Organizing Magazines (Part 3) A system

Having a system to read your magazines seems like a silly thing to post about. I mean really....a system to read magazines?
What I mean here is just trying to find the time to read that one, two or three (hopefully not more) magazines a month to make them worth while to have.

1)Have a basket or magazine rack that you can store only your most recent unread magazines. This needs to be positioned near the seat where you usually sit.
When the mail comes in that day, if you are not able to sit down right then and read it, put it in your basket.
I am sure many of your have a magazine rack...but it is completely over flowing with magazines and catalogs. Go through those. If there are magazines that you have not read, and are over 3 months old...pitch them (or donate).

2) Any magazines that you have to keep (under 3 months old) put in that magazines file.
If it is under 3 months old and you are determined you will read it, then go put it in the magazine file that we discussed in the part 2 post.
Catalogs should have their own file for the couple you may want to keep (But even Penney's fall/winter 08 catalog should be thrown out when the spring/summer 09 one comes.). Do not keep all of them. Some companies send something almost weekly (it seems). You can call companies and have them canceled if you never buy from them and do not have time to look at them. Do not be scared to recycle them promptly. They all have online catalogs, so if it should happen that you have thrown one away and you realize you have to order something...either wait for the next one to come, or go online.

3) Keep the rotation going. It has to be on going to keep it under control.
Anything can get out of hand, and magazines are no exception. Magazines do not clean or throw themselves away. We have to take control to do it.

4) A good tip to read your magazines.
*Keep a folder in your car that you can keep one or two. When you end up at the Dr. office without some other productive work to do, have to wait for a child to come out of a sporting event, or have time to kill waiting for a child at a piano lesson or gymnastics lesson....you can read them then.
*Keep a small magazine file in your bathroom. (No explaination needed)
*If you have a brief case or bag from work, thrown one in there. Lunch break can be a good time to catch up on your reading.

Oh..by the way, I was thinking I didn't have any magazine subscriptions. I got the 2nd of a new subscription yesterday! I subscribed to "All You" magazine because I heard about the coupons in them. I picked up the mail before right before I had to go sit in line to pick up the kids from school. I have scissors I keep in the car, so I sat and clipped coupons while I waited. I will clip the coupons and pull out any recipes I want and then throw the rest in the recycle can within a day or two.

Organizing Magazines (Part 2) - "How To"

So now hopefully you have thought about decreasing the amount of magazines coming into the house. But how can you organize the ones that you may want to keep?
I have to admit that my husband has collected a magazine and there is no talking him out of keeping them. He does read them cover to cover when they come and he does go back and look at and read old issues. It is only this one, so I do need to organize them.
I also have a client that I have not done so well on talking him out of keeping magazines. For 30 years he and his wife (now deceased) subscribed to dozens of magazines and never threw out a single one. Over the last year that I have been working with him I have gotten him to throw away hundreds, and for many of them he has been willing to use the 3 month method. (So we are making tremendous progress)

Here are the two methods I have used to organize for each of them.
1)Magazine Cardboard Holders (many varieties and prices)

2)Plastic inserts to keep your magazines in a notebook


These magazine holders are older, but my client had many of them...so we used them. You can find these at any office store or discount store. Prices vary from cardboard very inexpensive to fancy decorated ones.
Here is a really cute version (watch for an upcoming review and giveaway on it on my review blog).


Another option is to file your magazines in binders.
You can find these plastic pieces that I have found by mail order. I was having a hard time locating where I bought them, but did find them here.

This is what the plastic strip looks like.


You just open up your magazine and slip it in the slot.


Then you just put them in the binder and store your binders on the shelf.

Organizing Magazines (Part 1) - 10 rules on What to keep

How many magazines is too many? When do you throw them away? How do you decide?

Magazines can be fun to get in the mail and enjoyable to read and relax with.
But what do you do with them once you are finished? Collect them? Donate them or throw them away?
Decreasing how many magazines coming into the home is the key!
If you hear yourself saying, "I know there is a huge stack of magazines I haven't read...but I will!" then you probably have more magazines coming in than you can handle.

Ten Rules To Follow on Keeping Magazines.

1) Only subscribe to magazines that you will actually read and enjoy. If you have too many, pick your top 2 or 3 and stop the others or do not renew the subscription when it comes back up.

2) Limit the number of magazines coming into your house to a number you can realistically read in the month. (I suggest no more than 4 - that is one a week)

3) Once you read them get rid of them. You can donate them to your work, friends, Dr. offices or nursing homes. If that isn't an option or you know you won't do that, then recycle them.

4) If there are articles you want to save, then cut them out and put them in a notebook. Recycle the rest of the magazine. Why keep all the ads and articles that you are not going to read, reread or use?

5) Don't feel like you have to keep magazines because they may someday become collectors items. (most are ruined before then even if they would be worth something)

6) If you are saving them for your kids to use for school reports...don't fool yourself. They are going to go to the internet for content and pictures to print off.

7) If you want to keep a small cache of magazines to have in case your children may need to cut pictures out for a project at school...then keep maybe 5 at the most. Do not keep collecting them for that "just in case" scenario.

8)If there is a magazine that you just HAVE to keep and are Not going to be told you have to get rid of it....That is fine. But limit it to 1 or at the most 2 magazines.

9) Do not keep magazines for longer than 3 months. If you have not read it in 3 months, chances are very slim you ever will and you have more coming in each month to keep up with.

10) Organize the magazines that you are keeping long term or hopefully not saving longer than 3 months.

Part 2 will be on ways to organize your magazines.