Magazines - Have You Heard?

I love magazines. I mean I get a LOT of magazines - People, Us, Entertainment Weekly, Real Simple, Southern Living, Taste of Home, Scrapbooks ETC... more... and then Wes gets a bunch too. And that doesn't include what I trade with friends on the street.

DISCLAIMER
Magazines are an excellent place to save money. Don't buy them and don't subscribe to them if you're watching money. Read them at the library. But I don't like the library and don't like used paper products... so I cut somewhere else to get my magazine fix.

Have you heard about Maghound.com? A few months back I got an email about it and just can't figure out what's the catch! I've been a subscriber for a white now and am totally hooked. And I've hooked my family, too!

Here's how it works:

• Inventory all the magazines you subscribe to and all the ones you buy at the store (and if you're buying them, you should buy them at CostCo)
• Go to maghound.com and see if any of your regulars are listed (most of mine are)
• pick a plan of 3, 5, 7 or more and pay one monthly fee to maghound.com

There are 300 magazines to choose from. The weeklies have a small surcharge, but the bonus is that if you select a magazine published bimonthly, maghound gives you SUBSTITUTES for free (like getting two subscriptions for the price of one). You can update your choices AT ANY TIME. You can stop your membership AT ANY TIME. The only comment I have is that you don't get to select your substitues, so if Maxim doesn't arrive one month, there's no guarantee that Men's Health will arrive in its place (but I've emailed them my suggestion).

NOTE, subscriptions through maghound.com no not affect your current subscriptions so if you have one, call the publisher directly to cancel it immediately.

Here's how I rationalize saving money: 1 issue of Southern Living costs $4.99 - one issue at CostSo is $3.50; a subscription is $20 for 13 issues if I recall, or $1.66/issue. But where you get caught are RENEWALS! Those costs aren't cheap! Or if you're like me, you get mad because the issue is in the stores before it arrives on your doorstep.

I have selected the 7-magazine tier for $9.95/month but I get People, which has a surcharge because it is a weekly. For the cost of what I would pay for People at CostCo PER MONTH, I get 6 other magazines for free (or what my budget perceives as free).

If you're looking to save money, this isn't the best 'save' for you, but if you're saving money within your magazines budget (I have a line-item in my budget for EVERYTHING), I think maghound.com is the best deal around. And like I've said - this works for me and I hope it works for you, too!