One of the things I was trying to do is to read through my growing pile of magazines so that I don't have to look at them laying around anymore. I get all sorts of magazines, none of which I actually pay for, some of which I have no idea HOW I came to have a subscription to. I guess taking pre-baby classes automatically subscribes you to a long list of parenting publications.
One that I did choose myself (because it was free) was Cookie Magazine (all the best for your family). Sounds good, right? Well, I pretty quickly figured out that I was not the target audience of Cookie Magazine. I do not consider a $300 floor-length sundress with a train "backyard barbecue-wear". I do not plan to ever take a family trip to Monaco. I do not consider Prince Charles' second cousin my social peer, and I sure don't sigh "Awwwwww" when she talks about how she has nannies and housekeepers so that she can make sure she has time to spend focusing 100% on her kids every day.
But an article I was reading last night really perplexed me. It was called Admit You Need It, and the blurb under the title explains "Her time and money are stretched to the limit, yet the date-night line on her family budget is non-negotiable..."
The very next page shows an outfit that makes it easy to "...transform from working mom into work-it wife", so that you can go straight from your office to date night. Let's take a look at the cost of this outfit:
Jeans - $176
Blouse - $88
Jacket - $118
Earrings - $185
Undies - $26
Work bag - $45
Evening clutch - $295
Work flats - $98
Evening heels - $298
Total - $1329
Yowza.
Now, as I said, I know I am not the target audience for this magazine. And to give them credit, the daytime bag was from Target. But it seems to me that there are probably not enough people who #1 live in the US, #2 are moms, #3 work outside the home, #4 are wealthy enough to drop half a mortgage payment on an outfit, albeit a versatile one, to make much of a readership for this magazine. So that leads me to believe that many of the people who read this magazine do so to sigh and wish they could drop $200 on a onesie. I just think it's kinda crappy to run an article on fitting date night into your tight budget, then propose wearing an outfit like this. Maybe I'm way off base, or maybe I really am NOT spending enough money on my date-night outfits. Oh well. My marriage doesn't seem to be suffering as a result, so I guess I'll just continue to shake my head in bemusement every month when my new issue of Cookie shows up.
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