I got back into my organizing groove last night, and boy, did it feel good!
I have a wicker chest in the kitchen with 3 stacked drawers. The top drawer collects items that need to get filed, and once full, is my signal that it's time to file. In the process of sorting, and then actually filing the items in the file drawers in the basement, I found no fewer than 4 folders and collections of pages I've torn out of magazines over the last 1-2 years. Clearly, I had some organizing to do!
If you buy or subscribe to a lot of magazines, here are my suggestions for keeping them under control:
1. Only buy magazines you know you will read and thoroughly enjoy. If you find you are buying a magazine for only one column, or you rarely get to reading what you buy, quit buying! Local libraries carry oodles of titles that you can check out for free.
2. Read immediately, or set aside weekly reading time to prevent magazines from piling up and gathering dust.
3. Only save what you know you will refer back to. There's no need to keep full magazines for most people. Tear out the pages that you want to keep. And, if you have a subscription, you can likely access back issues online anyway.
4. Devise a filing system for what you save. This is what I spent last night doing. I gathered all 4 piles of torn out sheets, and sorted them into categories. For me, those happened to be: Money Saving Ideas, Blogging Ideas, Home & Organizing, Fitness, Dream Home Pictures, Crafts, Quotes and Photos, To-Read. Once sorted, each stack went into a labeled file folder and filed. Now when I'm looking for craft ideas or tips to share with you all, I know exactly what file to go to.
Now it's your turn! Share with us your favorite magazines and your strategies for keeping them organized! My favorite titles? Real Simple, Woman's Day, and Southern Living.
Happy Reading; Happy Organizing.
Until next time...
Missy
Render-Bits is written by Missy Render, owner of Render Lifestyle Management, a Twin Cities based personal concierge and errand running service, specializing in helping you create more balance between what you want to do, and what you have to do.
I like to cut out specific pages from magazines, thre hole punch, and file them away in a 3 ring binder. I have one of favorite scrapbooking layouts from those kinds of magazines and another one for recipes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder. I have been keeping up with this filing process for a long time and will now put it on the top of my to-do list soon!