In the mail today I got my Parenting and Parents magazines – fun for me to browse for toddler-related tidbits and a few coupons can be found too. Since it’s been awhile since I paid for my subscriptions, I was curious when these would be expiring – soon, I bet. Well, when I looked at the label I was surprised to see subscription expirations of August 2010 and October 2010. WOW! That means my FREE magazine subscription that I saw here really did come through for me, they added it onto my existing subscription! Ok, I’m a believer now and I’ll start trying to bring you some free magazine subscriptions too! And I will never pay for another magazine subscription (or renewal) again, because there are too many free ones available!
Magazines are a great source for coupons beyond those in the Sunday paper ad inserts. My favorite magazine for coupons (and good articles) is Good Housekeeping. I just opened up my April issue and found a peelie sample of Garnier Nutritioniste Ultra-Lift (you can also request a free sample from Walmart if you haven’t already) and over 10 manufacturer’s coupons (ok, I think I got a very special April issue with duplicate coupon inserts). I haven’t figured out how you can get a free subscription (but Kerri says she was offered a $5 subscription when she got her free subscription to Living the Country Life), but I assure you I’m working on a way! And no, that doesn’t include dumpster diving – which I’ve actually done for copies of Real Simple, another one of my favorite magazines.
Here are some free magazine subscription offers that appear to be currently available. No guarantees on whether you’ll actually get these, but I think the chances are good because I’ve been getting some that I requested, it just takes a few months. Of course the really good ones are usually offered for a very limited time, so I’ll start keeping me eye out for those!
Family Fun magazine – details delivered by Baby Cheapskate (no longer available)
Home Magazine – details delivered by Money Saving Mom
Hallmark Magazine – details delivered by MomAdvice
Living the Country Life magazine – details delivered by WantNot.net
(Kerri says she was offered a $5 subscription to Good Housekeeping when she ordered this free subscription)
And I can’t leave you without reminding you of these free mini-magazines. They are always free and easy to request:
Vive Mejor (bilingual magazine from Unilever)
A good place to go, if you don't mind reading your magazine articles on the internet, is Magatopia.com. It's all free. Most magazines are moving to free online publication anyway. and they're all linked there. Link: http://www.magatopia.com
I often pick up magazines from the library. People bring them in, and they’re free for the taking. Sometimes they are really old…like a year or two. Other times they are just a couple of months out of date. It really doesn’t matter to me because most of the information in the mags are timeless.
I just got the Family Fun magazine in the mail.Thanks for the link
Thanks for sharing, Kim! I’ve read about AdPerks – it’s just too time-intensive for me to try it. I’m getting Family Fun and Country Home both for free right now, but both of these opportunities for free subscriptions have gone away. As always, I’ll let everyone know when a new offer becomes available.
Here’s how to get a free one year (12 issue) subscription to Good Housekeeping Magazine.Go to Adperkhttp;//www.adperk.comThis is how it works. Sign up and then choose the magazine you want, in your case, Good Housekeeping. Then you start watching ads (basically commercials). Watching some ads earns you 1 credit, some are longer and earn 2. They range in length from 30 seconds to 1 minute for 1 credit ads and 1:45 to 3 minutes for 2 credit ads. You need 24 credits to earn 12 issues or a one year subscription. Thats all there is to it!I earned a subscription to Good Housekeeping for myself and Field and Stream for my husband in about an hour last night! The amount of time it takes you will depend on the speed of your connection and how quickly the ads load and play. But its so easy!I see they will also soon be offering Country Living and Marie Claire! I’ll be back to earn those as well!You have a wonderful blog!Kimp.s. I’m now looking for a free subscription to Family Fun and Country Home magazines. Any leads?
Thanks for the resources, Amanda! Wow, I had no idea you could actually sell back magazines at Half Price books! And QSP sounds like a great way to support your local school and get deeply discounted subscriptions. Thanks again!
Hey Heather! I’m also not down with paying for magazines, BUT there are a couple of magazines that I really, really, really love…All You (not just for the coupons!) an US Weekly (it’s my mind candy and reward for being a mom of preschoolers :)). So I order on this fundraising website http://www.qsp.com, you can look up the elementary school closest to you and that school will get a portion of the proceeds, PLUS the subscriptions are super inexpensive. They are maybe 1/4 of the cover price. Then when my house is overflowing with magazines I bring them to Half Price books to sell them (even the freebies) and get a few dollars in credit to the store :)
I recommend checking with your local charities and recycling centers. I donate my magazines to a charity that specifically gathers magazines to distribute at local hospitals and other places that serve the public. Another thing that you can do (after asking permission of course) is to leave them at the waiting room of the doctor/dentist offices you visit – for example parenting magazines are perfect to leave at the peditrician’s office.
I love magazines, so thanks a ton. But do you know a good place to recycle them? Are there places that will take them once I read them. Hate to trash them, but I’m unable to keep them.
Cool – thanks for sharing Kerri! I’ll update this post!
Hey I signed up for Living The Country Life and I got Good Housekeeping for $5.00!!!Great Deal:) Thanks!!Kerri
No, I’m not really a dumpster diver – I only did it once at the big recycling dumpster because there were some great magazines right on top that were current issues. But you never know what you’ll find – one mom’s trash is another mom’s treasure!
Are you a dumpster diver? I was **really** into it for a while but then I wasn’t getting enough sleep (I was too shy to go during daylight and store open hours). I know there have to be other divers out there but I can’t find any, esp not other moms with kids. Usually they are really “hip” eco-friendly urbanites who go in groups.