Decluttering and Organising Magazines and Newspapers …

Decluttering & Organising Magazines & Newspapers 001

Most days, life is crazy and super busy.  Working, cooking, cleaning and looking after the family, can leave us with very little time for ourselves.  So when I do get 5 minutes of “me” time, I love to sit down with a hot chocolate or cold drink and a magazine … just a little bit of time to wind down, put my feet up and relax.  However, as a result, I had accumulated quite a few piles of old magazines that I’d stored on different shelves and in cupboards around the house … old magazines that hadn’t been touched for years and were simply taking up valuable space.

 

Why hadn’t I just thrown these away or passed them on to someone else when I was finished reading them?

 

I suppose I mostly kept them so my girls could also read them but when I gave it some thought, I came up with some “roadblocks” or reasons that had made it easy for me to hang on to them:

 

  • They were in perfectly good condition and, therefore, didn’t need to be thrown out.

 

  • I felt like I was throwing away something I’d spent hard earned money on, therefore, throwing them out was wasteful.

 

  • What if I wanted to read these again?

 

  • What if I wanted to refer back to a particular article or recipe?

 

  • Keeping them was a good idea in case visitors or guests were looking for something to read.

 

In truth, though, some of my oldest scrapbooking magazines, for example, were nearly ten years old and hadn’t been looked at for almost as long and were now nothing more than clutter.

 

So, what have I done to declutter these things?

 

Firstly, I gave myself permission to throw them out and “let go” … it’s okay, I don’t need them any more!

 

Secondly, I’ve flicked through those old magazines and torn out anything that was still of interest, mostly recipes.  I’ve stored those in a folder next to my cookbooks and labelled the folder “Recipes to Try”.  It’s taken a bit of time and I’ve enjoyed re-reading them but it’s been worth the effort to get rid of 4 large piles of magazines … straight into the recycling!  Newspapers haven’t really caused the same problem, as we tend to read those and put them in the recycling straight away.

 

It’s important now though that I don’t recreate new piles of clutter.  To do this, I’ve stopped buying any new magazines at all and now borrow them all from my local library.

 

The benefits have been:

  • Reduced clutter
  • I’ve saved heaps of money on the cost of magazines
  • I now get to choose from a wider variety of magazines, all at no cost … that’s a win!
  • All magazines that I borrow are current rather than being years old

 

Now if I come across a recipe I’d like to try, I photocopy it and add it to my “Recipes to Try” folder.  If I see an article I’d like to keep, I photocopy that also and file it for reference later.

 

Decluttering & Organising Magazines & Newspapers 002

 

I keep two magazine racks beside the TV cabinet … one to store the magazines I’ve borrowed (and any free magazines that I’ve picked up) and a second one to store the daily newspapers.  These racks have become the “home” for these items to live which means they don’t get left lying around on the coffee table, dining room table, benches, couches or other places.  This new habit/routine is helping to keep the house tidier.  If you don’t have a magazine rack, a basket will do the same job.

 

So tell me, do you like reading magazines and which one is your favourite?  Do you buy them or do you borrow them from your local library?

Comments

  1. Great advice and you read my mind haha those are exactly the same questions I ask myself when I’m going through my magazines…why throw them out…I paid for them… I’ll need the recipe…can’t chuck them!

    But now I’m getting a lot better and will often take a photo of the recipe I want and keep it in my phone instead 🙂

    • Hi Daisy, that’s such a great idea to take a photo of the recipe and keep it on your phone. I sometimes do that before I go to the shop so I don’t forget some critical ingredient!