Clear Magazine Clutter
Are you secretly a magazine pack rat?
Clear magazine clutter and reclaim your home.
Is your coffee table covered with:
Real Simple, Town and Country, Southern Living, Cosmopolitan, O, Bon Appétit (though you don’t really cook, you just heat up), Time, The New Yorker, Good Housekeeping (for all those promises of getting organized) and People Magazine – your guilty pleasure of celebrity soft mind-porn that you don’t admit to indulging in?
Magazine mania…
One thing that fascinated me with my then mother-in-law, may she rest in peace, is that she collected every National Geographic Magazine that was ever printed.
I found it curious because none of her children, including my then husband, were contributors in any way to those glossy magazines. Not a single, family byline.
National Geographic Feng Shui?
My mother-in-law never read these magazines or leafed through them because of the photos of naked tribal women.
Instead, she stacked the book-like magazines in half toddler size piles all over the “Back Room” floor.
No one read them; though her sons possibly did fan through them because of the photos of naked tribal women.
Mainly they remained undisturbed. They were the first thing we encountered every visit as we entered the house directly from the garage into the “Back Room.”
It was like a National Geographic shrine. To be honest, it made the room feel messy and unwelcoming.
National Geographic future fortune fantasy…
My mother-in-law was convinced we kids would eventually make our fortunes by selling those valuable magazines.
In reality, it one day fell to my husband and I to pack up his parent’s house and deal with the multitude of weighty magazines as we put them into box after box.
We couldn’t even donate a single one of those magazines to the local library.
Not even the special book and magazine society, that shipped overseas to less fortunate countries, wanted our offer of donation.
Seems everyone from my mother-in-law’s era saved their National Geographic’s.
We actually had to PAY to take them to the local dump.
Clutter disguised as home décor…
Think you’ve organized those magazines because they’re neatly stored in decorative baskets? Or fanned out on your coffee table?
Well, sometimes designating a pretty home for our stuff is not really getting it organized. It’s delaying a decision disguised as creating atmosphere.
If you just stockpile magazines thinking you will read them “some day” when you have time, you’re weighing down your space and life. Here’s the truth: magazines recycle their article themes, so you won’t be missing out if you toss the old or even unsubscribe.
If flipping through magazines is relaxing for you, consider that a few well loved magazines will give you more pleasure than a pile of magazines. Recycle them, rather than keep them when new issues arrive. A real fan of certain magazines? I’m all for you having one or two subscriptions, but do you really have time or need for 10?
Magazine Confessions…
One of my clients admitted she subscribes to “Southern Living” and “Gourmet” though she doesn’t cook or bake.
She realized she liked the idea of being a gourmet cook or baker, but soon magazine stacks were overtaking her bedroom floor and causing her guilt and stress.
Another client realized she was paying for magazine subscriptions out of habit and no longer found time to read them.
Imagine the freedom and savings if you clear magazine clutter, letting at least one (or more) magazine subscriptions go.
Now, with the ability to find photos, recipes, and articles of interest online, you can let go of hardcover magazines to save space, money and increase peace of mind.
Do you have neglected magazine piles? Does this post motivate you to clear magazine clutter? Did you used to have too many magazines and changed your ways? If so, tell me how in the comments below.
Hey, I’m Jul’s Arthur, author of the book 25 Days of Holiday Organizing! I help women professionals & entrepreneurs STOP endlessly spinning their wheels stuck in anxiety and overwhelm with the chaos and stuff in their home, instead START simplifying, so everything has a place, they gain FREEDOM, CLARITY and easily step into their DREAM LIFE. Let me help you go from chaos to FREEDOM.
I’ve been guilty as charged. I’ve streamlined my subscriptions to the ones I will actually read and use. I give them away to my book club members when I’m done: if I haven’t finished by the time the next one arrives, it goes! And I’ve cleared my kitchen shelves of cookbooks I never look at to make room for the cooking mags I use regularly. Every little bit helps.
Hello Cathy, great idea about sharing your old magazines with book club friends. Magazines recycle their content, so if you don’t finish, I like that you boot it out the door to the next reader. No need to feel guilty, there is no right or wrong and if magazines thrill you, keep ’em. It’s just that my work has led me to truly embrace “Less is more.” I love the cookbook clearing. I keep one or two I refer to, but I got rid of so many that I used one recipe only, or “ahem” never cracked open once….in years 😉
yes, i admit it. i have been fascinated and captivated by magazines since i was a young girl, and i eventually became quite a hoarder! however, my family and i gave up our permanent residence in 2013 and i finally said my bittersweet goodbyes to many beautiful magazines that i had lovingly collected over the years (and moved several times!). [full disclaimer: i still find their glossy pages inspiring and beautiful, so i’ve kept a few small stacks.]
Many magazines are filled with beautiful images that inspire our dreams, and I am all for keeping whatever makes your heart sing! If that is a stack of glossy pages, I say keep them. Granted, you may wish to lovingly display or store them so you can enjoy their beauty. I have to laugh about moving your magazines several times…I did that across the pond with my first boyfriend’s love letters…then London to Manhattan, to Connecticut even when I married to a different man! The key is too make room for what we love and truly want to keep, not pack and drag things with us as if, without them we lose the past experience and memory.
Jul this was a walk down memory lane when I collected Martha Stewart’s rationalizing they would be collectible. Magazines were my lifeline to my creativity and inspired me to pursue my dreams when I was a young adult. Living in a small house as well as having access to photo sharing online satiates my desire to buy a magazine. Please take on how to keep your kitchen table clutter from taking over your life!! I will be all ears.
Hi Barbara,
Great comments, and I absolutely will take on, at a future date, how to keep your kitchen table clutter-free. That is a great topic! I enjoy magazines and books, but really stick to online or the library to keep the accumulation from happening. Glad you have embraced the online world for your desire for magazine lore.
Thanks for this inspiration. Though I only have one job related magazine subscription it adds up over the years! With other kindsof magazines I like to create a vision board and then throw them away afterwards.
I know Kiria, it is amazing how we all can realize a seemingly innocent item such as magazines can build up over time. I used to have this issue with books. Then I began passing them along for friends and family to enjoy with the note to keep it or pass it along as well. After all, I realized I rarely if ever had time to re-read those books, and the library has most I would consider re-reading anyway. I love vision boards, and once I cut up the magazine for inspiration, I too toss it. Thanks for commenting and happy I offered you some inspiration.
Hi Jul
Nice article. Many years ago we read a book ” American millionaire next door” which shaped our financial brains and since then we have only read magazine from library. Now we can borrow digital magazines too from our local library.
This can make very positive impact on the disposable income you might get by just changing small consumption habits in our daily life.
Thanks for sharing. I agree that we can make small changes in our consumption habits that can have a big positive impact for our daily lives. I am a fixture at our local library borrowing all my book club books, rather than accumulating them. I love to read, love books, and I love clear space.
My magazines are hidden 🙂
Just a few for guests’ amusement.
I guess I’m lucky to having moved so many times – we tend to throw away more junk this way..
You make an excellent point, moving can motivate one to keep less.
OMG I literally have STACKS of Vanity Fair’s and VOGUE’S pilling up, there so hard to throw away! lol So glad your making this point I kinda needed to hear it… #MagazineJunkieForSure
The fashionista and the artist in me so loves those magazines too! I Pinterest them instead keeping them. One thought is to snap a photo of what inspires you in the magazine and put it on a Pinterest board, then oust the magazine. Glad I may have help you to rethink a stack or two of those magazines. Tear our or photograph a few pages…and let the rest go. You’ll find you’ll be more creative!
Yes! Our magazine pile, while small, regenerates by itself! I try to toss out any magazines that I haven’t read within a week but then I still hold on to those I want to re-read, or save for a certain article. Months later and I still haven’t looked at it. What a great reminder to declutter and to downsize. Love it!
I know, what is it with magazines that they can multiply all on their own? One suggestion, if you are fanning through a magazine and come across an article you wish to read, cut it out,gently tear it out, and put it in an “Articles to Read” folder. I used to recommend jut sticking a sticky note on the article page to mark it, but then realized clients were saving the magazines, sticky and all, and the magazine clutter accumulated. The key is to realize are you really going to read the articles or just collect them?
I make a point of reading my magazines with scissors in my hands. If there’s something I want to keep, I clip it, file it (or glue it to my vision board) and then dump the magazine. I’ve had those piles before, and I gave up guilt for Lent YEARS ago. 🙂
Great tip to cut and paste on your vision board, Lisa. Love that you gave up guilt for Lent years ago! You have me laughing, and thinking best give up for Lent I ever heard 😉
What a great post Jul’s!! You are so right about all those magazines. So many are more about who we wish we were. Not to mention, I’ve had the “fanned” look on my coffee table and guess what? Never once, did I have a guest actually pick one up and look at it. Ever. This was very helpful and easy to implement. Thank you for such a great post. Now I have to go check out the others!! 🙂
Hiya April, Thanks for the “post love,” I’m so happy my post helped you with some quick clutter clearing. You had me laughing about the coffee table magazine spread…when did we all decide our home should look like a doctor’s office reception room? I imagine it was some home decorating magazine that had staged the coffee table for a photo shoot. I love your being honest that not one guest ever picked up on of those magazines to read! That gem will help many other readers realize the same, and free them to let go of the fanned look.