School's Out For Summer

It's been a funny last half term of school this year as Daniel has been at home since the end of May, having finished his GCSEs. Eleanor breaks up today, and is now at home until September, when she will return as a year 9. No more uniform to wash and iron until then.

We've got our fortnight holiday booked, a week in Cornwall followed by a week in Devon, but other than that I've nothing planned. It gets harder thinking of days out as they get older, though they're happy to spend time with their friends rather than having me plan too much for them.

I'm hoping that without the hustle and bustle of the school routine, I'll manage to find time to read some of the many magazines which are piling up waiting to be read. If truth be told, I've got a bit of a weakness for magazines, I love them. I never seem to find time to read a book these days, but magazines are different, they can be picked up when you've got a spare minute and be just as easily put down again. This is the pile of magazines at the side of my bed, though I have to admit that a lot of them have already been read, I just haven't got round to passing them on yet.

Since I stopped working last year, I've had to curtail the amount of money I spend on magazines, some of which are very expensive. I'm always on the look out for offers.

I used my Tesco Clubcard Vouchers to subscribe to Gardeners World Magazine. The vouchers are worth three times their value when used in exchange for deals, though when I took out my subscription they were worth four times their value, so the annual subscription was only about £10 in vouchers, not bad when you consider each magazine is usually over £3 and I get 12 issues in my subscription.

I get The Garden magazine sent to me monthly as part of my RHS subscription, which was a prize in a competition I entered.

There was an offer in a recent edition of Gardeners World Magazine for a free copy of Olive. I enjoyed reading the magazine, but it's not one I would usually buy.

I often see buy five magazines for £5 or buy three magazines for £3 offers. I took out subscriptions to The English Garden and Homes & Antiques using these offers. They take the payment out of your bank by direct debit, you just have to remember to cancel the subscription and direct debit before the end of your trial otherwise your subscription continues at the normal price.

I do occasionally treat myself, the last full price magazine I indulged in was Let's Knit. I'm planning on using a couple of the patterns in the magazine, so I can justify the spend.

I always pass my magazines on to other family members who enjoy reading magazines, and in turn, they get passed on again, so they're well recycled.

I wonder if anyone else enjoys reading magazines as I do.