Organizing Magazines - Should You Read, Toss or Store
Do you know where your magazines are right now? Really. Just how many magazines are in your home right now? And where are they? Are they organized in a magazine holder or tossed across your home?
Recently thesimpledollar.com ran an article about if it’s worthwhile to have magazine subscriptions. Trent, the blog article author, addressed some pointed questions that allowed him to decide if his magazine subscriptions were a good buy “for him” (your answer might be different). He also pointed out that “for many people magazine subscriptions are a great waste of money.”
But they’re not just a waste of money. For some people they’re a waste of space in your home. They’re clutter at times.
I’ve been a print journalist and an avid magazine reader. But I have to say I spend more time reading online now than in print. Often online I can get similar information (depending on the topic) that’s timely (or not –because evergreen information is useful too). And I dislike the clutter of magazine subscriptions around my home. Paper attracts a LOT of dust. I don’t like dusting (though it’s a necessity). And dust just makes me sniffle and sneeze–a lot.
But print magazines do have a place too, especially when you want a change of pace from the computer and to rest your eyes away from the monitor. And it’s still a lot easier to recline on the couch with a print magazine than to do so with a computer screen. So I do read a few print magazines too. In the past few years I’ve subscribed to some interesting and popular print magazines. And actually I took advantage of some offers to get these subscriptions for free. But even free is too much sometimes. And it’s proved so for me to the point where I don’t say yes to every free magazine offer I happen across. That said I made a little list based on past experience with print magazines in our home so you’d know that…
…It’s time to cut your magazine subscriptions when….
…it’s starting to feel like a chore to read them.
…you feel guilty for not reading them.
… you read articles and find yourself saying “I could have written that.”
…you can’t see your end table, desk surface, etc., because it’s covered in magazines.
…you strain yourself lifting your magazine rack to move it to clean beneath or for whatever reason.
…you’re slipping and sliding across magazines in every room in your home, including your bathroom (if you read while in the tub).
…you have so many “old” issues of magazines that you refer to them not as “clutter” but as “classics”.
…you spend more time organizing your magazines than reading them.
So What To Do With Your Old Magazines
The first thing well-meaning people will suggest is donate them to your library. Unfortunately, chances are good that your library doesn’t want them. You see, lots of people have this idea. But your library typically only keeps one subscription of each magazine on hand for patrons. And often they too have to pick and choose which magazine subscriptions will be the most popular with their visitors because their shelves only hold so much.
But you can ask. A phone call is quick and painless (which is how I know my library system did not want donations of books and magazines—at least some years ago when I checked on this.) But every once in a while you might have something they need. Or you can try checking with those other potential magazine donation possibilities like doctors office waiting rooms and retirement homes. But don’t be too disappointed if you find out they have their own subscriptions already. If the company itself doesn’t subscribe, the doctors, nurses and other staff have plenty of their own magazine issues they’re trying to oust from their house once read.
I find the best thing to do with magazines that you’ve read is:
1) Pass them whole to a relative, friend or coworker (if you ask and they say ‘yes’). It happens! And remember…I said whole. Nobody wants to read “what’s left” of your magazine or go to the article continued on page 34 to find out that page 34 is missing.
2) Put them in a community magazine recycling bin. Call your city hall for help in finding one if needed. I usually see these big magazine recycling bins in the Wal-mart store parking lot and other local business parking lots further out from the business doors.
3) Clip just the articles you want to save and add them to your magazine article filing system. If you don’t have an orderly process for this, create one. Then discard the remainder of the magazine into the recycle bin or trash. Keep a recycling basket, tote or bin near the inside of your exterior door for this just like you would for library books you need to remember to return.
Storing Current Magazines
The best place to store current magazines you’re reading is in a magazine holder, also called a magazine file or magazine storage box. It will fit wonderfully on your bookshelf in the family room–a good place if lots of family members read the same magazines. Or put it on your desktop to browse during work breaks in your home office. BUT above all else, put it somewhere visible and convenient. Don’t set it and forget it! Magazine subscriptions are useless wastes of money if you don’t read the issues at least now and then in part. Purge and organize your magazine subscriptions today!