Folks ask me all the time what catalog they should keep on the kitchen counter for the everyday aches and small comforts that come with getting older. After 38 years on the floor as an RN, I have a short list, and the Healthy Living catalog has been on it for a long while. It is the kind of book you flip through with a cup of coffee, dog-ear a page or two, and then call your sister to tell her she needs the same heating pad you just spotted on page 14.
Before I get into how to order one, let me give you the lay of the land, because the company behind it has been through a few changes the last couple of years.
What is the Healthy Living catalog?
Healthy Living is a wellness and everyday-living catalog that has been mailing for about thirty years. It started in 1995 as a discount health-and-comfort book and has stayed close to that idea ever since. You will find:
- Mobility and walking aids - canes, reachers, grab bars, the kinds of things that keep folks safe in the bathroom
- Personal care, skin care, and over-the-counter style remedies
- Vitamins, supplements, and sleep aids
- Easy-on, easy-off clothing for arthritic hands and shoulders
- Small home items - jar openers, cushioned mats, bed wedges, that sort of thing
It is not a fancy catalog and it does not pretend to be. Prices stay reasonable, the print is large enough to read without your readers in some sections, and the product descriptions tell you what the thing actually does. As a nurse, that last part matters to me. I cannot stand a catalog that calls a basic shower stool a "luxury hydrotherapy lounger."
A quick note about who owns it now
If you ordered from Healthy Living a few years back, you may have noticed the address changed. The catalog used to be part of the AmeriMark family out of Middleburg Heights, Ohio. AmeriMark filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April 2023, and that summer Colony Brands of Monroe, Wisconsin - the same folks behind Swiss Colony and a handful of other long-time mail-order names - bought the brand and several of its sister catalogs.
The good news is that Healthy Living kept right on going. The website is now healthylivingcatalog.com, and the catalog still arrives in the mail on roughly the same schedule. The product mix did get tightened up after the sale, and a few items I used to recommend disappeared, but the bones of the book are still there. I mention all this only because the old article on this site listed an amerimark.com address that no longer points where it used to. If a friend hands you a flyer with the old web address, that is why.
How to order a free Healthy Living catalog
You have a few ways to do this, and I would say any of them is fine. Pick whichever feels easiest.
1. Request it through Catalogs.com
The simplest route, and the one I usually point my friends from church to, is right here on this website:
- Go to the Healthy Living catalog page on Catalogs.com.
- Click the request button.
- Fill in your first and last name, your full mailing address, and an email so they can confirm.
- Hit submit.
Plan on ten to fourteen business days for the catalog to land in your mailbox. In my experience it usually shows up closer to ten, but the good Lord and the postal service work on their own schedules.
2. Request it directly from Healthy Living
You can also go straight to the source. On healthylivingcatalog.com, look for the small "Request a Catalog" link, usually tucked into the footer or the customer-service menu. Same information, same wait time.
3. Call them
If you would rather talk to a person, give them a call. Their customer service line is the surest way to make sure you have the current toll-free number, since that has changed once since the Colony Brands sale. The phone number printed on the back of any recent issue you have lying around is the most up-to-date one to use. If you do not have a recent issue, you can grab the number from the customer-service page on healthylivingcatalog.com.
Who is realistically going to enjoy this catalog
I am not the kind to tell folks how to spend their money, but I will tell you who I have personally bought things from this catalog for:
- My husband Tom, who retired from the auto plant and now has the back to prove it. We have gone through two of their gel seat cushions in the last few years.
- My mother-in-law, before she passed. Reachers, big-handle silverware, a long-handled sponge for the shower. Small things that kept her independent.
- My friend Janice from the food pantry, who has bad arthritis in both hands. Jar openers, easy-grip pens, button hooks. She uses them every single day.
If you or somebody you love is dealing with arthritis, balance trouble, or just the general slowdown that comes with seventy or eighty years of good living, this is a catalog worth having on the table.
A few catalogs in the same family
If you like Healthy Living, you may want to request a couple of cousins while you are at it. The Feel Good Store sits in the same general neighborhood - comfort items, mobility aids, easy-living gadgets. Dr. Leonard's is another health-and-comfort book that has been around since 1980. Both went through the same 2023 bankruptcy and Colony Brands acquisition, and both are still mailing today. You can request all three from this site without any fuss.
Vitamin-only shoppers may also want to look at the dedicated vitamin and supplement catalogs Catalogs.com lists, though I will say I usually buy my supplements from the pharmacy where I can read the label in person.
One nurse's parting advice
A free catalog is a wonderful thing, but two reminders before you start filling out the order form.
First, anything that touches medication - including supplements, melatonin, and the herbal sleep aids that are popular right now - is worth running by your doctor or pharmacist before you take it. Some of those interact with blood thinners and blood pressure medicine in ways folks do not expect. I had more than one patient end up in the ER over a supplement they thought was harmless because it came from a friendly catalog.
Second, before you buy any larger comfort item - a lift recliner, a mattress topper, a walker - measure your space and check the return policy. Healthy Living has been reasonable about returns in my experience, but shipping a heavy item back is no small chore.
Other than that, enjoy the read. There is something old-fashioned and comforting about a catalog showing up in the mail, and at our age I think we have earned the right to a little of that.
