I never thought I would be getting so many magazines in my mailbox without ever paying for a subscription! It’s because free magazines are offered as free samples. Here are some general resources to help you get the magazines you want for free. I’ve also got a list of tips that I compiled from my readers on how to give those free magazines a second life.
Sources of Free Magazines
Digital Magazines
Did you know that some magazine publishers have started providing digital editions for free to everyone? Ready Made currently has free digital editions accessible by anyone. Successful Living and Kraft Food & Family is also available. Do you know of any others that are provided directly from the publisher?
StartSampling
They seem to always be offering a free magazine sample, and I have received every sample I’ve requested so it’s a reliable source. You do need to create a free membership, but after it’s created all you do is login to request your sample (one per day). Most of the magazine samples are a few issues rather than a full year. And because StartSampling is a popular website, the free samples don’t last long. I post the new ones here on my blog.
AdPerk
A great way to earn free subscription by watching ads. At first I wasn’t thrilled about this new way to get free magazines because I thought it was too time consuming. Then I actually did it and I love how it works! Read more about my experience here, and I assure you I’ll let you know when those “Coming Soon!” subscriptions are available!
Mini Magazines
Free magazines that have fewer pages but are published by big names in the magazine biz. Babytalk is a great free subscription to ask for because it often contains manufacturer’s coupons in the thin issues.
Product & Store Magazines
Some companies create magazines around their products or store. Of course they are full of their own ads, but they also often include coupons and free sample opportunities. A few product magazines that come to my mind are General Mills Que Rica Vida Spanish magazine, LEGO, Lowe’s Creative Ideas (three different themes available), and P&G;’s Rouge.
Tips to Give Magazines a Second Life
What am I doing with my magazines after I’m done browsing them, reading the articles of interest, and clipping the money-saving coupons in them? Sometimes I will leave my magazines in the doctor’s office if that is where I am when I finish browsing and if they are lacking in their magazine selection. I also donate magazines to a charity that collects magazines to circulate among the waiting rooms of local hospitals and other public places in my community. If I am making a donation to a charity that is specifically for moms & their children then I will try and include a parenting magazine. I have also donated magazines to my local library where they sell them at 10 cents each to raise money for special projects.
Here are more ideas from my readers:
Donate Magazines
I’ve heard from my readers who donate them to nursing homes, doctors offices, libararies and kids groups. “Deal”icious Mom donates them to high school teachers who use them for fashion, home ec projects and art projects, great to know that even the teenagers are collaging with magazines. Saving for our family’s Dreams includes magazines in care packages that she sends to soldiers, she recommends AnySoldier.com to become involved.
Think about the places in your neighborhood where people are waiting, take a few magazines with you next time to go someplace with a waiting room and ask if you can donate them. I encourage you to ask before you leave the magazines because many waiting rooms are part of private businesses that may have some guidelines as far as what types of magazines they want in their waiting room.
Pamper Your Guests
Jessica leaves magazines in her guest room for friends and family to browse while they are visiting. Amy at MomAdvice has more great ideas that you could use to turn your guest room into a bed & breakfast style retreat. Or maybe you want to feel like you live in a bed & breakfast yourself – even if just for a weekend?
Pass Them Along to Friends
Maybe you are getting free magazines, but your friends aren’t? Find out what magazines they like to read and then pass them along to them. This is what PsychMamma is doing with her magazines to give them a second life.
Get Crafty
There is the obvious kids collage art project, and the not so obvious paper beads, shredding for packing material, making cards, etc. Thanks goes to Handprints on the Wall: Minimizing Monday feature for the links and go visit for ideas on how to organize those articles that you tear out to save.
Sell Them Back
Amanda sells her gently used, recent issues to Half Price Books.
Pay Them Forward
Niki gives them away on Freecycle. Maybe you can also get some new free magazines using this forum as well.
I hope you enjoyed this special roundup of the best sources of free magazines and how to give your free magazines a second life. I’ll be bringing you specific free magazine offers as I find them so please keep reading. Please leave a comment to share with us your best sources of free magazines, and what you do with them when you are done.
Plse sent your periodicals, we an NGO IDC Thamarassery, Our under working 850 Self help Groups. Thanking you Directer,IDc Thamarassery, Calicut, kerala-673573.S.India.
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Great post! — I appreciate the time and energy it takes to share all of this knowledge.
I adore my free magazine subscriptions…we pass some to our elementary schools when we retire them, and pass them onto family when we can.
My children also use them in art projects such as collage and paper art.
My eldest son uses them to make handmade paper with a Bill Nye the Science guy paper recycling kit he got a couple Christmas’ ago…he enjoys making homemade cards with the paper, and then gifting them at Christmas and other holidays. We have family that ASKS for the cards now in advance! lol
(For anyone that cares you can read a review about the kit here if you want, but I am not sure how in stock they might be as we got ours several years ago)
(admin fee free to delete link if it’s not allowed)
http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1383563/a_review_of_the_bill_nye_the_science.html
Recycling the magazines for making paper is a fun activity, and it can also make super nice gifts.
Thanks for all you do — it’s much appreciated!
^_^
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Hey, I must be overlooking something. How do you get free sample mags from StartSampling? I have looked and looked and I am a member but have yet to find out where to go. Can you help? I love magazines, any type, any kind, and especially free ones. I love free stuff..:)
StartSampling offers free magazine samples on a limited basis (new offers are only available for a day or two) so you just have to wait. It’s all about timing – and I assure you I’ll post the next one when I see it!
I've gotten a lot of my magazines free from airline miles. I join the frequent flier program when I fly, even though I'll never get enough points for a free ticket. Every couple of months, I get an offer in the mail, and I can redeem miles for subscriptions.
Also RewardsGold is a GREAT place to get free mags. You take a survey for them and get the subscription. I get tons from there.
I get Pregnancy magazine as a digital magazine and it’s great just having that delivered to my inbox every month!
I have been getting Baby Talk, Parenting, Parents, Family Fun for almost 2yrs now.. and never paid a $$. When I’m done I sort thru and decide what I’m keeping then donate the rest to various dr’s offices.. My daughter has her 2yr checkup tomorrow so I will donate a big stack to her dr’s office. When we go back to the dentist in June there goes more issues.. I can only carry so many in a bag and handle a toddler too ;) My husband gets a few more magazines/catalogs too that I find for him.
I used to get $2 magazines every time I left a BizRate review at a couple of my favorite online shopping sites. Lately, they haven’t been as generous. The fees are higher and subscription periods are shorter. With your great article, I’m hoping to get the magazines flowing again! Thank you!
Oh,I finally got my code sent to me,and I should be getting my subscriptions in 6-8 weeks.Thanks for letting us know about this.
I went to the site adperk.com,but I didn’t recieved the code that was suppose to be sent.I did watch the ads.I tried to contact them,but all it said was no URL found.
I sent a whole stack of my magazines to my son’s 1st grade class the kid’s were so excited to get new magazines to cut out of for a project. The one’s they had been using had allready been through and alot of the pages were missing. His teacher told me they were like kid’s at christmas with new presents.
I couldn’t find how to order any magazines, just product samples and coupons. The garden magazine link takes you to a restaurant coupon website. What am I missing?
Love the site!
I pass my magazines on to my mom or mom-in-law. My mom returns them to me when she’s done with them. My mom-in-law passes them on to one of my SIL, who, in turn, pass them on and on and on! I once got back one of my magazines that was almost 2 yrs. old. Of course, it was *new* to me, so I read it again! :)
I work in a hospital and there are never enough reading materials available for the patients families. I know that local hospitals would be glad to put those gently used magazines to good use.
Hi Heather-I didn’t see Nestle’s Very Best Kids “magazine” mentioned. It has some great articles and coupons and it’s FREE! You can sign up for it at: http://www.verybestkids.com Enjoy!
This is an amazingly comprehensive post… thanks, Heather!I love getting new magazines, but absolutely detest clutter. Along the same lines as donating to hospitals or shelters, I donate my magazines to the local Ronald McDonald House. I stayed at a RMH for almost four months when my daughter was born and I can tell you firsthand how appreciated new reading material was!
Hi Heather- I wanted to let you know that I just nominated you for an award on my site. You are the definitely the queen of freebies! :O)
What a great post! Thanks for all the wonderful tips and all the legwork you put in to find them. Thanks, too, for the “linky love.” :-)
I too am *amazed* at the amount of free magazines now coming into my mailbox each week!!! In fact, I feel a bit overwhelmed in that I can’t seem to keep up with reading them before another issue arrives. I just left a stack at our local library to share the love! And, I have a few friends I have been passing things onto as well. What a treat!!!