I had a stack of magazines just piling up in my apartment.  I finally went through them all this weekend!  It was nice to relax on the couch with my coffee while Olivia was napping and flip through all my favorites – Real Simple, Martha Stewart Living, Better Homes and Gardens, All You. I had about three issues of each to read.  For years I would keep magazines just piled up sky high because there was something I really liked in each one.  An inspiration.  An idea.  A really great article.  Now I have a system in place that helps me organize all the things I love in magazines, without becoming surrounded by piles as tall as our ceiling.

Here are my stacks of magazines, plus the folders that will eventually hold all the clippings.

Categories I use when cutting things out of magazines are: Recipes, Gift Ideas, Party Inspirations, Craft Projects (I have two of these – they get filled up pretty quickly!), and whatever Holiday is being covered in the magazines – so for these issues it was Valentine’s Day.

I also have a Cards to Frame folder.  When someone gives me a greeting card that I love – I frame it!  Here are the two that are in the folder to be framed.  Both are for Olivia! (Thanks Lauren and Genvieve!)

In both Living by Martha Stewart and Real Simple, each issue has recipe cards.  I always pull them out and put them in my recipe folder.  Later I may weed through them and discard one that I may never make.  Sometime I laminate them and give them as a gift with one of the ingredients.  It’s a great holiday or hostess gift.  Recipes I want to try stay in the folder until I figure out where they will be permanently cataloged.  In a cookbook, a specific holiday binder, etc.

Party Inspirations may migrate to a specific party folder one day.  Craft Projects include clipping about projects I want to try one day and also materials for upcoming projects.

I keep the folders in a clear plastic desk organizer from The Container Store.

It felt good to go through all of the magazines that had been piling up!  I can now recycle them.  I always drop them off to my hair stylist.  Do you read paper magazines still? Or have you moved to all digital and pin to Pinterest?  I do that, too. I get some subscriptions to my I-Pad now, but I still love getting paper magazines in the mail. I can’t help it!  How do you organize ideas and inspirations you get from magazines?  I’d love to hear about your systems!

Thank you for stopping by and reading.  Have a great day!