I Don't See What the Big Deal is Here....ALL YOU is NOTHING NEW!

Back, oh.....about 2+ years ago, a new magazine was created by Time Inc. called ALL YOU.
I found this blurb online describing this new magazine....

"ALL YOU is a new magazine that speaks directly to value-conscious American women. In each issue, you'll get helpful articles on taking care of yourself, healthy and fast ways to feed your family, clothes you can wear and afford, do-it-yourself home repair projects and relationship advice."

From that it sounds just like some other "women's magazines" that have been around for a very long time....Women's Day, Good Housekeeping, Ladies Home Journal, Redbook, McCall's and Family Circle, to name a few.


Everyone in the online couponing world was abuzz about this new publication though as it contained a high number of Coupons!  There was even a "coupon index" so you could find them all without having to hunt through each issue.

At first, I did find it curious that this new magazine was ONLY available at the store/newsstand level at Walmart to buy at a per copy price.  It is available per subscription directly from the publishers and their designated sales agents online.  I wonder what kind of deal Walmart struck with Time Inc. to be the sole per copy outlet?

Anyway, back to the magazine.....
I didn't subscribe to the publication for the 1st couple of years it was available.  I did hear that there were many high value coupons printed within each month's edition.  I don't often shop at Walmart personally so I wasn't tempted to buy a single copy and you know I wasn't about to pay the overinflated single copy price anyway!lol

I finally broke down and bought a subscription late last year.  I had gotten a group coupon deal on it so why not?, I thought.
I've received about 5 month's worth of the magazine at this point so I feel I can give a knowledgeable review of this magazine now from a savvy frugal gal's perspective.

The articles?
I find them pretty lame.
None of the tips are earth shattering or things most of us don't already know or have seen before.  I bet I can find all the information in the current articles this month online somewhere for free.  Us older gals probably read them in other magazines in earlier decades.
Why pay to see them reprinted in this magazine?

I especially find the frugality or 'savings' tips to be banal.  Anybody over the age of 30 who's lived a frugal life has more ninja frugality in their pinky toe than is contained in an issue of this magazine.
I guess all that newly "debt-ridden/need to become frugal" crowd needs this information and will find it new and mind blowing.
But not so for us ladies who've been around the tightwad block! ;-)

And there is a list of 31 readers who "helped create this issue" on page 7.  Now it doesn't say how they helped.....did they submit tips/information, did they suggest articles, what?
If they supplied substance to this issue are they getting compensated?
Or is the magazine using whatever they supplied to create the issue and "paying" them by listing their names in the edition?
Women is this culture tend to undervalue their worth in many ways.  I see an issue here with a business using these women's lack of business savvy and acumen to take advantage of their earning potential.
Yes, I said it.....Time Inc. is getting free fodder for their magazine from these 'helpful women'.  The women gain nothing and the business makes profits by turning around and selling this magazine to the very same audience it is stealing intellectual property from.
Wow, does Time Inc have a pair of balls or what?

If nothing else, that's enough to make me boycott this rag from now on!

The recipes are so-so.
The only one is this issue that even speaks to me is the "Slow-Cooker Lamb Stew with Rigatoni".  It's a variation on a Pork Ragu sauce over rigatoni pasta....but with lamb instead of pork.  It calls for 2lbs. of lamb.  I find it laughable that a magazine that touts itself as a read for the "value conscious American woman" has a recipe calling for lamb which averages from $10-$15 PER lb. in most parts of the US.  That makes for some really REALLY PRICEY pasta with meat sauce!
They give a serving as costing $3 and this recipe makes 8 such servings, so all the ingredients should cost you ballpark at $24.00 to make this dish.
I think the cost is underestimated given the price of lamb, but even at $24 for 1 meal(they figure 1.5 oz. of pasta per serving, which is NOT the amount most people eat at a meal, so I don't see this 8 servings covering 2 meals at all for a family larger than 3 people), it's a lot to spend on 1 dinner when you have to provide 7 dinners per week on a modest food budget.

So onto the true reason many people buy this rag.....the coupons!
Maybe because all the manufacturer's have cut back on coupons and cut back on the highly value ones, but I find there is very little in the way of couponage in this magazine that I can or will use.
The current issue in my hand claims to have a "Total Savings of $52.60".
Going over the list of brands/values of coupons in the index, at most I'll be using $4.05 worth of these coupons.
And very few of these coupons are for FOOD products.  Most are for HBA/OTC meds/non-food items and many of those are for obscure brands or types of items some people don't use on a regular basis.

Banal articles.
Lame recipes.
Worthless coupons.

Nothing really worth buying an ALL YOU subscription for.

Here's a thought......same your money.  If a fabulous coupon(s) turns up in the magazine some month that works for your budget/spending plan, go to Walmart and buy lots of single copies of that issue for the coupon(s).
That way you keep your money until buying the magazine does you some good at the grocery or drug  store register.

Sluggy