cover and I like it too, but we're engineers so we like the science stuff)
Biography (they just did away with this one though...too bad - this was my favorite - I read it cover to cover every month)
Cook's Illustrated

Have Had Subscriptions in the past:
Bon Appetit (liked, but didn't use the recipes - a little too fancy for our tastes)
Food & Wine (got it for free, but we aren't big wine drinkers)
Better Homes & Gardens (not enough articles, too many ads)
Martha Stewart Living (some months I liked it, some I didn't - too much $ for what you get IMO)
Cooking Light (had for years, but didn't make much - a lot of their recipes require weird ingredients that I didn't have on hand, but I have a couple of the annual cookbooks and their dessert one)
National Geographic (liked a lot, but had to cut back because of cost)
Scientific American (liked a lot, but we're geeks! We just didn't have time to read)
People (trashy but fun!)

MIL gets and I read too:
Martha's Everyday Food (so far so good)
Taste of Home (love this mag - MIL buys me the annual cookbook every year!)

I love Southern Living, but I live in MA now (I lived in GA for 5 yrs) so the gardening doesn't apply. Is there a Northeastern Living? :) I keep looking for a mag like this, but the only one that seems close is Yankee.

edited to add: Oops! I forgot that I used to get Time, US News & World Report (both of which I liked but they come WAY too often for me to read!)& Real Simple (it was a gift, but I didn't like it enough to renew)

[Dcclerk]

I have more magazines than I know what to do with. Current non-parenting titles include:

Time
Budget Living
Cook's Illustrated
Family Handyman
Elle Decor
Architectural Digest
Home
Fitness
Reader's Digest
Jane
House & Garden
Sunset
Car & Driver
Outside
Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel
Conde Naste Traveler

Yikes... my list is embarrassingly long!

Of these, I guess I actually read 2/3 of them fairly often. The one's I reach for religiously are: Budget Living, Budget Travel, Cook's Illustrated & Sunset. Budget Living is perfect for the bargain hunters of us. I ADORE Cook's Illustrated's test recipes (even though, let's face it, I make very few), and Sunset often talks about places that I've been or want to go, which I love. Outside is a surprisingly interesting one, which I highly recommend for the outdoorsy or ulta-adventurous folk. (And I agree that bestdealsmagazines have great prices!)

[rorycam]

I, too, have long list of subscriptions, but my absolute favorite is Lucky. I cannot afford most of the clothing in there and do not have the figure just now for them, but everything is so pretty and original and I just enjoy looking at it all. Also, the main editor and the fashion editor used to work for Sassy magazine, which I read obsessively in my late teens and early 20s, so that adds to my fun. I also enjoy Allure and Southern Living.

[sugarsnappea]

Saveur and Cooks Illustrated. I am thinking about subscribing to Budget Living and US News and World Report. DH took the cable away, so no more CNN. I need my news! :(

[khakismom]

I *love* Vanity Fair but do not have the time to read it anymore. And I'm one of those people that has to read the mag from cover to cover. :) Now, all I get it... please don't laugh and me and think I am a brainless twit... is "In Touch." It's like "People for Idiots." No real stories just pix of celebs. My mother is so disgusted that I read this, if you can call it reading. ;) But it's my eye candy, my mindless entertainment. :D

Of course, I will soon be giving up my mindless entertainment, at least every week. They are now going weekly--instead of bi-montly--and are raising their rates to $76 a year. Yikes! So I will pick up an ocassional copy, but I can find a better way to spend $76 than on celeb-watching... LOL :)

[bunnisa]

This is a fun thread!!

Someone mentioned Utne Reader, one of my old favorites from my college and single days when I was hip. Back then I used to subscribe to things like The New Yorker & Magnet. It seems so very very long ago. :P

I used to pick up In Style on a regular basis, but it made me want things I couldn't afford so I don't read it anymore!

Current faves:

Wired
Cook's Illustrated
Relevant Magazine
Martha Stewart Baby (do they even publish this anymore?)
Budget Living
Frommer's Budget Travel
Equus

Bethany
It's a Boy!
William Eric (Wilkes)
6/16/03

[nola]

But, I get all my issues from the library to cut down on costs and excess papergoods.
N

[kapow]

Okay, Lucky is my favorite eye-candy magazine. I love it, and I've used the local coupons in the back. Yeah, back in my pre-pregnancy days when I had fun shopping. Now it's all about "how many days can I wear these jeans before washing?" and "does it come in drool color?" :)