We’re going to be focusing on getting our homes and lives in order around here in February. In addition to going through my home from top to bottom to clear out clutter (beginning next week), I thought I’d share some organizational tricks and tips that have been really helpful to me over the past few years.
If you’ve read this blog for any time at all, you likely have discovered that there is an abundance of free magazine offers available. It’s wonderful to get these great magazines for free, but if you’re not careful, they can start cluttering up your home and life.
Here are four tips to help you control the magazine clutter in your home:
1. Don’t Sign Up for Magazines If You’re Not Sure You’ll Read Them
I know how easy it is to sign up for free magazine subscriptions. There’s a rush and excitement involved with getting free stuff and I’m every bit as guilty as the rest for falling for something just because it’s free.
But if you’re not going to use something and it’s just going to clutter up your home, it’s not a good deal–even if it’s free. I’ve learned this the hard way when I’ve had all these freebies coming in that I didn’t really have a use for.
I’ve started asking myself before I sign up for a freebie: Am I sure I’ll use/read this? If not, I just pass on it and let someone else have the chance to sign up.
2. Have a Place to Put Your Magazines as Soon as They Come in the Door
As soon as magazines come in the door at our house, they either go in the recycle bin (if they are junk/catalogs, etc.) or our magazine bin. This bin is in my office on a shelf that has a door on it. Instead of having a stack of magazines here and there, they are neatly contained in this bin and the door is closed on them until I’m ready to pull some out to read.
3. Designate a Time When You’ll Regularly Read the Magazines
The bin of magazines behind a closed door works well, but it doesn’t do me any good to have the bin of magazines if I don’t actually read them. Personally, I don’t usually have time to read magazines throughout the course of a normal week, but I always grab a stack of them when I’m headed out the door for an appointment. I also take a big stack with me whenever I travel. I’m able to keep up with my magazine reading this way–and it’s a nice way to break up my normal book reading.
4. Pass On Your Magazines When You’re Through With Them
Instead of recycling your magazines, see if you can pass them on to someone else who might enjoy them. If you don’t have a friend who’d like them, you can consider donating them to a school, a community group, a hospital, or library (anyone else have other ideas for places to donate them?). When I take magazines with me to an appointment or when I travel, I always leave them behind when I’m done with them (make sure to remove your address label).
How do you control the magazine clutter at your house? I’d love to hear!
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I love magazines, and I consider it a successful read when there are several articles I’ve dog-eared as I go through an issue for “want to keep.” I’ve tried the whole 3-ring binder thing for organizing the keepers, but honestly, that doesn’t work for me: it’s too much work, time and hassle to put everything into the page protectors. My plan (to implement this year!) is to start dropping everything into categorized file folders, and saving them as hanging files. “Tear out and drop” filing seems to work much better for me in general.
Exactly what I do. And if I have several issues of a magazine with no or very few dob-ears – i know it’s not worth it for me to have that subscription.
Love it. Thanks for the ideas and pictures. You know what I need help organizing? My bathroom vanity. I try and try and it’s always a disaster of hair products, junk from my pockets, etc. I have bins and baskets and then they overflow. I know this doesn’t have to do with saving money (or does, it? Maybe I have lost products or buy doubles under all that clutter.) but I’d love to see thoughts & pictures on how people organize that while you’re doing your organizing kick in February, if you have time!
Half Price Books buys back magazines. The more current the more they pay. I keep a tote bag in the garage and every time I have errands near Half Price Books I take in my magazines and get $5 or $6….I only “subscribe” to free magazine offers so this is “free” money for me plus I get to read the magazines!
I have 3-4 magazines that I’ve gotten for years. I try others for a while, then eventually ask myself “How is this magazine adding to my life?” So far the answer has always been “Not enough to keep subscribing.”
I let my magazines pile up on one shelf and then one Sunday afternoon a month I sit down and curl up with a magazine in one hand and a cup of hot tea in the other, and spend the whole afternoon reading.
That sounds lovely!
You can also donate magazines to prisons. The incarcerated like to read, too!
I had entirely too many magazine subscriptions (still do) so I had 3 of them transferred to my sister in law who cant really afford buying them. She was excited and I was happy to have 3 less subscriptions coming in my door.
I usually take my magazines to work & put a “Free to a Good Home” sign on them.. They always disappear. I just need to do it with more regularity!
Iused to volunteer at a women’s shelter, so when I’m done with my mgazines, what I don’t pass along to friends and family, I donate to the womens shelter. the women love getting the magazines to read, especally when its cold outside and theres not much else that they can do except sit in their rooms and read…. I believe it helps them to read womens stories of success and survial and Ialso think it helps them to set goals and to get ideas for when they leave the shelter.
Before I got married, I picked up a ton of bridal magazines. They were so fun to look at and I figured it would be the only time in my life I would truly get to enjoy them. After we were married I was trying to figure out what to do with my (very) large stack of magazines, but almost all of my friends are already married and I didn’t want to just recycle them. We took dance lessons before our wedding, and our instructor had a pretty bare waiting room. She now has a fully stocked waiting room and other soon-to-be brides get to enjoy something I no longer found useful
I take mine to our Mobile Meals office. We share magazines, books, puzzles, etc. – not only for the shut-ins but the volunteers, too. I also take inspirational ones to the homeless shelter.
I donate my old magazines to our community YWCA.
I am also a big promoter of reading magazines from the local library. You get the luxury of reading your favorite glossy’s for free without the burden of potential clutter. If there is an article I absolutely know I’ll want to reference later I’ll make a photo copy to add to one of my ‘inspiration binders’.
There is a great site called zinio.com where you can order single or full year subscriptions that you can download to a tablet. I love it.
we have a special bin for magazines, and as soon as they come in the mail, that is where they are placed. when the bin gets full, i go back through and throw out the oldest editions of each mag, until it looks nice again.
i save magazine reading for when i run on the treadmill. when running for 30 minutes, i can normally finish a mag, or i definitely can finish it on my next run. because mags are so full of fluff and ads, it is easy to get through them when you are doing something mindless like treadmill running. however, when i am off the discipline of running, like, ahem, i am now…the bin gets full quite quickly!
in the past, i have also kept a magazine in each bathroom, and that is another place i “store” mags for an opportune time…
I store my magazines in my bathroom. I also take them with me while my daughter is at dance, when I’m done with one I just put it into the bin there for everyone else to enjoy I can usually get through 2 magazines during her one hour class if I don’t get busy chatting with the other mom’s.
I like magazines and all the good ideas I can get from them. Years ago I used to copy a page and file it in the filing cabinet. This year I started scanning all those papers onto the computer and I like all the extra room I have! Another thing I have done now for the past year or so, is to just take a picture of the magazine page or recipe, etc and file it under the right category on the computer. I’m hardly ever without my camera, so this works for me!
My biggest magazine reading time is afternoon snack. After school we all sit down for a snack and I read a magazine. I can get through my 3 subscriptions without getting too far behind that way. I can listen to the kids talk about their day and read too, since it seems magazines take less concentration than a novel. Sometimes I’ll keep it on the table and read a bit more while I’m waiting for some veggies to saute for dinner. If I do that with a novel I burn things!
I take my magazines to church to use in my Beginner’s class (4 & 5 year old kiddos). They’ve came in handy for several lessons. One lesson, Mary & Joseph were cut out of a Precious Moments catalog. Another lesson, the children found animals God created.
Maybe you have a teacher that could use a magazine or two?
(Just be sure to tear out the inappropriate clothing and cologne adds before taking them to your church.)
If you live near a Half Price Book Store, they will actually give you money for your magazine’s. I keep all of my free magazine subscriptions, plus my Mom gives me all of her magazine’s after she reads them.Then, once my magazine bin is full, I bring it to Half Price Books, and I usually make between $2 – $5 off of them! Keep in mind, they only pay a few cents per magazine, but if you have a lot then it can add up.
You have some amazingly creative and gracious followers! I try to keep my magazine subscriptions to a minimum…right now all are gifts…but I like the binder idea for all those dog earred pages I accumulate!
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