Frugal living tips: O magazine is not one of my favorite things.
Financial Freedom
I don’t tell people how to live or spend their money. I have chosen to scale back, do a budget analysis, and find frugal living tips in order to retire early.
In the process of making theses changes, I have become much more aware of our consumer culture. More on consumer culture.
That is why I was so disappointed when I picked up Oprah’s magazine. And let me say, I am a fan of her positive attitude. I like her show, Super Soul Sundays as well as Oprah’s Masterclass. But, her magazine is not going to make my list of favorite things.
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O magazine: I’ve enjoyed reading the magazine in the past and have gotten interesting book ideas and read some interesting articles. However, since I’ve started on this debt reduction journey, I’ve become much more aware of consumerism in the culture. And honestly, Oprah’s Magazine was a bit disappointing on that front.
Consumer culture:
What struck me is how much the magazine glorified spending. But I’m talking about the content of the magazine. The content of the magazine was all about spending as a way to self-improvement. And that’s not a message I subscribe to. I believe your best life is life after debt.
Products as content: One page in the magazine reviewed makeup and had 63 products on it. Yes, I counted. Again, this is not an ad I’m describing. This is a page in a magazine that people pay for. You’re paying Oprah to promote her favorite things to you. And the articles written by guest authors weren’t actually articles. They were “my favorite things” type of descriptions of their favorite products, including this $45 Vanilla Cake.
I just stopped reading the magazine. I’m not a big cake person. But, $45 seems like a ridiculous amount to spend on a vanilla cake. I’m not talking about a wedding cake or birthday cake for your kids. I don’t know who the target market for this magazine is, but the last thing Americans need is $45 vanilla cake. Seriously.
Spending as the answer to all of our problems:
Oprah is a mainstream personality and I was more than disappointed by her tone deafness. Americans have $2T worth of debt. (see above) Many people struggle with student debt and credit card debt. And many (like the good people who read this blog) are working to pay down debt and lead happier lives by being more thoughtful in their spending.
Debt free is my favorite thing:
This notion that once I can afford Oprah’s favorite things, my life be better. My life is better. I paid off $17K in debt this year and paid off my car. There’s nothing better than that. Debt free is my favorite thing right now.
What do you think? Please share your comments.
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