Argh!! Magazines!!!

[AdinaL]

The bane of my organized home: magazines. We recycle some when we're done reading them, but others (interweave knits, natl. geo, wire) we keep. What the heck do I do with them?! We have magazine holders, but good lord, they just take up so much space. Anyone have any good ideas or tips on how they deal with them?

[Turquesa]

I go crazy with just a binder, sheet covers, and dividers for different subjects--e.g. recipes, patterns, home decor ideas, geeky articles. Right now, I have a binder full of recipes and another for everything else. After I finish clipping out what I need, the scraps go to the recycling bin. Maybe someone has a better system, but this has worked well for me.

ETA: This project may take you awhile to get launched, depending on how many maggies are in your stash.

[skreader]

We keep some (like Nat'l Geo) for a year or so and then sell them very cheap at our local flea-market.

Some cooking mags we keep longer - but also go through and sell some every year or so.

I would suggest that you really examine how often you look at some of the magazine and if (for example) the knitting mag, you only are keeping some issues for a single pattern, tear it out and recycle the rest.

Also, see if some of these mags sell access to their archive online, or as CD-ROMs.
 

[AdinaL]

Great ideas. I do need to get a binder going. Some of the knitting mags are being kept for only one pattern.

[ollyoxenfree]

Posting in sympathy. I struggle with this. A lot. 

I managed to get my book-buying habit under control by using the public library extensively. I rarely buy books anymore. Magazines are a different story for a few reasons. We participate in subscriptions sales for a fundraiser for the school. The school receives a donation for every subscription you buy, so we always take out at least a couple of subscriptions. I also like to receive a couple of overseas publications for sentimental reasons. They remind me of previous homes we've had and help me stay in touch. I'm always tempted to buy a magazine as a little treat for myself.

So my first suggestion, which I should follow myself but will have difficulty with, is to not buy magazines in the first place. 

I do go through my stash from time to time, cut out the recipes and articles, and donate what's left to the local kindergarten (if most of the magazine is in good shape) or recycle. For recipes, instead of binders I use multi-pocket expanding file folders, similar to this one. Eg. One is for baking, and I use a separate pockets for cookies and bars, muffins and quick breads, yeast breads, pies and tarts, ice cream desserts, custards and puddings, and cakes. Another is for mains - seafood, chicken, pork, lamb, beef, meatless, soups and stews, salads. Etc. I find it's quicker and easier and more compact than binders. It does take a little time to fish out a specific recipe from the all of the clippings in a particular pocket though. 

I will suggest that before you start ripping up old magazines, you check on-line for re-sale value. A few years ago, when we were decluttering for an overseas transfer, I decided it was time to purge my stash. I ripped through my hoard of 12 years' worth of Victoria magazine, saving a few recipes and articles but trashing the rest. I later found out that each issue sells on average for $10 to $12 and some of them for much, much more. Aside from a desire to look through the old copies (it was such a beautiful magazine!), it hurts to think how much money I threw away. It's one of the few decluttering episodes I truly regret.

I am happy that I managed to get rid of many other magazines that I don't miss at all, such as old copies of fashion and shelter magazines, a few years' worth of the Economist, a bunch of old news magazines. That stuff gets out-of-date quickly so I'm okay with letting it go. 

[AdinaL]

Yeah, my real simple mags get recycled pretty fast. But, obviously, I'm holding on to my Mothering mags I'm going to go thru the knitting mags and starts pulling out pattern that I want, and recycle the rest. Still debating the yoga journal mags. National geo. I think we will keep.

[philomom]

I take mine out to the doctor's office, vet office or the local laundromat. If I want one thing from the inside, I copy it and save it in a file in my office. But really, most things can be found online nowdays, no need to keep a whole magazine for one recipe or article.

[ollyoxenfree]

Just wanted to say THANK YOU! You inspired me to tackle a stack of magazines that dated back to 2007. I've been ripping through a half-dozen or so if I sit down to watch a little t.v. I'm up to mid-2010 now.  

[bmcneal]

Originally Posted by AdinaL 

The bane of my organized home: magazines. We recycle some when we're done reading them, but others (interweave knits, natl. geo, wire) we keep. What the heck do I do with them?! We have magazine holders, but good lord, they just take up so much space. Anyone have any good ideas or tips on how they deal with them?

My mom and dad have Natl. Geo. magazines that go back to probably before I was born. They have bookcases in every room of the house, and two of them are full of nothing but Natl. Geo. magazines. I don't know if that would be an option for you, though, but thought I would throw it out there. 

[alaskanmomma]

Originally Posted by AdinaL 

The bane of my organized home: magazines. We recycle some when we're done reading them, but others (interweave knits, natl. geo, wire) we keep. What the heck do I do with them?! We have magazine holders, but good lord, they just take up so much space. Anyone have any good ideas or tips on how they deal with them?

Large Rubbermaid buckets?

[Caneel]

Originally Posted by philomom 

I take mine out to the doctor's office, vet office or the local laundromat. If I want one thing from the inside, I copy it and save it in a file in my office. But really, most things can be found online nowdays, no need to keep a whole magazine for one recipe or article.

Me too!  sometimes I feel a little guilty about "dumping" them someplace that might not want them but I can't resist.  I like to think someone will get pleasure from reading it.

[beanma]

Originally Posted by bmcneal 

My mom and dad have Natl. Geo. magazines that go back to probably before I was born. They have bookcases in every room of the house, and two of them are full of nothing but Natl. Geo. magazines. I don't know if that would be an option for you, though, but thought I would throw it out there. 

Yes, bmcneal, and all those Natl Geos are coming to you one day! My parents kept theirs. I used to love to leaf through them when I was a kid and even as a young adult, but I had to deal with it all when I cleaned out their house and I realized I don't want National Geographics from 1964. Really. We also had a full set of encyclopedias from the same era and my mom was all, "those still have good info in them. Ireland is still Ireland, after all." Well, no, Mom, it's not really. Things have changed a lot since 1964 and Ireland is definitely one of the things that has changed. Same with the info in the old National Geos. I used to keep them when we subscribed, but as our house became too cluttered we dropped our subscription and I eventually donated them all. (Donated the old encyclopedias too to a creative re-use center where some artist can do something like this or this or this, too.)

I realized that National Geographic has their entire archive digitized and that's the way my kids are going to grow up accessing most of their research type information now. So, we don't keep them. The only magazines I hold on to are magazines that the kids go back and read again and again like Cricket, Spider and Ladybug, or a few magazines that I keep for referring back to like home improvement mags that have a certain technique like grouting a kitchen backsplash, but when the need passes I usually let it go. I have a few art mags currently, but I don't usually hold onto those too long — maybe a year or two — and then I set them free.