I‘ve been working on getting organized this month of January and I’ve made some progress. My office nook is straightened and decluttered now and that junk drawer in the kitchen got completely cleaned out. But, I’ll admit it…I need some tips and ideas on getting better organized with my magazines. I currently subscribe to 3 different magazines: Traditional Home (my very fave!), Better Homes & Gardens (simply because they offer such darn good deals, I can’t pass them up…just try not renewing sometime & see what kind of deal they will make you), and more recently Country Home (again, got a $5 per year offer & couldn’t pass it up), so needless to say, I have way too many magazines sitting around. Like most of you, I so enjoy sitting down with a magazine and a cuppa something hot and delicious and getting lost in the beautiful pictures, dreaming of changes to my own decor. What ideas will I get? What can I incorporate from an inspiring article in my own home? As you can see with the above issues, I have found some diningroom chandlier inspirations that caught my eye. I’m happy to say, that little project is behind me already.
I‘ve even tried the 3-ring binder idea, tearing out beautiful magazine articles with pictures and inserting them in binders with labels, so that I can go back and find these pictures later. You never know when you might need one of these ideas or pictures! The problem is, I don’t seem to stay up with organizing them all nice and neat in the binders. This binder is several years old and I’m sure I could go back and throw much of it away now.
So, my magazines end up like this. All stacked up for months in the magazine holder in our bedroom by the easy chair. I will browse them, stick them back in the pile, pick one of them out later to look at again. You can never look at the pictures too many times, can you?
And then, they will finally make their way to my office nook where I stack them month to month. A whole year or 2 of Traditional Home. I can’t seem to get rid of these, since they are my favorite. But how many years can you really comfortably keep and not have it be ridiculous. I mean, do I really think I’ll go back 2 years and look at all of these again. Probably not, but still I can’t let them go. So…..what do you do? 
I need real ideas and tips on what all of you do to keep the magazines under control and not let them take over the house? Do you do the tear-out method and keep favorite articles filed neatly away? Put them in binders or folders for later use? Or do you gladly give them away, knowing that another beautiful magazine will arrive in the mail and it will soon take it’s place beside your easy chair? These are Southern Living and Better Homes & Gardens. I can sooner let these go than my Traditional Home, so I think it’s time to find them a home. I know lots of places take magazine donations, so I really need to think about getting rid of some of these. I know I’ve heard some girls say that they are scanning their favorite magazine articles and keeping them on discs. That’s an idea too, but again, that takes time.
And that brings me to my recipes. Oh. my. word! Would you look at all these recipes! You can see my organizational skills for this part of my life is not any better than the magazines. I tend to pick up, tear out, copy recipes all the time and they land all in a heap in one of my kitchen drawers. I sometimes have to go through all of them to find the one I’m looking for. And no, I haven’t even made all these recipes, but I just might need it one day! I will know just the one, it’s spattered and folded and I usually remember just what it looks like, I just have to find it. So, as you can see, I really need some ideas for the recipes too. How do you handle those? I do have a cute little recipe box, but it will not hold all of these and besides I’d have to reduce them all down to 3×5 index card size to fit in that box & I don’t think I want to tackle that. I’ve thought about getting another binder with dividers for catagories: Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Meats, etc. and then putting these in clear plastic holders. Has anyone tried that? Seems like it would work pretty well.
And you all thought I had it totally together, didn’t you?! Well, this will show you how much I don’t in some areas! Don’t you feel better now? I’d much rather be redoing a lampshade or painting something than organizing. I’d love to hear from all of you on how you handle organizing around your house…especially with magazines & recipes!
Thank you ALL again for coming by to visit me! I love to hear from you and I’m so glad you enjoyed the new lampshade project.
I do the binder thing, but I use page protectors so I can just slide the pictures I want to keep inside, no punching holes. I also hate the mess that clipped recipes makes and I use the same system for my recipes. Page protectors keep the recipes neat and clean and they can be easily reorganized to keep dessert together, main dishes together, and so on.
Dear Rhoda, I am so amused that you think that is stack of magazines!
Although I’ve cut down on some, I still pick up the art ones which are too expensive to subsribe to when I can get them with a coupon for 40% off.
But 3 magazines…come now, that’s not a stack! LOL Some of us might have one or two more than that coming in each month.
It would be nice to wave a magic wand at some of those stacks and they would be all organized wouldn’t it?
Donna
Hi Rhoda. Why do we think that anyone has it all together? But we do. Glad to see that you have areas of disorganization like the rest of us.
Magazines have always been a problem with me too. I used to save them all. Now I only save Home Companion and Quilters Newsletter. I just keep them on a bookshelf. At the end of the year I take any other magazines and go through them and rip out what I want. That goes in a filing cabinet, where I have folders for topics: baths, quilts etc. All my recipes go into a pile in a drawer somewhere never to be looked at again. Every once in awhile I just throw out all the recipes and start again:) Hope youhave agood weekend Rhondi xo
I’ve stopped subscribing to many magazines. I still have Traditional Home and Country Living. Not sure if I will renew, these. I love them both. I have one section of a cupboard stacked neatly with Architectural Digest, that I simply refuse to part with and will keep my subscription up to date. Some of my issues were gifts, saved by my old school friend, JoAnn. She loves the magazine as much as I do. Therefore I have issues that easily go back to the 80’s. It’s interesting to see how some styles have changed through the years, while others have stayed much the same.
I have a rack of Christmas issues from several different publications, in the studio. That’s as close to any sort of organization of magazines, for me! The rest of my precious publications can be found here in the “lodge” and our room, and a couple in the hearth room.
I have a supply of Coastal Living at the lake, I love to return to, now and then. They’re neatly stored away in a basket.
Lately, with the busy-ness of our life, I’m finding it may be several days before I get around to looking through new arrivals. This is probably a definite sign, I need to pare down my subscriptions.
Pat
I have a ton of magazines. I take probably 10 different ones. I read them, keep my favorites and recycle the rest. Meaning I give them to my friend to read.
It keeps it under control that way.
Have a great weekend Rhoda!!
Rosemary
HI Rhoda, great ideas you’re getting here. I used to keep magazines but I can’t stand to see them laying around so I just pass them along to friends or recycle them. If there’s anything I want to save I pull it out & keep it in a file. (Except my collection of several years of Martha, I’m keeping them.)
As for recipes, a long time ago I got a photo album, the kind with the clear pages that peel back, & started keeping my recipes from magazines & newspapers in there. I still have a recipe box which I use too. The photo album idea is very similar to the 3 ring binder.
I also have recipes in a file on my computer. They are recipes that I really like & don’t want to lose. Of course I have them in my recipe box too….that seems stupid..huh….anyway, I have so many cookbooks & can never remember where a favorite recipe is so I put the name of the cookbook, recipe name & page # on a card & keep it in the front of my recipe box. It’s really helpful.
Have fun organizing!
Hugs, DebraK
I can’t be of any help as my recipe folder is just plain scary looking. It’s overflowing, crumpled and disorganized, basically a real mess.
I used to be a magazine-aholic but rarely buy them now although I have one subscription. We’ve moved a lot and everytime I would sort through them and toss. The “keepers” are in the cardboard magazine holders and stashed in our other kitchen.
Can’t help with recipes, as mine look worse than yours, but I’m on top of the magazines. My husband has YEARS of back issues of Colonial Home and Early American Life/Home and I have tons of Southern Living and Country Home. We bought those big fat magazine holders in the office supply section at Wal-Mart. He sorted the magazines and stored them in those hoplders. The holders sit on the bottom of the bookshelves in his study. When I want to enjoy them, I just go get one or two of those holders. Everything stays nice and neat.
If you want something more decorative, you can try Targer or office supply stores. They may carry colors other than black. This system works wonderfully for me!
I have a collection of magazine’s that desperately need my attention, but it is so difficult to decide what all to do away with! As for recipes, I keep them in a 3-ring binder that is divded by magazine title instead of by topics. This way all of my “Cooking Light” articles are grouped together as are “Taste of Home” which are generally easier to prepare. I put pictures up about a week ago showing off what I had done.
Good Luck on getting organized! It is a huge task, but the satisfaction is a marvelous feeling.
Have a fabulous weekend,
Jen
Have the same issue from time to time… I’ve learnt that if it’s more than 6 months old, it’s going to just collect dust ,I throw it out or give it away coz I know I won’t go back to refer to it as I had planned to in my mind once the new magazines flock in 🙂
My magazines are crammed into magazine holders until no more can fit, then the rest of them lay around in a very untidy manner. As for recipes – I have a binder that’s about 7″x9″ with lined blank pages especially for recipes. I love it! I can stuff torn-out recipes in there until I have time to copy and sort them into the categories. It’s a pretty binder, too – all covered with botanical drawings of herbs.
Good luck with your organising!
::Jill
Hi Rhoda,
I only keep one magazine and it’s Coastal Living and I keep all of them in a big round wicker basket, like the seagrass ones, in my bathroom and stand them up. It’s kind of hard to explain but it works and looks good.
When I get a magazine, (before I read it), I tear out all of the “junk”…the ads that are on pages both back and front, the little postcards that are stuck in the magazine, the pages that I know I’m not interested in. Then, I read the magazine. Then, I read it again and again and put it in a basket. Eventually, I pick the magazine back up and really focus in on the things that “inspire” me. I cut these things out (usually just the pictures) and I put them in a book. I’ve purchased books at the craft stores that have plain paper sheets and are bound with spiral binding and they work best because the pages can get pretty thick. I call this “booking” because I don’t think it is scrapbooking…just booking things that I like into one place. Then, when I need a little inspiration, I pick up my “book” and get lots of inspiration. I like this because I don’t waste as much time since I’m only looking at the things that inspire me — not the other stuff in the magazine. I have one book that is just garden pictures — and I’ve looked at this book many, many times. Enjoy!
I love magazines too – have you thought about scanning the pictures of the ideas that you love and saving them to a CD. You could create a CD with ideas for each area of your home. I am not a techie but I think it would work and would be a great way to store and revisit them – the recipes CD’s would work the same as well. Love your site and often read it for inspiration.
I come from a long line of hoarders from the Depression era. Sigh …
My Dad piled up LIFE magazines and every type of Car magazine they printed. I have “lovingly” convinced younger male relatives to adopt some of Dad’s old car magazines. (Dad died in 1991) In the meantime, we have rented a storage unit for $100 per month to store all this “debris”… so maybe you understand how CRITICAL this issue can get. (I can think of better uses for the $100 per month.)
I found that I was beginning to hoard magazines myself and I decided that I did NOT want to pile them up. (See Flylady.net for reasons) I got rid of tons of them by distributing them to hospital waiting rooms, Dr. and dental offices, and nursing homes. They all welcome the magazines to fill a lot of waiting and/or lonely times.
We cannot keep it all… believe it or not. Don’t live in clutter (see Flylady.net again). Her quote: “You can’t organize clutter, you must get rid of it!” She is right.
However, if you like a photo or article you see, cut it out and keep it in an organized manner. (I’m still working on that project myself.)
Magazines are my weakness too. After hoarding scads of them for a few years, I went on a mad binge and ripped out anything that I wanted to save and recycled the remainder. The clippings are still in a box but I’m planning to paste them into my inspiration journal so that I can go back to them. I’m going to really try not to let the magazines pile up and actually do something with the box of clippings. Recipes are another story. *sigh* Good luck with your organizing … I’m going to read all the comments to see everyone’s ideas! ~ Lynda xo
LOL, I think my magazines look a lot worse than that! I have no tips for them. I tried file folders by topic….like mantles, kitchens, etc. But,I got behind in this strategy. I used to have……….are you ready?…….20 years of Bon Apetit. I now keep 2 years.
I have started to keep more recipes on the computer. You can always scan your recipe cards.
Monday night, our ladies group in our neighborhood is having a magazine swap. I could bring enough for everyone.
Hugs,
Nan
Special magazines I keep in a magazine file holder…others I keep for a few months and then I go through them tearing out pages of interest. Those I file in folders according to catagory, like garden/kitchen/shabby/country french, etc. Then recycle the torn mags and give untorn mags to the library. Recipes, I store in plastice sleeves in a binder according to type…
Penny
I am sitting here surrounded by a few hundred magazines. Problem is, I need so many different types of inspiration for my work that I cannot bear to part with most of them! I am seriously thinking about scanning some of the best photos and just storing things on discs. Some magazines I love most everything in them and some just a couple of things. I do pull the things I like and recycle the rest. But I still end up with a ridiculous amount to hang on to!
And recipes? Oh boy. I don’t want to talk about it. Actually, I used to use recipes all the time now I rarely do. I probably only have a handful I ever really use. When I need one I can just go to allrecipes.com and find something suitable. I am thinking to pare down on what I keep and toss everything else. Someday.
Happy weekend, Rhoda!
Melissa
The lamp is terrific. And thanks so much for sending me the ideas to follow up with your Crock Pot recipes. 🙂 Can’t wait.