Mail Order Catalogs
We get a lot of free catalogs at our household. And for me, the more the better. My wife and I enjoy a variety of things: we have aquariums with tropical fish, a koi pond, a standard poodle, an indoor green house, lots of orchids, extensive landscaping, houseplants, bird feeding; and we enjoy cooking and reading. Best of all, there are free catalogs for all of these categories. Because we enjoy all kind of benefits with these free catalogs, we thought we’d share this concept with you.
One of the things we found is that it is easy to get started with catalogs. But to really keeps them coming is a purchase. Once you buy something via a free catalog, they never forget you and every new edition is sent your way. It seems like with every mail delivery there are new catalogs. So I look forward to the daily mail deliveries. By getting the latest catalogs, you are always kept abreast of the new product and today’s fashion trends. (Speaking of trends, my late father-in-law was a retired executive of a large retailer and he used catalogs to provide input for a Trend Report that he compiled. He was paid for these reports which were used to help keep busy buyers current. Without the free catalogs, he really couldn’t have done these reports.)
With all these free catalogs, we find there are three kinds of benefits:
- Learning
- Saving time
- Saving money
Learning: There are so many things we learn about from these catalogs. You find out about stuff you’d otherwise never discover. This is especially true with fix-it products that useful in making household repairs. I ran across a liquid filler that’s used to seal hair-line cracks. Luckily, I remembered that product when I accidentally dropped and cracked the reservoir for a water feature we used on our deck. I fixed the leak with the specialty product from a free catalog. Without the catalog, I would have never known of this product. And, there are all kinds of new products I learn about from the constant stream of catalogs flowing into my mailbox.
Saving Time: As new catalogs arrive, I like to page through them to get a quick idea of the contents and anything new. Then, I save the catalogs and use them to replace previous issues. That keeps the catalog inventory from getting overwhelming. Now I’m in a great position to do time efficient shopping. It’s so much faster to grab some catalogs than the other alternatives. It’s obvious that this approach is much faster than driving from mall to mall and going from store to store. But it is often faster than searching the internet. I like to start with catalogs and then supplement my search on the internet. Catalogs serve as a great starting point that saves me a lot of time.
Saving Money: Now we’re talking! Who doesn’t like to save money. Especially today. Gas and wear-and-tear on your car can really eat up the bucks. With catalogs, there’s none of that. And, with many people, time is money. So that, too, can translate into saving money in an indirect way. But that’s just the half of it. Imagine how easy it is to quickly compare prices when you’ve got catalogs at your fingertips. Recently, I ordered a steel rack for storing firewood. Right away, I found a rack that fit perfectly in a nook outside our front door. If the rack was 3” wider it wouldn’t fit. It was just the right size and it looked very nice, too. But just before ordering it, I checked out two more catalogs. For essentially, the same item I saved about 20%. Speaking of firewood, we have a see-through fireplace with glass doors on the front and solid glass on the back. If hot coals fell against the glass, it breaks. After replacing the glass three times, it was time to either stop having fires or resolve the costly problem. Again, it was a catalog to the rescue. In the same catalog that I got the storage rack, I found the perfect fireplace grate with high sides that keeps everything contained. After using one for a year, I ordered another for the fireplace on the lower level. Haven’t had a problem since. No more wasted money on replacement glass. And, I’ve never seen a high-sided grate in a retail store either.
Check out our website about free catalogs and see if what we enjoy with them appeals to you.