Better Homes and Gardens Magazine: Average Magazine with Some Impractical Ideas and Filler
Written: Oct 15 '09
Product Rating:
Pros: Subscription for regular issues is inexpensive, some good articles and ideas
Cons: Some of their ideas are impractical, special issues are a rip-off
The Bottom Line:
Better Homes and Gardens Magazine is an inexpensive, albeit average home magazine. It will provide a small amount of helpful information, but don't expect too much.
noangels's Full Review: Better Homes and Gardens Magazine Subscription
I work in a medical office that seems to have subscriptions to every mainstream magazine available. I never run out of lunch break reading material. I enjoy some magazines more than others, but I consistently find Better Homes and Gardens Magazine to be average to slightly below average.
Content
Better Homes and Gardens is an all-encompassing home and garden monthly periodical (shocking, huh?). Topics covered include home decorating, home organization, cleaning, cooking, baking, fashion, health, and other areas of daily-life.
The articles tend to be hit or miss for me. Many of the decorating articles promote a modern style, which doesn't mesh well with my more traditional tastes. There are photos of bright white and yellow painted walls with striped furniture and clean lines carried throughout the space. I far prefer rich colored paints and more traditional décor. I felt some of the ideas were a little "out there," regardless of style preferences. In a recent issue, there was an article that talked about decorating the front porch. There was an idea to hang a crystal chandelier on the porch and cover the front entrance to it with drapes. I felt it looked silly and the family pictured under it didn't even look happy. Occasionally there is an article that gives me a helpful decorating idea or two. In many cases, I've found the ideas to be a bit difficult or impractical to carry out. In some cases this was due to financial concerns.
The organization and cleaning articles are helpful at times, but too often they are targeted at very specific audiences (home owners with the space for a mudroom, for example). The most helpful items in the magazine are usually the random tips about various subjects such as finances and grocery shopping.
The gardening articles are very helpful with ideas that are great for even beginner gardeners (like me!). I often find great advice about what to plant in my region for each time of the year. I also fair well with the cooking and baking articles. There is usually a large section of cost-conscience, seasonal recipes, covering every meal course. In most issues, I am able to choose a few recipes that interest me. There have been a few that I felt were not delicious enough to justify the work required to cook them. I often find their one-page spreads to be very helpful. Recently they printed an article about various meat rubs and several were delicious!
I have consistently found the writing to be very good. Pictures are included with every article and they are always good quality. The magazine contains an average number of advertisements for a periodical of its type. I found that many of the advertisements were geared toward an older readership than me. There were a lot of "age-defying" creams and blood pressure medication ads. The magazine's content is also appropriate for this age group, but it would also be appropriate for younger homeowners.
Price
Though this isn't the best magazine, the few helpful articles may be worth the subscription price of $22 for 2-years. I wouldn't pick this one up at the newsstand where I've seen it for $4-$5.
Special Issues
Several times per year, Better Homes and Gardens releases special interest publications for various holidays. I picked up the latest Halloween issue in the supermarket and it wasn't a good value at all.
I found a few cute ideas, especially an article entitled, "Black Bling," which featured an elegant gothic decoration theme. The rest of the magazine was either impractical or filler. One article showed decorating ideas that would probably cost a few thousand dollars to pull off, if you found it at all practical to redecorate your entire home for Halloween. Some of the crafts were not feasible due to cost, such as taking a digital picture of a cemetery, having a blueprint service blow it up to the size of your window, and adhering it from the inside. The example window had numerous panes. Each piece of the picture was cut to fit the corresponding pane and adhered so the lattice structure looked like it obstructed the proper amount of picture. It would take hours for the average homeowner to get theirs to look even remotely similar and it would be very expensive! Some crafts were impractical due to the time and effort they would take to create for the product. There were little cat heads on sticks made of felt, which would each take about twenty minutes to make. Why would I spend thirty minutes making a useless cat on a stick? Other ideas were impractical due to the materials necessary for the project. Where exactly does one find a "paper-mache two-story house with removable room?" A bit specific, don't you think?
I felt the special issue was completely out of touch with the state of the economy as well. An entire article was devoted to vintage Halloween decorations. In the midst of a recession, most people don't have $350-$500 for a book of paper Halloween cut-outs from the 1920's or $100-$2500 for small German candy containers. It seemed very much like filler since I can't imagine the article having widespread appeal.
The special issue was priced at $5.99 at the Supermarket. Pick this up only if you can find it on sale for $0.99, and even then, don't expect to get much out of it.
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