Organise Magazine Clippings

I'm a bit of an information junkie so I often find myself buying a magazine because one or two headlines caught my eye.

Sound familiar?

I don't like keeping magazines because all you need are about 5 pages (if that) from each magazine and it's a waste of space! Not to mention a waste of time when you have to look through that whole magazine for one article.

So this is how I organise all my clippings:

1. I have a flipfile (can someone please tell me what you call it in other parts of the world?) for each broad category subject, like:
   • Organising/ storage ideas
   • Health
   • Fitness
   • Creativity
   • Financial
   • Christmas ideas
   • Passion (largely due to my work at the church)
   • Recipes to try
I like the 20-page ones, although most of these are of the 10-page variety (just because they're more readily available).

2. As I read (and this is key, otherwise you spend MORE time going through the magazine a second time), I pull out the pages I want to keep.

3. I then throw them in my in-tray in my study. When I want to organise, I take my flipfiles, scissors and pages with me to do in front of the TV.

4. I then neatly trim the edges of the pages and simply slip them into the plastic sleeves.

5. Every 6 - 12 months, depending on how many magazines I've been reading, I'll quickly flip through the flipfile to see if I can throw anything away. Sometimes our tastes change and we now know without a shadow of doubt that we won't be doing mosaic art anytime soon (I'm just saying!).

This maintenance stage is critical otherwise you'll just keep hoarding more and more stuff. Sometimes the mere idea of having to prepare another file helps me to get ruthless with the clippings. I know it's not a big deal to write out a label but I actually like the idea of containing my info-addiction.

So how do you organise your magazine clippings?

Posted February 13, 2008, filed in How I de-cluttered, Clutter Control Products, Organizeit Projects, Less is More, Clutter Hacks