We just got off the phone with our editor at Budget Living - as we had started a new column (Decorating RX) that was to come out next month - and heard the news first hand: Budget Living had the plug pulled last night. Everyone's getting paid till the end of the month, but it's going to be tough over there as everyone goes looking for work.
The magazine world is brutal. All over Gawker this morning is news of layoffs and cutbacks in the industry. And Daily Candy will sell for $100m?
It's only been half a year since Angela Matusik took over as editor-in-chief (you will remember her as a faithful reader and winner of last year's kitchen contest), and she had barely been able to make her own stamp on the magazine. In talking with her over the past few months, she had exciting plans and ways of tying the magazine and the website together in a more seamless fashion.
Someone else will have to hire her now, so she can put her ideas to work. We wish her and all the BL people well and look forward to seeing them arise again (perhaps on the web?).
© 2009 Apartment Therapy
Angela, Such unhappy news. Your kitchen was so wonderful!
Bummer! I feel like everytime I discover a good magazine, it goes bu-bye. I guess people are only interested in expensive living...
$100 million??? WOW!!!
Play your cards right & You AT guys stand to cash in big some day :)
Darn it. I just finally subscribed (to burn off soon-to-expire airline miles)! That's a shame. There aren't enough good shelter mags to fill the style-on-a-budget niche. Good luck, Angela.
[$100mil for Daily Candy? My take on it: worthless advertorial with sub-standard content. Isn't America's fascination with "coolhunting" over yet? Do we really need daily emails to let us know what to buy?]
Dang! I was a subscriber, too.
So sorry, Angela. And has everyone heard that Taunton's Inspired House is also stopping publication? What's going on? I thought lots more of us were working on our homes.
I love Budget Living! Now I am so sad--and I think I had paid for two years of the magazine. I loved Budget Living's home looks, and also liked the fact that most of the places profiled had real personality. I like Dwell, but it often seems like more of the same. Budget living's interiors looked individual. Not to mention, I could afford them!
Angela is so nice and helpful (she corresponded with me about kitchens) and I love Budget Living, so I'm so sad! No doubt Angela will go on to something new and wonderful.
I have to agree with Enrique about Daily Candy. Boring stuff, and whoever is paying $100m is crazy. Plus, a brand at my old company advertised with them and LOST money. Quite a bit of money, actually.
I did not renew my subscription to Budget Living when it ran out over a year ago. Mainly, because I was looking to cut out extraneous expenses (as a former magazine junkie, I no longer have any magazine subsriptions and I don't even miss any of them!), but I just couldn't stand issue after issue of BL featuring ONLY skinny young models. No older folks, not much ethic variety, and no plus-size people. It wasn't supposed to be a fashion magazine but always had fashion features (I hate fashion rags) and usually with not-so-great clothes. Many readers (including myself) had written in from time to time asking for more variety in their models and their response was always, "We like looking at attractive people, sorry!" A very youth-centric attitude there, it seemed. But that was way before Angela's reign. I'm sorry to hear about its demise, though. It had such potential! I did enjoy lots of the articles showing how budget-conscious folks had done up their pads, and saved almost every issue I had for those (until I started de-cluttering and tossed 'em). Oh, well.
Any American magazine with the word "budget" in its title is doomed to failure these days. Saving money is out, spending money is in. People like to get a good deal, but the word "budget" has negative connotations.
I'm with Jeffrey.
The first time I saw BL on the newstand I thought it was one of those "Is Matha Stewart Living?" spoof magazines.
Now I'm dying to see Angela's orange kitchen...how can I link to it? i can link to the page that shows she won, but not pics of her kitchen.
Re: Daily Candy, I know! It used to be so good but now it always sounds like they're whoring out praise for advertisers.
Went to Anglea's "faithful reader" link but don't see her kitchen. Is it still available to view?
Well, the word "budget" makes it sound like you're not just poor, but that a government agency has stepped in and "put you on a budget".
I never did see the magazine, but I would have loved to have seen Maxwell's column in it.
I'm wondering if a magazine could survive with a name like "Lean Living", which would kind of sound like "Clean Living" but could incorporate the idea of only living with what you need in an affordable, streamlined, chic way, which might include some "Green Living" in its manifesto and some delicious things to eat that are good for you, but would avoid words like "diet" which are the same kind of troublesome as the word "budget".
I'm just kind of brain-storming here, but it's not such a bad thought.
I am so disaapointed. I wanted to buy my neice a subscription for her birthday - she just got out of college and is in her first appt. What a bummer. Thanks for letting us know.
I am not so happy with DailyCandy.com either. So where do you guys go to find out whats happening around town(besides ApartmentTherapy.com)?
Maybe drop the word "living" as well and come up with something like "Readymade," something that suggests the content while sounding fresh and avoiding negative connotations?
I'm not convinced a magazine dedicated to "budget living" could survive, no matter what the title is. I don't see how it could attract enough advertising dollars. I think the audience demographics would be really tricky.
Fixed that link. Angela's kitchen is also here:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/031505/competitions/kitchen-8-angelas-bright-orange-crush-002300
Curtis, that's a really good idea. Now, who's going to publish it? I'll buy it.
Kate - try Time Out and NY Magazines and http://nycpulse.com/
Can we more than those 2 pics of Angela's kitchen?
see more
What a bummer...it was really a great magazine.
But I did just recently read that it was in trouble and probably was not going to be around much longer.
Well Martha is coming out with her new magazine "Blueprint" so we will see how it will compete with Domino.
Curtis - "LeanLiving" would, of course, sound like a diet magazine.
There were times when I liked "Budget Living" and times when I didn't; my complaint about most magazines has to do with their level of content. It was a magazine I always enjoyed looking through, but often regretted purchasing. (I feel the same way about "ReadyMade", which has a curiously sexist vibe sometimes, and with which I have some other problems vis a vis the emperor having fewer clothes than some might suspect - but their new book is better than a typical issue of the magazine).
PS what everyone else said about DailyCandy. Horrible advertorial. Annoying arch tone. Now, a daily email about ACTUAL CANDY, that I could get behind.
I loved Budget Living magazine. I remember hearing problems with readers though - they were aimed at the budget crowd, and most of them couldn't afford the magazine itself! I'm a magazine junkie and of course had to have it. I was going to subscribe soon, too!
Sad day indeed.
while i am sad- where is my refund for issues paid for in advance
ie.. subscription?
Anne - Thank you very much!
I made the unfortunate decision to subscribe to the mag on Jan 31. I have received nothing and no credit has been made to my account. How do I get this back when the subscription line is off the hook?
I also purchased a subscription for myself and four other family members for Christmas. I guess I am to assume there will be no refund?! It's going to be so fun telling my family that part of their Christmas won't be showing up...! I loved the magazine, but now I'm angry! If they knew they were going under, why in the world did they cash the check and not just return it?
You can file a complaint with the NYC Consumer Affairs at: http://www.nyc.gov/html/dca/html/home/home.shtml
Maybe if enough people file a complaint they will force the Budget Living to issue refunds.