Magazines: My Favorites and How To Organize Them

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Fellow magazine lovers, this post is for you. I’m sharing all of my favorite magazines and additionally, I’m showing you how I keep them organized in order to avoid the clutter and to be able to find exactly what I need when I need it.

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Magazines: My Favorites and How To Organize Them

Okay, this may be a really odd/slightly obsessive post to folks who don’t read magazines. For those that love magazines as much as I do, this post is going to be a wealth of helpful information.

I noticed the other day that the basket of magazines in my living room was overflowing and magazines were falling onto the floor. It was a nice reminder that my magazine collection needed some attention. I thought I would take you along and show you how I keep my magazines (mostly) in order and the number of magazines I have to a minimum.

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I have been a lover of print magazines for as long as I can remember. I used to flip through shelter magazines at my grandparent’s house while I waited for my mom to pick me up after delivering newspapers. This love has continued into adulthood. I have subscriptions to 12+ magazines and I still get a tickle of excitement when I open the mailbox and see a new issue.

Since I enjoy magazines so much and subscribe to too many, I never want this joy to become a burden. Years ago I used to have stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere and all they did was overwhelm me. Now, I have a system in place that encourages me to only keep one year’s worth of magazines on hand while also saving the stories, content, and recipes, that I love.

Everything is wonderfully organized, I can find what I need, and my love of magazines stays joyful instead of overwhelming. Mission accomplished!

Ready for my system? I’ll walk you through step-by-step and when I’m finished, I’ll give you a rundown of my favorite magazines.

Magazine Organization Sources:

Since I know there are going to be questions about sources, I thought I would get that out of the way first. These things are not required, but I find them really helpful tools to keep me organized. You’ll see how I use them as I explain the process below.

Magazine Organization

Step One: New magazines go into the basket.

The first step is pretty simple. I have a large round basket in my family room. Anytime a new magazine comes into the house, it goes into this basket. Typically I will flip through a new magazine once or twice before it ends up in the basket, but this is where any new magazines go.

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Step Two: When the basket is full, move half of the magazines to magazine holders.

When this basket is almost full, it means it’s time to organize. (And yes, there have been occasions when this basket is overflowing.) What I do is take the bottom half of the magazines (usually the oldest magazines) and move them to magazine holders that are located in my office.

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I have 12 magazines holders. Here is the organizational breakdown:

  1. January and February
  2. March and April
  3. May and June
  4. July and August
  5. September and October
  6. November and December
  7. Fall Magazines/Bookazines
  8. Christmas Magazines/Bookazines
  9. Recipe Bookazines
  10. Home Bookazines
  11. Other
  12. Other

Side note: A bookazine is like a book but in a magazine form. It’s a magazine that costs $10-$20 and covers a broad topic like Christmas, Fall Baking, etc.

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Based on my current magazine subscriptions, there is just enough room (specifically in the monthly magazine holders) to hold everything comfortably. The magazines will live here for a year. Since they are organized, I can easily reference them when needed.

Step Three: Seasonally sort through magazines older than one year.

As you can see, right now everything has a place. But what happens when things start to overflow?

My goal is to only keep a magazine for one year*.

I work through my stored magazines seasonally. Usually, I have a day or two that I spend brainstorming content for the blog and gathering seasonal inspiration for my home. This is when I’ll set aside time to pull a stack of magazines from the magazine holders and go through them one more time before I recycle them.

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This will free up space for when the basket in my living room gets full again.

*This is not always the case with the bookazines. I will keep them until I’m done with them or until they no longer fit in the magazine organizers. And in all honesty, there are a few series of bookazines that I can’t part with so there are exceptions to every rule.

Step Four: Tear out sheets and recycle the rest of the magazine.

As I mentioned above, I like to give my magazines a final look before I get rid of any given ones.

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When I’m flipping through the magazines, I tear out anything I love. It could be a design element, decor idea, recipe, a color scheme, something I want to research more, a product I want to check out, etc. I usually go through a stack of about 20 magazines at a time. It seems like a lot, but I usually watch something on TV, and by the time the movie is over the task is complete. (Lately, I’ve been doing this in the mornings while I have my coffee instead of scrolling through my phone. It’s been a better way to start the day.)

Each tear-out goes into a keep pile and then I recycle the rest of the magazine since it is no longer needed. Pretty simple.

Step Five: Sort tear-out sheets into vinyl pouches.

Next, I take my stack of tear-outs and organize them. I found these zippered vinyl and mesh pouches and I love them. They are a game changer, friends. The size is right, they are durable, have a zipper closure, and take up very little space.

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I have about 10 of these pouches. They are sorted by categories such as spring, summer, fall, winter, Christmas, home, etc. I also have one labeled “current” for things that I’m referencing at the moment.

As you can see, each pouch is labeled so I can reference what I need quickly.

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I store all of these pouches in a large basket on a shelf in my office. Whenever I need a dose of inspiration or an idea for a project, I can quickly reference what I found to be the most valuable parts of my favorite magazines.

I will also sort through these pouches every so often and trash what I no longer need or what’s no longer inspiring to me.

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Step Six: Repeat

And that’s it! I just repeat this process seasonally or whenever that basket of magazines in my living room is full.

I suppose that this may seem like a daunting process, but isn’t any new organizational effort kind of overwhelming? I’m not an organized person by nature, but when I have systems like this in place, I realize how beneficial they can be to mental clarity, productivity, and even happiness.

Now, onto my favorite magazines!

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My Favorite Magazines

I’m not going to give you a detailed description of why I like all of these magazines. However, I will list them in order starting with my favorites and working down the list. I like them all, some just make me happier when they appear in my mailbox.

I also did my best to link them all so if you’re looking to subscribe, the process should be pretty easy.

Favorite Bookazines:

  • Christmas Ideas Magazine
  • BHG Halloween
  • Taste of Home Seasonal/Compilations

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And that’s a wrap on my favorite magazines and how I organize them! I really hope you found this helpful!

Have I missed your favorite? Are there magazines I should be reading that aren’t on my list? Let me know in the comments below.

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45 Comments

  1. Michael, this is so helpful. Thank you. I love magazines too and recently found some Country Living magazines from the 1990s. Oh dear! Time to get organized.

  2. Love magazines and organizing and have used some of the methods you employ. I have always loved Southern Living although it’s not as good as it used to be. The rug in the photos kept catching my eye. . . beautiful! Love to know where you found it 🙂

  3. I subscribe to a lot of the same magazines. May I suggest Southern Living. Great decor inspiration, tasty recipes and fun travel ideas. I think you would really like it!

  4. What a fun post! Thank you for sharing your faves! I love many of your selections. I would also recommend: Real Simple, Food Network and House Beautiful. Oh and Southern Living! I utilize bamboo magazine holders for the magazines I choose to keep. I have one in the pantry for my most favorite cooking magazines and three in my office to store my home decor issues. All of the issues that I choose not to keep are donated to the little bookstore at our local library.

  5. I love magazines also. I only subscribed to country Living because subscriptions are expensive. I cut out favorite articles on decor and food. Thanks for the great tips on organizing the rip outs!

    P.S. Did anyone have a problem with getting their Country Living magazine in the past year? I missed out on several issues.

  6. I, too, love and collect magazines, but struggle to organize them. You have given me great ideas! My very favorites are anything produced by Hoffman Media-Southern Lady, Southern Homes, Victoria and Victoria Bliss, and Cottage Journal, to name a few of them. Their pictures are stunning, and content exceptional. I see Cottage Journal on your list; check out their other magazines, bookazines, etc. I also enjoy Southern Living, but have been disappointed in the past few years, in that I think their content and pictures are not of the same quality as in years past, and too often, their magazines are very thin! I guess we could have worse habits, right?!!

  7. Obsessive, maybe…..but I love love love your system, it makes so much sense!!!!!!!!! I need to get a basket and some zippered mesh pouches and some magazine files, and thanks for a new word today……….bookazines!!!!, I’m going to give your system a try, thank you for your blog!!!!!

  8. Two words, [plastic] page proectors, then favourite inspiration pages go into a very large binder. And I am on my third, almost full one!
    Have you heard of Canadian House and Home? A very nice, you guessed, Canadian publication.

    Kim

    1. I used to do that, but I have WAY too many and it took way too long. For me, this works better because I can manage it.

      xo Michael

      1. I love Southern Living, Victoria, BH&G, HGTV, House Beautiful, Country Living, Midwest Living, country Woman, Reminsce, Taste Of Home And Teatime. Martha Stewart is gone now so I donated all my copies to our local Library. I will discontinue HGTVwhen it expires. I have two IKEA Billy bookcases full of magazines but am getting rid of lits. I am keeping back to 2010 for most favorites. I save my tear sheets in Rubbermaid sweater boxes. But I have those zipper pouches like yours that I order by dozens in two sizes from Amazon. I am currently going through my house box and will be dividing them into those zipper bags. Thank you for your info and I am glad I am not the only magazine hoarder!!! Hugs for all you tips and your blog!

  9. This post is entirely fun for me! I had no idea that I wasn’t the only one with a magazine storage/sorting/saving/inspiration system! I love your ideas!
    One additional step for me is to fold a corner anytime I see something that I love. This helps me on the second pass. Lots of times its just a photo image that draws me in. I always fold my corners near but not on the thing I want to save or cut, so that content isn’t creased etc. Do you trim ripped edges? Do you ever paperclip multiple page articles together?
    Thank you for getting my brain churning on how to optimize. I LOVE a good system!!

  10. Michael, I sympathize! I am an 80-year-old confessed magazine hoarder! LOL. I have a magazine CLOSET that filled up some time ago, BUT the magazines and clippings I’ve loved and cared for deserve to be passed on instead of trashed. I was a craftsperson with a stencil/faux finish business and owned an antique/gift/craft shop for decades so I used many of the ideas, giving them my own interpretation. Since “everything old is new again” (and I’ve been around long enough to know that’s true), I wish there were a way to share my magazines and clipping ideas with young folks! I am considering a blog where I share a handful of ideas every day to inspire folks. No finished projects — just ideas and suggestions. My enthusiasm was always greater than my spare time, but I hope someone is interested in taking up the banner! Trying to think of a blog name that would be descriptive of my purpose! Any suggestions?

  11. The Cottage Journal is my all time favorite! I keep them and use old ones to put out seasonally for “coffee table” decor. And the Entertain & Celebrate magazine that is put out each season by Hoffman Media (The Cottage Journal) is a must have. Glass of wine and magazines to ogle over….living the good life!

  12. I love magazines. I keep a years worth then recycle after ripping out ideas and things I love. However, I put mine in a page protector and put in a three ring binder. I have four…Recipes, Home Decor, Yard and Gardening and Collectables. That way I can flip through them. Pinterest has definitely hindered my magazine collection but I still enjoy it.

  13. Michael- you are my brother from another mother. I subscribe to several of the same magazines you do. I tried looking at magazines on my ipad– not the same experience. I also have a magazine basket…or two…..maybe three. I have several “bookazines” in with my cookbooks and can’t resist them. Love this system and I also LOVE the metal cabinet you store them in, especially that it clear doors so you can visually see when its time to purge. thanks for sharing this!!

  14. I finally had to quit magazine subscriptions because I had a hard time letting them go. Even when taking out the photos I liked it was too much. I have all the old magazines out in a guest room and will get rid of some and order the rest by years and put in new storage cabinets. I am rereading them now and really enjoying the past…I actually even have a few from the 70’s. Still love them. LOL we should never speak about pinterest either…luckily my computer has a lot of storage! Some of us are just very visual 🙂

  15. Sad to see so many magazines go under these days or be reduced in size. I miss them stacked on my coffee table and stuffed in baskets around my home. It was painful when I finally donated my collection of Martha Stewart Living and Southern Living to our local thrift store. Still get a few in the mail and also subscribe to quite a few on Kindle and am always excited to read a new issue. Love your system of organizing your issues.