• by whitley , September 7, 2005

The tag line of Budget Living is "spend smart and live rich." I don't buy it. The magazine doesn't make me feel rich. Maybe it's just that I like aspirational magazines that make me feel poor. I prefer to translate high-living styles and ideas into a real-world budget than to have a magazine tell me how to do it.

Maybe Budget Living is a little too focused on the budget part and not enough on the living rich part. I find it utterly depressing to read a magazine that tells me that I can make extra cash by babysitting or becoming a market research guinea pig. Those activities would not make me feel rich. Neither would: buying rubber balls and putting them in a bowl as decoration, shopping in a pawn shop, storing a flask in my garter belt, shopping at JC Penney, safety pin art, turning old aprons into curtains, and buying jeans at TJ Maxx. Maybe if I were in my 20s and still living with roommates in Brooklyn, Seattle, or San Francisco, Budget Living would be sitting on my coffee table.

For those in a little higher tax bracket, however, it still has some good ideas and fun projects -- and products. It's useful for skimming for funky accents, but it's not a lifestyle choice or a coffee table statement. Some of good ideas include: an article about not getting taken advantage of by the funeral industry, cheap, but good wine advice (i.e. look to lesser known regions, leave the vintage to clothing), a mod chandelier that doubles as martini glass holder, where to buy vintage Lucite, and an article on apartment swapping in New York, San Francisco, Paris, Rome, and London.

Overall, the editorial point of view of Budget Living is good. The departments cover the appropriate areas: products, home ideas, beauty, fashion, and money. The layout is clean and clear. I think they need to dip a little more into the new luxury psychographic. After all, even secretaries are carrying Prada bags and wearing Chanel lipstick these days.