Just five years ago, the idea of ordering groceries via an app and them being delivered by bicycle in less than 10 minutes would have been wild, but such is the convenient world we live in, and there are few things more convenient than a subscription service.
A regular subscription saves you time and effort going to the shops, cooking and in some cases, also ensures you’re making a more eco-conscious choice. As well as making your home run more smoothly, setting up a subscription with a smaller brand (rather than making a last-minute dash to the high street or ordering from Amazon) is a wonderful way to support a maker or business that is just getting off the ground.
Subscription services can also make for easy, thoughtful and creative gifts. If you know a friend or family member has moved house – why not help them furnish and decorate their new life with a monthly delivery of flowers or art? Regardless of their taste, a food and drink description will – pardon the pun – always go down well.
Whether it's for a gift or a treat for yourself, here are some of the best subscriptions available now.
Cleaning and household maintenance
What is it?
Broken boiler? Need curtains put up or your windows cleaned? It’s all covered. Members of Maison Plan can enjoy an unlimited number of call outs for home repairs and general maintenance. You pay a monthly fee, and can be guaranteed a handyman will be around to fix the problem. There’s a same-day service for emergencies, and a one week service for non-emergencies.
How much does it cost?
Membership starts at £25/ month, and there’s an additional £60 call out fee. If you predict needing several call outs a month, it would be more economical to go for a higher monthly payment, which means the call out fee is then waived.
Why sign up?
For homeowners and landlords, this is a godsend. If you frequently find yourself spending hours on the phone trying to get someone round to fix the loo, or wire in your TV, this is the subscription for you.
What is it?
A subscription service providing refillable cleaning products for the home. There are different packages: the ‘Everything Home’ starter kit equips you with everything you need to clean the kitchen, bathroom, and everyday surfaces around the house, and there are smaller packages if you don’t care about cleaning your bathroom. They also sell shampoo, conditioner and body wash. You’ll be sent (rather chic) amber glass bottles for all of the lotions and potions, and large refillable pouches. A prepaid envelope is provided so you can post the pouches back. You can adjust the frequency of your delivery depending on how quickly you get through the products.
How much does it cost?
From £28.30 every 2 months (or however frequently you want to receive the delivery)
Why sign up?
Not only does this take the stress out of having to constantly pop to the shops for more cleaning products, but you can also sleep easy at night knowing that you’re doing your bit to reduce plastic waste. The products themselves are all natural and made with non-toxic ingredients.
What is it?
Another subscription service which delivers ultra-eco cleaning products for the home, though Spruce is slightly different to Bower Collective: here you’ll be given concentrates in a small, compostable sachet slightly resembling a sugar packet, which you mix with water in your pastel coloured bottle. One quick shake and you’re ready to go. There’s a bathroom concentrate, floor cleaner and glass and mirror cleaner. You can buy all the refills as one-offs though it’s cheaper to subscribe. One sachet should last you a month.
How much does it cost?
The ‘Multipurpose Starter Kit’ costs £8, and three refills delivered every three months costs £8.50.
Why sign up?
Easy, pretty and smells delicious. Though it doesn’t quite cover every part of the home yet, you’ll definitely have your floors and surfaces sparkling with Spruce’s convenient little packages. The bottles are designed to last forever, and the sachets are compostable, so your plastic waste is at an absolute minimum.
What is it?
100% recycled toilet paper. You can kiss goodbye to those dire moments of realisation that you’re out, and it’s too late. With Who Gives a Crap, you can order 24 or 48 rolls of toilet paper, either monthly (for households of 5-6 people), every month and a half (3-4 people), and so on. There are different plys to suit your fancy, and they also sell kitchen rolls and boxes of tissues. Slightly beside the point, but each roll is covered in fun, coloured paper, so it makes quite a lively addition to your bathroom.
How much does it cost?
£28 for 24 rolls delivered monthly
Why sign up?
Their mantra is: ‘good for your bum, great for the planet’, need we say more?
Flowers, seeds and plants
What is it?
Petalon was founded by husband and wife duo Florence and James Kennedy, who grow all of their wildflowers on their 85 acre farm in Cornwall. Every week they create new bouquets based on what has grown well. You can choose to subscribe to Petalon’s signature bouquets, a mixed selection of homegrown Cornish flowers delivered in a box for you to arrange at home (this is slightly cheaper), or a pre-arranged bouquet of Cornish Field Flowers. Choose from a weekly or monthly supply of flowers to your home or office. They deliver 7 days a week and you can cancel at any time.
How much does it cost?
A subscription for a regular size ‘signature bouquet’ costs £41.95 a month (including carbon neutral delivery).
Why sign up?
The bouquets are simply exquisite, and 100% of all of the profits made are donated to UK Conservation projects. All of the packaging is either biodegradable or recyclable. It would make a perfect treat for yourself, or a lovely gift.
What is it?
The online garden centre will deliver you a quarterly package which includes bulbs, seeds and compost to grow seasonal flowers for the garden. There are different options according to what you’d like to plant: there’s a ‘Cottage Garden’ box, a ‘Mindfulness’ box, a vegetable focussed box and a ‘Mixed Gardener’s’ box, which is a bit of everything.
How much does it cost?
£39.95 every 3 months
Why sign up?
As we know, gardening is good for the soul, but it can be stressful. This takes away any panic or trips to and from the garden centre because you bought the wrong compost. As well as the seeds and bulbs, the boxes come with compost, gloves or twine, as well as a surprise gift to reward you for a day spent in the garden.
What is it?
Hand-picked, unusual plant species each month. You can choose to go for the 'pot and plant’ option which includes a pot to house your plant in. These range from simple and monochrome to glazed and colourful. It’s a houseplant fanatic's dream.
How much does it cost?
£28/month without the pot, £38 with the pot
Why sign up?
Bringing new life into your house on a monthly basis, a houseplant can be a wonderful thing. This takes all of the stress out of choosing one, potting it, and trying to figure out how to keep it alive (each plant comes with easy care instructions).
What is it?
Pot Gang will send you seeds and instructions to grow your own seasonal veg and herbs, either monthly or every other month.
How much does it cost?
£81.96 for 4 boxes delivered monthly.
Why sign up?
It’s a foolproof way to do some home-growing, and the result is delicious seasonal ingredients which have a carbon footprint of about zero, since you only had to go out to the garden to get them.
Food & Wine
What is it?
A delightful parcel of baked goods, condiments, dairy, coffee and juices delivered by bicycle to your doorstep on a saturday morning - what better way to start the weekend? All of the bread is made using WildFarmed flour and baked in Bermondsey, and the pastries come from a rotation of bakeries, giving you the chance to sample a range of sweet and delicious treats. There’s milk and butter from Chew Valley Dairy, Scottish smoked salmon, apple juice made on Townsend Farm, the list goes on. You can build your own parcel, starting from just one loaf of bread, and finishing with anything and everything you could wish to consume for a hearty and healthy breakfast. Currently, delivery is only in selected neighbourhoods London, so if you’re lucky enough to be in the catchment area, we suggest you sign up immediately if not sooner.
How much does it cost?
From £5 for a single loaf delivered weekly.
Why sign up?
Besides the obvious - delicious food - you’re supporting a host of small businesses. Butter & Crust only partners with sustainable and organic producers, so you’re guaranteed that everything you eat is doing you, and the planet, some good.
What is it?
A weekly delivery of fresh fruit and vegetables. The basic principle of Oddbox is to fight food waste by distributing fruit and vegetables which producers can’t sell. This may be because it’s ‘too big’, ‘too odd’ or just ‘too many’. You receive a box full of slightly wonky but perfectly usable and delicious produce, without the plastic wrapping and premiums added on by the supermarket. You can also add in other bits and pieces you may want - alternative milks, items with a short-shelf life or cartons with misprinted labels, and even surplus ‘seasonal’ editions and leftover promotions.
How much does it cost?
From £11.49 a week for the x-small fruit and veg box.
Why sign up?
It’s a great way of making sure you have some variation in your diet, as each box will have a surprise combination of produce, all of which is very good for you.
What is it?
The Riverford boxes are focussed on slow, organic growth and good taste. You can build your own box of veg, all grown on the Riverford Farm in Devon, or one of their sister farms. You can build your own box, and add meat and other products to it, or if you want, or keep it simple with just the fruit and seasonal vegetables. It’s a weekly delivery, but you can change this if you’re going to be away.
How much does it cost?
From £14.75 for the small ‘Seasonal organic veg box’.
Why sign up?
Not only are you supporting small farms and organic producers, but you’re also safe in the knowledge that everything you’re consuming has been produced with as much care, and as little intervention, as possible.
What is it?
Recipe boxes which contain fresh ingredients, helpfully measured out and easy-to follow recipe cards. You pick your meals ahead of time, and HelloFresh will deliver everything you need. You can choose to serve up to four people for between 3-5 meals, so whether it’s a solo supper or a family meal, you’re covered. All dietary requirements are accounted for, too.
How much does it cost?
£33.98/ week based on two people sharing three meals.
Why sign up?
Easy, quick and healthy. No more frantic dashes around the supermarket afterwork, only to leave with a bag of oven chips and a packet of biscuits. The recipes are delicious, easy and balanced.
What is it?
It seems the Natural wine industry is unstoppable. The lack of intervention in the wine growing and making process means that your favourite drink is pesticide and herbicide free, with no added sulphites, which in theory means there’s less chance of a hangover. Cuvée delivers a selection of 1, 3 or 6 bottles of delicious Natural Wine to you every month, based on what kind of wine you like to drink. You can pick all white, all red, or a mixture. They’ll curate the bottles for you, so all you need to do is wait patiently for your delivery, and enjoy (without the hangover).
How much does it cost?
From £30 / month for one bottle to £150 for 6.
Why sign up?
It’s an opportunity to discover and support new winemakers and bottles which you might not find in your local off-licence or supermarket. Natural Wine is also (apparently) much better for you.
Art
What is it?
If you’ve invested in art in the past that you’ve quickly tired of, or perhaps you’ve moved things around and the piece no longer works, Gertrude might be the perfect middle-ground for you, the art subscription service allows you to rent a piece of art and if you truly can’t part with it, you can buy it outright. If it's being bought as a present, then a gift card can be bought for a duration of 6 or 12 months at the same rate.
How much does it cost?
Subscribe to an artwork for 3 months. Each month you will pay 3.30% of the total sales price of an artwork. After 3 months, you can choose to continue or cancel your subscription. If you choose to continue, the following 9 months you will be charged 10% of the sale price each month.
Why sign up?
This is a service which allows you to invest in art without the full commitment. It’s a great way to change up the walls of your home regularly, by simply changing the artwork.
