Frugal Friday: My Love of Periodicals!

I love newspapers, magazines, newsletters, etc. I have been reading Archie comics since I learned to read and I love those mindless publications, too. One of the things I look forward to every month is my magazine subscriptions. Currently I receive Real Simple and Gourmet magazines monthly. I consider magazines to be a cost effective purchase because the information in them justifies the purchase. Frugally speaking, however, you can spend a lot of cash by purchasing 3-4 magazines a month in the grocery line.

The solution? Subscriptions! When you subscribe to a magazine you are given the same product at a fraction of the price. I pay $12/year (only $1 and issue—although it's $3.99 at the news stand) for Gourmet magazine and I used to receive the sister-publication, Bon Appetit for the same price. I let that subscription lapse because I was too inundated with reading materials—but now they're begging me to resubscribe for the price of $10 for the whole year...broken down that’s 83 cents per magazine! (On a side note...isn't that a crazy ridiculous price? Think with me now—a stamp costs 41 cents, but I can receive a monthly magazine for only twice the price of standard postage? Isn't that a little odd? I mean, where's their profit?!) I am definitely going to take full advantage of the deal Bon Appetit is offering me.

The Real Simple gift subscription was given to me as a gift from my mother-in-law and I am still grateful to her everytime I receive a new edition. Magazines make a great gift because they can be relatively inexpensive but they're the gifts that keep on giving all year long!

My favorite blog, The Simple Dollar makes mention of a magazine that’s new to me called Make. It’s for “geeks” who like DIY projects, hacking, learning new technical tricks, and all that jazz. I am going to get it for my husband so that he can experience the joys of periodical anticipation and reception.

You may wonder about the additional paper clutter that is added to a home because of monthly magazines. My new policy is to enjoy the magazine until I get the next month’s edition, and then to collect a stack that I donate to my OB/GYN’s office. (They only have Parenting magazine and Highlights…not exactly stimulating to me!) The clutter stays out of my home and others are enjoying the reading material. Any recipes or projects that I am interested are available through each magazine’s respective website, so really there’s no need to hang on to all those outdated issues. (The food magazines even offer the capability of making an online “recipe box” for you to organize and maintain the recipes that you collect. Genius! Plus there’s the added benefit of the tips from other readers…) Keep your current issues and then donate the older magazines—it’s foolproof.