Magazines: ditch or keep?

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Started 1 year ago by klutzgrrl
Latest reply from bandicoot
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klutzgrrl
Member

I know you're going to say 'ditch' and I know I SHOULD but... I'm struggling with it! I've gone through a bunch of old writing magazines, pulling out the articles I like and popping them in a file. But I also have quite a lot of old art magazines, and also tech - Linux computing - magazines.

The art ones are a problem, some of them are 20 years old and remind me of artists I loved years ago... I guess I should pick out the best pictures and throw them out.

The linux ones have lots of good articles and it's hard to know which ones I might want.

A while back I tossed all the CDs that came with ImagineFX magazine and then later wished I hadn't, they had some good tutorials.

I do have a bit of a magazine addiction - I love the portability of them, the short, manageable articles and up-to-date information. Great for coffee-break reading or keeping in the car when I have to wait for kids.

How do you manage magazines, or have you gone totally digital?

Posted 1 year ago #
Sophie
Member

I'm not sure I'm the right person to respond. I've tried a couple of ways of dealing with this problem.

Plan #1: I cut out the articles I liked so I only have a pile of cut outs. I don't think this really worked as its messy and now I just have a pile of random cut outs. This will be ok if I scan them as planned, but this would take a long time! Nex I tried plan #2.

Plan #2 - sell my magazines so someone else can get to read and enjoy them. Problem here is I've ended up buying even more magazines and haven't actually sold any!

Next I'll try plan #3 - actually get on and sell the old magazines, or at least donate them to someone!

I want to go completely digital, but it's hard to part with the hard copy items.

Posted 1 year ago #
Claycat
Member

I finally had to break the magazine habit. I would keep them and let them stack. I usually read what I wanted to when they first came. However, I had this unreasonable idea that I had to read every article before I could toss it. Then I would find something I wanted to remember, so I would either keep the magazine or cut something out and file it. Most likely, I would not look at it again. I have just a few of the magazines and articles left, but I am going to re-evaluate pretty soon, and I will probably toss the rest. I had to stop ordering them.

Posted 1 year ago #
Determined
Member

I love Magazines! I have issues of Real Simple March 2008 throught Feb. 2009, I swear the May 2008 is the largest issue yet; Yoga Journal Aug. 2007 - Dec. 2009. Plus, The Economist a huge amount of information every week!

My husband however does not and to be honest, I haven't looked at any of these in months but just having around makes me feel more organized and intelligent. So, I've given myself a deadline, April 1, 2010 and found a wonderful option for disposal.

When visiting family in the hospital, I read magazines from 8 years ago! If you've ever dealt with a major illness in the family you spend a lot of time in the hosptial and at times look for distractions. UCSF takes donations of magazines and now make it a point to drop off all my magazines with the front desk once every two months. Please check your local hospital or nursing home that might take donations. It will help you clean your place, plus make you feel connected to your community by helping people who need a good distraction.

Posted 1 year ago #
terriok
Member

I'd at least keep some of them, maybe randomly so when you do read them- they will be fresher. I would not bother clipping articles. I have tried that. It is too much work, I have NEVER looked at them again and the going is tough.

The Art CD's I bet you could find on Ebay! ;o) Oh, uh, they don't take up much space.

Posted 1 year ago #
badkitti
Member

I'm afraid I read and then pass on. So do a few friends, so I get free magazines every so often.

Posted 1 year ago #
Sky
Member

I used to subscribe to lots of magazines but have come to the conclusion they are mostly advertisements and make me feel my home isn't up to par and have too many desires for "stuff". So, occasionally, I'll pick one up when I'm shopping but for the most part I read books.

I had some vintage magazines that had great ads but I never looked at them so I sold them on ebay. I don't need a magazine basket....less clutter.

Posted 1 year ago #
Robert h
Member

Regarding Linux and open source as a whole, you can find all the information and tutorials you will ever need right here on the net. Google is good for finding fixes for problems and the Gentoo and Arch wiki's contain many tutorials, most of which can be applied to any distro.

Posted 1 year ago #
klutzgrrl
Member

Isn't it funny how we all have such varied approaches to a very similar topic! I love it!

@determined, my husband has about 15 years of an outdoors/adventure magazine saved. Luckily it was a quarterly.

Love the hospital idea. It's so frustrating, the rubbish old magazines in doctor's surgeries and so on - I often wonder if the staff ever get magazines?

I think the reality is that like you, Claycat, there's a fair chance I won't read most of these again.

So I'm going to combine the ideas suggested -

Pick a small assortment of the most recent issues to keep, and give an assortment to the hospital. I have a few 'Well Being' mags (natural health) and also cooking magazines that might have a more general appeal.

a quick flick through the art magazines for anything that 'leaps out' at me and scan the page - there'll probably not be many - and pass them on to the art department at the highschool.

Check with the computer dept at school if they want Linux mags, otherwise Freecycle.

That'll clear a nice bit of shelf space :)

Posted 1 year ago #
Nina
Member

I get an average of about 8 magazines a month and my husband gets 2-3 on top of that. It used to be slightly more but we've stopped suscrbing to 2 we didnt read all the time. Of those I only keep one and my husband one and the rest we throw away or I sometimes give them to a friend of mine.
I do cut out articles, pictures from the other ones to put in a folder, but I have realized that the pages pile up and I havent actually filed them in a while.

I used to keep more magazines in case I needed them some other time but realized that I never actually did look at them and decided to get rid of them.

Posted 1 year ago #
themusiclivez
Member

I love magazines as well. Whenever I used to see a musician I loved on a magazine cover, or an actor/actress I loved, I "needed" to purchase the magazine.
Now I just tell myself that somehow those magazines ALWAYS end up in the recycling bin and I have been able to prevent them from even entering my home.

My suggestion (and I'm sure it will be unpopular) is to just recycle them without even opening them. If you haven't referred to them in a long time, chances are you won't need to and the information will be readily available online or at the library. This method works for me, that way I don't even know what I'm tossing out and therefore can't have any attachments to what I am not even aware exists in the first place!

Posted 1 year ago #
Sandman
Member

Check to see if the magazine has an online edition. That way you can electronically clip and store the articles you like.

Posted 1 year ago #
HappyDogs
Member

I drop mine off in the lunchroom at work. Everyone enjoys it when someone brings in a pile of books or magazines.

My dog training journals, though....I keep those. Every Clean Run since 1996! I do refer back to them quite often.

Posted 1 year ago #
ArtGal
Member

Please consider donating unwanted ones to a local art college or school art program...we can always use them for projects and reference :)

Posted 1 year ago #
cnuland
Member

For the Linux magazines - I know what you're going through. I used to save computer/tech magazines because I'd think that a certain article might come in handy later. Someday. At work I made our dept keep old copies; at home I'd rip out articles - so I've tried both methods. Do you know how many times I went back and referred to those magazines or articles? None!

There is so much information on the internet now that it's easier to search and find a particular answer you're looking for. I am fortunate that the magazine we receive at work has online archives, so I can always search that way. Besides, there is always new/better ways of doing things than there were a few years ago.

I'm in the process of getting rid of most magazines. The food/recipe ones usually can find the recipe online (saved to computer for easier searching) or I scan the recipe/recycle the magazine. The only magazines I'm not yet ready to toss are my crafting ones (knit/crochet). I look through them for inspiration and "new" patterns.

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

I used to subscribe to a whole ton o' magazines and would keep lots of back issues for "reference." (Never used.) Am now down to just a few and don't keep any of them. I still tear out the occasional article - mostly from Yoga Journal or the IDEA Fitness Journal - but most mags that are still in print now have archives on their websites, or the material's been compiled into book form.

Still have a bundle of old tear-outs (design, architecture, building, and art mostly) but the reality? There is always another great article, and when the day comes that I'm ready to proceed with a project if what I need isn't already in my head, I can find it online or in a book. I'm going to toss all that stuff without even giving it another look. Why tempt myself to keep it?

Sounds like klutzgrrl has a good plan now. :-)

Posted 1 year ago #
blueberry1946
Member

I love National Geographic, but tend to want to keep them. I no longer subscribe and limit myself to taking the three month old NG from my doctor client’s office. I bring it home, read it and force myself to ditch it afterwards . . . laughing at myself all the while, because I still don’t really want to throw it out.

Posted 1 year ago #
Gil
Member

I once had a lot of magazines, either from buying, or subscription. These can add up fast, and if not checked, can take up a lot of room.

I ditched all my mags, except two that I really enjoyed. If I need to find an article, as chacha mentioned, many are archived now.

Posted 1 year ago #
365lessthings
Member

Part of this problem was solve for me when I moved back to Australia from America. Subscriptions here are so expensive I just won't consider paying that sort of money.

I am still finding it difficult to part with the craft magazines I brought back with me but am considering culling those a the moment.

I find it difficult because I like to refer back to those when I am looking for artistic inspiration as I am sure you do with your art magazines. The reality is though that I more often than not just google what I am looking for on the internet rather than ploughing though endless pages (mostly adds) searching for articles on the theme I am looking for.

Rather than saving clippings you can scan the articles/pictures you love into your computer which only takes up space on your hard drive. You can use all sorts of creative graphics programs to do this and you could even do it so it presents like a magazine with pages that turn.

Writing this, I am starting to convince myself that I no longer need mine and might go now and start the task of eliminating some.

Thank you and good luck. http://www.365lessthings.com

Posted 1 year ago #
klutzgrrl
Member

"You can use all sorts of creative graphics programs to do this and you could even do it so it presents like a magazine with pages that turn."

- oh, liking that idea. I had been using a theme from Office-for-Mac that looks like a tabbed notebook, lines and all, for my writing, and I really liked it. Long, scrolling web pages I find frustrating. Ditto having things in just a file folder (my previous catchall solution).

In my drop files I have one for 'scrapbook' and one for 'articles to read'. The former is any interesting tidbits, photos of movie stars, book reviews, all sorts - that I want to remember. Sort of like keeping a diary note but it's a scrap of paper. One day I might need to get a box. I'm not going to bother sticking them in a journal - a file or box does the job, and one day if I want to take a tour back through what interested me, it's all there. That's why I quit Scrapbooking. I don't need it in a book - in fact I kind of prefer leafing through a box. It's a worry that these days so many photos will disappear forever into defunct hard drives.

From a foot-high stack of writing group newsletters I got three thin file folders, one with articles on business/publication, one on technique/tips and one on inspiration/interviews.

It's a bit of a 'balance' thing, isn't it - if the pile is sitting there taking up space, and you haven't picked an old one up in months, it might need to go. If you look at them often, it might not be clutter after all.

Posted 1 year ago #

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