Magazine Storage

You may have heard some organizing experts say that you should only keep the most current issue of each magazine and toss out the rest.  While I think this is a good idea to do with informational magazines that can quickly go out of date, with interior design, fashion, and lifestyle magazines, since issues from a few years ago can be just as inspiring as current ones, my thoughts are, it's okay to keep them as long as (1) you will revisit them and (2) you have the space to keep them organized and accessible so that when you do want to refer back to them, you can do so easily. Its nice to be able to grab a bunch of magazines whenever I need a good dose of creative inspiration.  Sure there's plenty of content and inspiration online, but sometimes you just need a break from all the digital. Some magazines also, like old issues of Whole Living, are great for when I want to unwind and relax.

I store my favorite magazines that I keep in their entirety (meaning I don't rip out pages from them), in these white magazine holders from the See Jane Work Office Depot line. This makes them accessible when I want to refer back to them.  In the past I had stored some away in a box and put them in a closet. Since they weren't accessible, I forgot I had them and they never saw the light of day. It was only until we moved that I rediscovered them.

Having them organized like this, with the issues of the same magazine together, allows me to see what I have. I love that all lined up they create a neat streamlined look.

For magazines that have select pages I want to save, I tear those out, throw out the rest of the issue, and organize the pages into magazine binders.  The benefit of doing this is not only that it takes up less space, but it also makes what I save searchable.  Since the binder is categorized with tabs, it is easier to refer back to something when I go to look for it.

Of course organizing pages into a binder can be a little time consuming, so when I don't have the time to do it right away after pulling them out, I put the loose pages into these labeled boxes:

They're easy to flip open and are the perfect size.  I limited myself to just two so that it would force me to get the clippings into the binders instead of just letting them pile up endlessly.

Do you collect magazines? How do you organize and store them? Do you have a system for making sure your collection doesn't get out of control?

Hope this inspired some ideas!

--

This post is brought to you by Office Depot.  All content and opinions are my own. Thank you for supporting Arianna Belle Blog sponsors that allow me to create new content like this!

How I Organize My Magazine Clippings

Even though there's undoubtedly an abundance of inspiration and information available via digital magazines, blogs, and Pinterest, which I all love, I still very much enjoy receiving printed magazines in the mail that I can physically flip through and rip pages out of, while settled in a comfy seat with a big cup of coffee in hand.  It's a relaxing treat at the end of the day.

As much as I love printed magazines though, I don't like the physical clutter they can create. If you're like me and have several subscriptions, you know how easily and quickly magazine piles can grow and get out of hand if you don't periodically toss them or do something to tame and organize them.

Today I thought I'd share with you my system for keeping my magazine collection in check. While I do keep some magazines in their entirety and treat them as books because they're filled with a lot of visually rich and inspiring content all throughout, what I try to do with most magazines is selectively rip out the pages I want to keep, and organize those pages into binders.

A few of my magazine clippings binders made pretty with simple matching covers

As I'm reading through a new issue, as soon as I identify content I'd like to save, I rip out the page.  It may be an article that I found informational and want to reference in the future, or a city guide for a place that I'd like to visit, or an image with a beautiful color story that I find inspiring. I set aside the pages I've ripped out and (temporarily) put them in what I've designated as a magazine clippings box, because lets be honest, most of the time after reading a magazine, I'm in relax mode, not in organizing mode.

When I'm in the mood, usually on a different day, maybe while watching TV or something, I'll take my magazine clippings and separate them out into the following categories:

Action - things to buy, recipes to try this week, sites to bookmark, etc.

Business - advice, resources and inspiration for my biz

Cleaning & Home Improvement - how to's, tips, guides, reviews for appliances and other home products I don't need or can't afford right now but possibly will later, etc.

Decor - inspiration, products, guides

Dream Home Inspiration - home ideas that I absolutely positively love and dream of  incorporating into my future home

Entertaining - tablescapes, ideas for the holidays, etc.

Fashion - outfit ideas, guides

Food - recipes, cooking tips

Hair & Beauty - ideas and guides

Health & Fitness - informational articles, guides, how to's

Organization - inspiration, ideas, products

Travel - interesting places I'd like to check out, city guides, travel tips

Someday Maybe - projects I might want to try sometime, book lists, movies I'd like to watch, etc.

Wisdom - articles regarding balance, happiness, spirituality, perspective etc. (helpful for getting out of a funk or getting through a depressing time)

With the exception of the Action category, which I have a tray for near my desk (more on my office trays later), I created a binder for all my categories. Each binder is filled with clear sheet protectors and tabbed dividers (for sub-categorizing).  To organize the magazine clippings, I simply put each into a sheet protector in the appropriate binder and under the corresponding sub-category.

My Travel binder with clear tab dividers labeled with sub-categories: Local, Weekend Getaways, National, International, Travel Tips

Here are my tips for anyone who may be interested in doing something similar:

-Go through one or two issues of each magazine you subscribe to, and take a look at the pages you've torn out to help you come up with your binder categories

-Assess your needs before going out to buy supplies.  I personally go through a lot of magazines and tend to tear out a fair amount of pages, so I determined that I needed a separate binder for each category to neatly fit everything in and leave space to add more.  If you're someone who doesn't subscribe to a lot of magazines and/or doesn't tend to tear out that many pages, you may decide you can organize everything into one large binder or maybe combine two or three categories into each binder.  If you need to, you can always expand later.

-Keep in mind also that not all your binders need to be the same size.  Most of mine are 1" but for some categories, like Fashion and Decor, I have 3" binders.

-Make sure you use either extra-wide dividers, or dividers that are specially made for use with sheet protectors (like these). If you get regular dividers, since sheet protectors are wider than regular letter sized paper, you won't be able to see the tabs.

-Label the divider tabs with a label maker for a neater look (if you don't have one yet, I highly recommend getting one, it's so handy!)

-If you want to downsize and organize a collection of back issues you've accumulated over time, do it in batches.  Trying to organize them all at once can be overwhelming.  Plus the process is more fun if you let yourself do it as a leisurely project :-)

*This post was brought to you by the folks at Office Depot.  All thoughts, ideas, and opinions expressed here are my own.  Thank you for supporting Arianna Belle sponsors!