Organize Your Magazine Collection

If you are like most people, chances are you read a variety of different magazines. Although some magazines can simply be read and then discarded, other magazines can be useful for a longer period of time. For example, you probably wouldn't want to discard your sewing, woodworking or other crafting magazines after reading them. If you have a number of different magazines that you want to keep for reference purposes, organizing them in a neat and efficient manner is probably one of your concerns. Here are a few tips you can use to keep your magazines safe, neat and easily accessible.

Choosing a Storage Area

If you are lucky enough to have a home library, this could be the perfect solution for your magazine storage needs. You could even designate a special section of your home library for your family's magazines. However, there are also other storage areas that could be even handier, depending on your needs and the magazines you customarily buy. For example, if you subscribe to or buy one or more cooking magazines on a regular basis, storing them near the kitchen could be much more convenient. Woodworking magazines would be convenient if stored near your woodworking equipment, while crafting magazines would be right at home in the craft room.

Whole Magazines versus Selected Pages

Sometimes you might determine that the entire magazine is useful and should be stored. However, there are other times when there are only a few select pages of any given magazine that you wish to save. If you only need a few pages for future reference, it doesn't make a lot of sense to take up valuable space saving the entire magazine. Instead, carefully cut out just the pages you need, discarding or recycling the rest of the magazine. These cut out pages can be placed in a three-ring binder for easy access. Clear plastic page protectors also work well for storing individual magazine pages. By using this technique, you can designate a separate binder for each topic or subject matter, making it very easy to find exactly what you need.

Inexpensive Magazine Storage Solutions

There are plenty of innovative magazine storage solutions on the market. However, some of these can be a bit expensive, especially if you have a lot of magazines you need to store. If this is the case in your home, try devising some of your own magazine storage solutions. For example, you could cut down a cardboard cereal box so that it resembles the magazine storage bins you can buy in the store. Contact paper can be used to cover the cereal box containers, thus making them more attractive and durable. You could also stack numerous plastic milk crates on their side, forming a number of small cubes that are perfect for storing different kinds of magazines. There are also plastic spines that have been designed for storing magazines in binders. These spines are designed with three holes punched in them, allowing you to easily store them in three-ring binders.