A High Quality Women's Magazine

Although I’m not personally a subscriber, for the past couple of years I’ve been lucky enough to receive copies of Good Housekeeping from my mother who does subscribe. While this magazine perhaps not targeted exactly at my student life stage, I find it to be extremely high quality and really enjoy reading it. Good Housekeeping’s spine brags that it has 25 million readers every month, and I can see why there are many loyal subscribers. In terms of content and value I have to give Good Housekeeping a five star rating.

Magazine Contents
Good Housekeeping is a production of Hearst Magazines. It is a monthly publication focusing on home, family, and a variety of other topics. The target audience is a bit older and certainly more settled than other women’s magazines focusing on style and celebrity gossip such as In Style and Cosmopolitan.

A typical issue always contains Reader’s Letters, Editors Note, Advice Columns, and information on Consumer Products including both those on recall and those given the Good Housekeeping Seal. Beyond that, the content varies but the general topics are Good Ideas, Good Advice, Good Looks, Good Health, Good House, Money, Family, Getting Personal, Real Lives, Food, and Fiction. Not every topic appears in every issue of the magazine. The articles tend to have a seasonal cycle and focus on holidays and events coming up over the next several months. For example, the October issue offered creative Halloween decorating ideas including a very snazzy and easy autumn centerpiece. The September issue showcased sweaters perfect for fall and winter.

What I Like
Although I don’t have to pay for my reading pleasure, Good Housekeeping is offered at a very reasonable price. Subscription cards inside the issue offer a price of $12.00 a year, and even the newsstand cost is not too bad at $2.50. Despite the low cost, the magazine content is pretty substantial. It took me about two and a half hours to read the October issue which is pretty good for a magazine. There are not very as many advertisements as some other magazines and the magazine usually weighs in between 225-275 pages.

There are some very excellent and interesting articles featured in Good Housekeeping which I believe allow it to appeal to women of a wide range of ages and life situations. October’s issue featured a fascinating story called “Don’t Hate Me Because I’m Fat” discussing weighs in which obese women are discriminated against. This was of particular interest to me as I’ve learned about some of the legal issues associated with this type of discrimination in one of my law school classes. Also interesting was an interview with Tyra Banks who hosts “Top Model,” one of my guilty pleasures and favorite television shows. The September issue offered an article called “Bargaining for Beginners” which gave tips on how to get the best price on various types of products. Obviously this is an eclectic mix of articles but I found them all interesting.

Perhaps what I appreciate the most about Good Housekeeping is the down to earth outlook on life. Unlike other magazines, the articles of clothing shown in the “bargain” sections are actually in my budget. Good Housekeeping is not afraid to display cute shoes from payless or jackets from Target, and I am not afraid to wear them. While beauty products are sometimes featured, its refreshing not to be deluged with pages and pages of hair and makeup advice.

When I started reading my mom’s subscription I expected over-the-top home decorating suggestions geared towards women with an unlimited budget and time to stay home and cook or clean. I don’t know anyone like that in real life, and that isn’t really the approach Good Housekeeping takes. The overall attitude of the magazine is very much pro-women and it features women who work, stay home with children, and have their own businesses. The focus on children is not so much as to bore someone like me who doesn’t have any but I think the mixture of articles in the magazine is great. There is definitely something for every woman here.

What I Don’t Like
I have very few complaints about Good Housekeeping. Occasionally I skip a few of the articles because they don’t pertain to me but I know I’m not really the target audience at the moment and I will probably find them interesting in a few years when I have a house of my own. I could do without those annoying advertising cards that slip out at inconvenient moments, as there are usually eight to ten in each issue.

Overall…
I think Good Housekeeping is a high quality magazine with a lot of useful content. While I’m not quite ready to pay for a subscription yet, especially as I am getting freebies, I think this magazine will be very helpful and valuable when my husband and I have a home of our own. I have very little bad to say about Good Housekeeping.