Things You Can Always Find At A Thrift Store #6: Many Magazines

Hello! It's no secret that a print media purchase isn't what it used to be. In the case of magazines, prices have gone up, yet content has gone down. But if you're like me and grew up on magazines, the allure of printed paper is still there. Luckily, thrift stores come to the rescue. 

I'll admit, there are a couple of caveats. I've mentioned previously that sometimes I'll buy a thrift store magazine, only to discover that the very article I'd wanted to read had been torn out before the issue had been donated. So I've learned to flip through the magazine before I buy it to make sure the recipe, craft project or whatever it was that I particularly wanted to read is still intact. 

Then, too, you may not find the most current issue at the thrift store - instead, you may find summer issues of, say, Martha Stewart Living in the dead of winter. 

But you never know, you may get lucky and find a current issue or two:

The Reminisce issue has the news stand price of $4.99 on its cover. The Midwest Living magazine does not, but I'd guess it sells for at least $3.00 at the store, where I'd been tempted to buy it since it's a holiday issue. So, by paying 25c per magazine, I saved a nice bit of money! 

If you've read this blog for awhile, you know I like to buy older magazines for nostalgia's sake. That's why I'll sometimes buy 1980's-era Country Living magazines. My late mother subscribed to that publication then, and I would read it while visiting her. Coming across these old magazines now (her copies had been discarded well before she died) brings a part of her back to me. 

Then there's the fun of buying a magazine that reminds me of when I was in grade school or high school:

This dates from September 1975. With cover headlines such as "Is Your Child Getting a Really GOOD EDUCATION?" and "Hilarious! The Diary of a MALE HOUSEWIFE", my curiousity was piqued. But inevitably, the ads therein were what really grabbed my attention, so I'll do another blog post about this issue. 

I've noticed that several magazine publications tend to show up over and over at thrift stores, like Taste Of Home, Woman's Day and Better Homes and Gardens. But occasionally there's the pleasant novelty of encountering a magazine unfamiliar to me. For instance, a few months ago I found a couple of recent issues of Experience Life magazine; its focus is healthy lifestyles.

And last week I bought this:

Had never heard of Folk magazine, but it has beautiful photography and the tagline "Real American Living" on its cover. And since the front cover also trumpets that it's "THE VINTAGE ISSUE", of course I had to buy it.

The front cover also shows the news stand price of $6.95, whereas I paid 25c for it. True, the issue dates from late summer 2012, but judging from the photos and articles I noticed when I looked through the magazine to see if I wanted to buy it, I'd say this is a very nice magazine.

All this goes to show that you never know what you'll come across when you go to a thrift store! Old, new, off-beat or commonplace, it's there for the finding - and the saving.