Did you notice how cheap a magazine subscription is getting to be?
One of my favorite ways to “unplug” from digital media is to sit on the couch and read a pile of women’s, home, food, and decorating magazines.
I nearly always find something worth tearing out and saving in a clipping file.
I used to buy women’s magazines a stack at a time at Monroe Thrift Shop. They were only 10 cents each at one point, and that was quite a blessing when our finances were tight. But even when the price bumped up to 25 cents each, a stack of thrift shop magazines was a great afternoon of entertainment on the cheap.
My venture back into paying for my own subscriptions started with a Christmas food gift box I bought on a holiday clearance sale. There was a coupon inside for a free year of BHG. Our mailbox was then fed by the occasional magazine sales that junior high students we know had been involved in.
I now have several subscriptions to assorted monthlies, including these four.
Yes, I know one can look up food, decorating and other lifestyle features on the Internet. Like I said, reading is my “unplugged” entertainment. Even I need a break from a computer screen from time to time.
I’m not going to link to a sales and deals site for cheap magazines because I haven’t needed to use those services. All I’ve done, really, is watch the promotions that come to me in the mail. Once a magazine company realizes you subscribe to one of its publications, they often send a promotion to another.
I got such a card in the mail today for $11.98 for two years of another magazine plus a free cookbook. As long as I didn’t send in a card recently for that one (I’ll double check that through my records), I’ll probably get it.
While not all the promotions are that good, I don’t think I’m paying more than $20 a year for any of the titles I get.
Yes, I know those free cookbooks are small. But they’re a fun perk.
If I don’t have the money right away when an offer arrives that I’d like to consider, I set aside the card and look it over again in a month or two. After all, the magazines are my entertainment. It’s not like its one of my newspaper subscriptions! I don’t let those expire!
If I get to the point where I can no longer afford this habit, I’ll just go back to poking through the thrift shop bin.
This post has 3 comments
April 11th, 2012
I, too, am a magazine junkie, although I’ve let several of my subscriptions go and, to my surprise, haven’t missed them.
Here is a source for super-cheap subscriptions: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=magazine+subscriptions&sprefix=magazine+sub%2Caps%2C259 This is worth checking from time to time as the prices and selections change.
Now, here is my frugal tip. When I see a subscription price that is less than what I am offered as a current subscriber, I send in the card with an address label and note to extend my current subscription at this price. I have never been refused. If I were, I would simply let the subscription run out, and if I truly missed it (see first paragraph, above), then I would come in as a new subscriber later.
April 12th, 2012
Magazines make more money from advertising dollars than from subscriptions – so they’re willing to lower prices (even to FREE for a limited time) to gain a larger audience, since it in turn will raise their advertising prices. But $3-5 a year isn’t uncommon right now when you find online deals. Beware, though – not all online magazine sales websites have good follow-through or guarantees. I stick with those I know I can trust.
April 12th, 2012
I agree, there are so many great magazine deals available these days.
Since I’m not loyal to a specific magazine, I keep my eyes open for free subscriptions through Value Mags, Rewards Gold, and other similar sites.
In the last two years I’ve received 100% free, no strings attached subscriptions to Woman’s Day, Family Circle, Whole Living, and Working Mother, plus a couple single issues of Ladies Home Journal. I’ll have a very difficult time ever paying for a magazine again!