How to Get FREE Print Magazines

My Lifelong Love of Print Magazines

For as long as I can remember, I have loved receiving print magazines in the mail.

I first got hooked back in school when I was around 6-years old, when we had the Weekly Readers magazine  – remember that magazine? I devoured it from cover to cover when I first got it. Okay, so it was probably only 10 pages long, but I loved it. Then when I was around 10-years old, my parents subscribed to National Geographic. I remember how much I loved that magazine – still do! While I did read the articles, it was the photos that really drew me in. When I was 12-years old, my parents subscribed to Popular Mechanics. Another magazine I loved! It was fun working on featured projects in the garage with my Dad. I can still smell the sawdust and gasoline in Dad’s garage, and it will always make me think of him. When I was 13-years old, Mom got me a Tiger Beat subscription. I still have that pull-out poster of Shaun Cassidy – my teen heartthrob. When I was 16-years old, Mom got me a subscription to Seventeen magazine – I felt so sophisticated! I have many fond memories of all these magazines from my childhood!

When my kids were younger and we were homeschooling, I subscribed to magazines for them to enjoy – Highlights, Kids National Geographic, Nickelodeon, Ranger Rick, Zoobooks, Ask, Ladybug, Muse, Cricket, Cobblestone, Spider, Click, Discover magazine, Scientific American, Horrible Histories, and more. We actually still have all these magazines in our home library – can you believe that?!

As an adult and over the years, I’ve subscribed to many magazines for me. Way too many to mention them all! And while I am happy to pay for subscriptions to magazines I really enjoy, I also appreciate getting magazines I love for FREE!

I recently discovered two easy ways to get magazine subscriptions at no cost. Let me share this tip with you!

How to Get Print Magazines for FREE

Some publishers offer their magazine subscriptions at no cost to the subscribers. Obviously, they don’t make money on these subscriptions, but they are paid by their advertisers who want more people to get their magazines. Because of this, publishers can offer magazines at no cost to consumers, as this benefits the publisher and advertisers as well.

These are full one- or two-year subscriptions. NOT just a trial issue!

The websites below are not the only websites where you can get free subscriptions, but they are the two I have used (with great success).

ValueMags

This website offers three to four free magazines about once every month. All you have to do is choose the magazine you’re interested in, give your email address and country, and then your mailing address.

To Get the Magazines:

1. Visit the website at http://www.valuemags.com/home/free_magazines.asp
2. Click the GET IT NOW button for the magazine you’re interested in
3. Enter your EMAIL and COUNTRY and click the “I accept the Terms of Use and the Privacy Policy”
4. Click the SIGN UP NOW button
5. Enter your MAILING ADDRESS – that’s it!

Tips:

• Check the website frequently (at least once a month) to see what magazines are available. 
• Use an email address specifically for ordering free magazines – that way, you won’t have to worry about getting email messages to your main email accounts. I have NOT been “spammed” at all by giving ValueMags my email address, but I still recommend using a generic email for this.

Mercury Magazine

This website offers a ton of free magazines. The trick here is, you have to sign up for them as soon as they become available because there are only so many subscriptions available.

To qualify for the free subscriptions, you need to give them your email address, as well as fill in the information regarding the type of work you do. It’s all very generic, so no worries.

The magazines I requested took 4-weeks to arrive.

To Get the Magazines:

1. Visit the website https://www.mercurymagazines.com/pr1/100/10000
2. Fill in the information requested – your FIRST NAME, LAST NAME, WORK EMAIL, and COUNTRY, then click the NEXT button
3. Choose an option in the # OF EMPLOYEES drop-down list
4. Choose an option in the INDUSTRY drop-down list
   There may be other choices here, depending on what you select. 
5. Choose an option in the JOB FUNCTION drop-down list
   There may be other choices here, depending on what you select. 
6. Click the NEXT button
   A list of magazines you qualify for will appear. 
7. Click a magazine and then click CONTINUE
   You may see more questions after this step, continue to fill in the information as needed.
8. Once you enter the information, you will most likely see a page of additional “offers” – just click the X icon in the upper-right corner of that screen to close that page (no need to accept those offers)
9. On the last page, fill in the details to confirm your subscription and then SUBMIT
   

Tips:

• Check the website frequently (once a week) to see what magazines you can get at no cost.
• As I mentioned in the Tips above, use an email address specifically for ordering magazines. I do get weekly email messages from this company, but only about new magazines I can get, or free digital books I can receive. I’ve not received any “spam” from them. As a matter of fact, I just got an email from them as I was writing this article – an offer for a free 1-year subscription to Architectural Digest – um, yes! Please!
• There are a lot of blogs out there that report freebies on a daily basis. To find free magazines quickly, I do a Google search for “mercury magazine free” about once a week. I change the Google search filter to “past week”. If I see a magazine mentioned that I’m interested in, I click the link and subscribe. Sometimes I find the link too late, and that magazine is no longer available. But I keep trying!

The Magazines I’ve Received – Free

I love sitting at the pool on a hot Summer day, paging through magazines. Or relaxing on the patio in the evening with a glass of wine and a stack of magazines.

Here are some of the latest one-year subscription magazines I’ve received free:

• Conde Nast
• Allure
• Sports Illustrated (for the guys in our house)
• Veranda
• Du Jour
• Entrepreneur
• Architectural Digest (just signed up for this one as I was writing this article)

Each of these magazines took 4-weeks to arrive at my door. The address label on the magazines does show that the subscriptions are good for a year (or two).

What To Do With The Magazines After You’ve Read Them

Trust me. I’m all about recycling and saving the trees. I don’t want to see a bunch of magazines in the landfills. I have found lots of ways that I can use these magazines after I’ve read and enjoyed them. Here are just some ideas:

• Collage Art – I love collage art! There’s just something about cutting things out of a magazine and pasting them to a page to create something interesting. THIS is one of my most relaxing creative outlets. I create collages on paper, in art journals, on greeting cards, on ceramic tiles to make drink coasters, and even on Rolodex cards to create a “flip page” work of art. I save magazines for years just so I can use them for my collage art. If you’re interested, here are some of my latest magazine collages:
  
  

  
• Gift Wrap – I know this might seem odd, but magazine pages make really unique gift wrap. I especially love finding an image that I know the gift recipient will appreciate. This makes wrapping gifts fun!
• Gift Bags – With just a few pages from a magazine, a length of string, and a glue stick, you can create gift bags that will make your gift even more unique.
• Wall Art – Some magazine pages look pretty cool when they are cut out and framed and hung on the wall. I’ve saved travel magazine images of some exotic locations I hope to visit one day, and have framed them for wall art in bathrooms, guest bedrooms, and entryways.
• Envelopes – Magazine pages make great handmade envelopes! Use an existing envelope as your template, cut, and glue the magazine page and send a handwritten letter to a friend or family member.
• Art Book – Turn a magazine into two art books, this works especially well with magazines that have thick pages. Just bring your magazine to a local printer and ask them to cut it in half for you, across the width of the magazine. You’ll end up with two books that you can alter. Paint the pages with craft paint or gesso, then add collage work, stamps, drawings in ink, watercolor paintings – your imagination is the limit!

NOTE: The links above are NOT affiliate links. I am not getting paid to write this article. I’m simply sharing these tips to help you enjoy free print magazine subscriptions, too!