Organizing Magazines

Do you have tons of magazines that you want to keep but don't know what to do with? Are your magazines taking over your living room, dining room, kitchen, bedroom, and other areas of the house that you didn't particularly want them in in the first place? The good news is that there are ways of organizing your magazines and keeping them orderly-it just takes a little effort.

The following is a short list of how to manage your magazine collection so that they don't threaten to take over your space and you can still find what you want when you need it.

Magazine holders

For a few dollars, you can pick up magazine holders at stores such as Ikea. You can generally get several magazines into one holder so this is a great way of keeping them all in one place while still placing them on a shelf.

Scrapbooking

If you don't want to save the entire magazine and are just interested in certain columns, advice pages, articles, or even recipes then a scrapbook is a good way of holding onto that important information. Just cut out what you need, paste it into the scrapbook page, and toss the rest of the magazine. (Recycling is best!)

Seasonal

Perhaps you don't want to keep every issue of every magazine, but you are interested in the Christmas issues, Halloween issues, etc. If this is the case then organize your magazines by season. Keep all of the Christmas ones in a decorative box, for instance, and all of the Thanksgiving ones in another box, and so forth. That way, you're not keeping every issue and you're still able to access the ones that you want.

Binders

If you want to combine the scrapbooking with the magazine holder idea then simply tear out the pages that you want, slip them into clear sheet protectors, and place them in a binder.

Scanning

If you simply lack the space to store much of anything then you can always scan the articles that you want to keep and organize the images on your computer. Recycle the magazine itself, or pass it on to your local library or doctor's office.

Of course, you can also organize your magazines on shelves in a conventional method. Some organize chronologically, especially if they collect the same magazine. Others organize alphabetically while still others do it by season.