I feel like I have to start all of my blog posts off by stating the obvious: I’m not backpacking right now. Potato (my cat) won’t let me. Since March, I’ve left Travis County twice: once to go to Virginia, and once to go to Colorado and Utah. (That was pretty amazing, and I ate a bunch of rehydrated meals.) My most exciting travel adventure this month was going to the other Michael’s that’s not on the way to Trader Joe’s. Live, laugh, love, wanderlust, whatever.

Fortunately, I’m not broke, either. All I do now is work as a ghostwriter and spend money. It’s pretty neat! But I hate online shopping. Never was a mall person, and COVID is not the time to start browsing and touching things in stores. At the risk of sounding totally basic, subscription boxes have been a pretty great way to spend money in 2020.

Are they worth it? Sometimes. Are they totally lame? Sometimes. Do I feel weird getting the same products delivered to me like I’m in some weird future with uniform clothes, accessories, and home decor? Kinda. Do I care? Who am I meeting anyway these days? At least I look cute – and the wine of the future is pretty tasty.

So here we are. Here is a very off-brand post on my blog. A dozen subscription boxes does not cater to the broke or the backpacking crowd. That leaves the Beats…never mind. COVID is rampin’ on up again, so if you’d like even more items delivered to your home, check out these bad boys.

Disclosure: Referral codes galore ahead. You don’t have to use them, but if you order through my link, at no extra cost to you, I won’t have to spend my entire paycheck on expensive tea and appropriately-priced clothing. Most of these links contain deals for you, too. Yay! 

Top Subscription Boxes I’ve Tried in Quarantine

12. Bright Cellars

Cost Per Box: $90

I have tried a concerning amount of wine boxes in quarantine. Bright Cellars just doesn’t do it for me. Maybe it’s the fact that goat rose (you know the one I’m talking about) costs $6, and four bottles of slightly-better-than-goat-rose from Bright Cellars costs at least $80. It’s just too much money for this gal. Four bottles of wine is a bimonthly occasion at Trader Joe’s, not worth the shipping costs. If you are into wine boxes, keep reading. I have two more suggestions that have a better value. If you are into Trader Joe’s, keep reading. It’s the only public place I’ve been (besides the climbing gym and like, two coffee shops) since March. I mention it a lot.

11. Atlas Coffee Club

Cost Per “Box”: $15

This is not a wine box, as evidenced by the name. It is, however, a coffee subscription. I have the same issue with Atlas as I do with Bright Cellars. One bag of coffee, especially one that costs $15, does not do well with my budget plan. (The coffee lasts for 30 cups – you can get a smaller or larger option if you’d like.) I have health insurance to pay for, y’all. Is this what Gen X was talking about when they said I could buy a house if I stopped drinking coffee?

The concept is cute – you get to “travel” to a different country each month with your bag of coffee, and the description cards show you with beans go best with your Chemex, French Press, etc. If $15 for a bag is in your budget, I say go for it. No one wants to run out of coffee. Ever.

10. Sips By

Cost Per Box: $15

SipsBy was the first subscription box that I tried out in quarantine. Tea seemed like a decent replacement for an evening glass of wine, and (at the time) an extra $15/month didn’t seem like a huge cost. (Get $5 off your first box for a lil’ extra treat..) Here’s the thing about subscription boxes, though. You have to make sure you’re going to use everything before you get the next one. Tea and I have never clicked, although I’ve found some very delicious ones through SipsBy. I’m putting a pause on coffee or tea purchases until I can go through the two boxes that I have in my pantry. No hoarding herbs in this house.

9. HelloFresh

Cost Per Box: $50 (weekly delivery)

Avoiding eye contact with people on the street who want me to subscribe to HelloFresh is something that I do not miss from pre-COVID life. I did try it, back in the days when $50 at the grocery store was sufficient for a week (because I would spend much more than that on tacos at Pueblo Viejo. If you live in Austin, I swear they make the best breakfast tacos. Fight me.) Replacing that trip with four meals? Meh. The recipes were good, especially for this lil’ veggo gal, but as quarantine left me starved for attention, I much preferred being in a grocery store. I dress up for Trader Joe’s trips now, guys. (Can you imagine a Trader Joe’s subscription box?)

8. BlueApron

Cost Per Box: $50 (weekly)

I’m sure a psychologist could give me an explanation for why the branding for BlueApron is just cooler and appears to be more high-end than HelloFresh. They’re basically the same. I just like that color better. Is that a reason to spend $200 a month on freezer bags and a begrudging motivation to cook? Not really. But that’s why BlueApron gets higher than HelloFresh. Same principle behind me giving my money to Bon + Viv (before the rebrand) instead of White Claw. The color of the branding. (We march at dawn to the Bon + Viv headquarters, demanding their old branding back. Why isn’t there a hard seltzer subscription box? Give me shares once you start one.)

7. Firstleaf

Cost Per Box: $90

Wine!

Firstleaf was the first wine subscription box I tried, sending me down a rabbit hole of getting a discount code, forgetting to cancel, not really caring about that, enjoying the products, weighing whether the box was worth the money, and eventually canceling. I got $40 off my first box, and you can too. The regular subscription is close to $90 for six bottles of wine, which is a better deal than other boxes.

The wine is also very delicious. The cards that Firstleaf delivers along with their wine are the most informative and lovely of all the boxes I’ve gotten. If you’re super *into* wine pairings, this is a great first stop into learning what the heck tannins are.

6. Singles Swag

Cost Per Box: $30

Okay, I have not actually subscribed to it. But I want to use this section of the blog to let all algorithms know, once and for all, that I do not, ehem, need Singles Swag. I am not the target market. I feel weird seeing ads for it. The concept baffles me a bit, even if the products do look cute and useful. What makes a snack more suitable for single women? How long into a relationship is it appropriate to keep the subscription? Why are their Instagram posts so heterosexual?

The products look really cute, so at least I have something to look forward to if I get dumped. It’s like a mini FabFitFun, but with a very niche target audience.

5. Naked Wines

Cost Per Box: $100 (with $20/month subscription)

I rank Naked Wines higher than Better Cellars because the structure is a little different, but makes each delivery more “worth it” for the price. Naked Wines is a little different than your typical subscription program. Each month, you invest increments of $20 as an “Angel.” That money goes to supporting local winemakers.(The term “Angel” is weird to me, but the stories about the winemakers are cute, so whatever.) That $20/month also stays in your account, which you can later use to buy a case (12 bottles) of discounted wine. When you orders 11 bottles, you get a 12th free. It usually adds up to 12 bottles, for around $106 if you buy the cheapest wines. One case every five months, adding up to less than $10 per bottle of really decent wine, isn’t too shabby.

Yes, I was drawn in because you can get $160 worth of wine for $60. Yes, that’s my referral code. Sue me.

4. Stitch Fix

Cost Per Box: $20-180

Before/whilst/immediately after backpacking, my wardrobe consisted of thrift store and hostel lost-and-found fines. I hate spending money on clothes, but I also hate fast fashion. More than anything, I hate how I look in dressing room mirrors. So I don’t shop. For the .2 seconds that I thought I was going to be working at a startup, I was slightly embarrassed by my strictly leggings and denim wardrobe. (Then again, if you’re going to pay people a salary below entry-level in a city where a $1,000/month studio is standard, you can’t exactly expect them to afford Banana Republic, can you?)

Stitch Fix is fun because the clothes feel like they’re customized to you. You get a personal stylist each month to look over all of your information and pick out five pieces that match your style. Out of any subscription box, I don’t feel like I’m going to run into someone with the same pants and assume they have a Stitch Fix subscription, too. And you can change up the direction of your box each month. One month, I got really nice Free People sweatpants. The next box, I requested shorts and got cute shorts. The next box, I requested more androgynous clothes and got a really cute button-down and black skinny jeans. (Among other pieces that I liked, of course.)

Here’s my one complaint that isn’t really a complaint. After a $20 styling fee, you get five pieces and you have the option of shipping one, two, or all of them back for free. (This link gives you, and me, a $25 credit.) You wanna keep ’em? You pay for ’em. Each piece has been between $33-60, which is quite a bit for a gal who is used to thrift store and Forever 21 finds. But all of these clothes have been high-quality, and I wear a lot of them more than I wear those thrift store finds. I get Stitch Fix once every three months, but it’s worth it if that’s literally all of the shopping I do. (And it is.)

3. Ipsy

Cost Per Box: $12

When I packed my bag for Asia and South America, I took no makeup. I bought a liquid eyeliner, mascara, and red lipstick for special occasions in Australia. (Everyone in the hostel I worked at knew what was up when I rolled out of my bunk bed wearing lipstick.) In COVID times, I decided to get back into the art of makeup. Not because I wanted to impress anyone, but because there has been no better time to wear a horrendous face in the name of practice. I’m no AFAB queen (yet,) so Ipsy’s cheapest subscription is totally worth it.

For $12 a month, you get five products ranging from highlighters to makeup brushes to face masks. Since I don’t wear makeup, I expect I’ll be able to get use out of all this stuff until it expires. It’s easy to skip a month or add on more products ($3 monthly add-ons include sets of face masks or nail polishes.) The brands are pretty decent and I like getting to choose one of the products each month. My only (semi-)complaint is that I don’t know what i’m going to do with all of the lil’ bags that I get each month. Right now, they’re organizing my makeup into very specific categories (eyeliner + mascara, blush, etc.) At some point, I will get overwhelmed with makeup.

2. Clean.Fit

Cost Per Box: $35

At the top of my list for food-related subscription boxes is Clean.Fit! Yay!

Like many people, my eating habits have spiraled in a very negative direction during COVID. Mentally, I am Aviva throwing her leg at Heather. Frozen pizzas clogged up my diet for the first few months of this pandemic. I fell out of my workout routine, too. Bleak, bleak, bleak.

I subscribed to Clean.Fit as a way to wean myself off of Trader Joe’s Potato Chips and onto foods that make me physically feel better. The attitude behind Clean.Fit isn’t toxic. They don’t promise that you’ll lose weight or encourage you to get back into your “bikini body,” whatever that means. They promote healthy eating with natural ingredients. I just really appreciate that.

The box itself is worth the money that you’ll save on snacks, energy bars, protein powders, chips, and random candy. Each month, I’ve gotten a good balance of chocolate bar substitutes and fruity treats that lure me away from the frozen food section. My favorite item from this recent box was a banana bread kit! I actually eat the 6-8 items that I get in this box, which is why it sits at #2. (Joke about regular bowel movements from a healthy diet here.)

If you’re gluten-intolerant, dairy-free, vegetarian, or vegan, you can also get a box that fits your diet. Feast away, my friends!

1. FabFitFun

Cost Per Box: $50 (quarterly)

“You have joined the ranks of Melissa Gorga, because I’m influenced.” -My friend Marge, who used my FabFitFun referral code today for $10 off her first box. (Melissa Gorga is on the Real Housewives of New Jersey.)

FabFitFun, to me, is the OG. My love extends beyond quarantine. It remains the best subscription box, hands down. Pants down. Wigs down. I love it.

Why? The Unhide Marshmallow Blanket. It’s $65 normally, but came in my 2019 Winter Box along with seven other items for $50. I sleep with this blanket every night, and I’m probably getting another one in the 2020 Winter Box. I’m also getting a robe, tea cups, I’ve gotten an $100 backpack, a cheese board….

FabFitFun items don’t just pile up in my pantry like tea. I have used every single item that I’ve gotten in my boxes. The cost doesn’t make me wince, because I know I’m getting my money’s worth in the first (of five) items that I get to pick. That, to me, makes a really good box.

That’s why I shelled out a whopping $180 for the annual subscription. All four boxes are paid for, I get first pick of customization items, and my box comes a month before seasonal subscribers. I’m hooked, and I’m not ashamed. Marge and I have both blocked out our calendars so we get first pick at our new box. I hope her employer doesn’t read Beat, Broke, Backpacking.

 

Well! I spend a lot of money, don’t I? Thanks for following along. Leave a comment or give me an Instagram follow at @climb_and_flow if you want to chat further about subscription boxes!