Magazines are one of those things that can come into our homes quite quickly and easily, but they often like to hang around. They’re great to have for inspiration and times when you just want to relax and go slow, but they can also get a bit overwhelming if you have an unread collection or they just start to take up space. So today’s organisation challenge is to tackle your magazine pile!
Make three piles.
Start with 3 spots where you can separate your magazines into 3 different piles. One for recycling. One for keeping in tact. One for keeping only important pages, which we’ll call filing. This will make sitting and sorting much easier and quicker.
To Recycle.
This first pile is where you put all the magazines you know that you’ve either read or will really never get to, that just take up room. These can either make their way to your recycling bin or be taken to your local doctors office or even to a pre-school that might love things that they can cut up. You could also put them on ebay or gumtree if they are a valuable collection and some charity shops will even resell old magazines that are in good condition.
Getting a stack out of your home can really make you feel lighter if they’re just taking up space.
To Keep.
This pile probably shouldn’t be the biggest, but you might find that you have some that are special to you that you want to keep in tact, or that are recent that you haven’t read yet. If they are magazines that have to do with your job or industry, see if you can give them a proper home so that they aren’t taking up bench space and don’t feel overwhelming.
One of the hardest things for me is to let go of ones I just never got around to reading, and maybe you have the same feeling too. But it’s ok for those to go to the recycling pile or to be given away to someone who might find them more useful. We can’t always read everything.
To File.
This pile is for the magazines where you saw a page or two that you wanted to keep because the information was really useful, but you really don’t need to keep the whole magazine. Get yourself a plastic pocket file and tear out the pages you most want to keep and add the rest to the pile that will make it to the recycling bin. There might even be some in the to keep pile that could really be in this pile instead.
Have a flick through them and find the best bits and let the rest go. This will save a ton of space if you are an avid magazine buyer. Once you’ve made your file(s), find somewhere to keep them so they’re easily accessible but not in your way every day.
Consider what you still read.
As a final note, consider if you are still reading and loving the magazines that you’re buying or have a subscription to. If you have a year of unread ones that you’ve just never got around to, you might no longer need that subscription. It’s not always easy to let go, but I recently let my one magazine subscription lapse, (with 9 months of magazines still waiting for me to read) and it was a relief that I didn’t feel that guilt when a new one arrived and it made me even further behind.
Sometimes magazines that were once a priority just aren’t where you’re at anymore and that’s ok. We all grow and change and what we once bought for fun might not be the same today.
Do your magazines need some organisation? What’s your favourite one to read?
P.S. Style for a Happy Home’s first E-Course starts on May 25! If you’re looking to make your home feel happier this year and want a fun and practical way to do it, with a community of others who will be with you along the way, come join us: Find out more and sign up here.