I will concede in advance that this is a dorktastic activity, But – it is a great way to stay organized and can be a lot of fun.

Magazines are a lot of fun to read, I personally subscribe to more than 5 different ones, but they are also a great wealth of information.  When you read a magazine, there are probably several pages you are interested in; a new workout routine, a tasty recipe, instructions on a fun hairstyle.  There are probably also several pages you barely want to skim; perhaps Cosmo’s 700th installment of “25 Ways to Please Your Man.” 

So how to you keep the articles you find to be helpful while excluding the ones that don’t apply to you?  Tear them out.  Ok, that’s better right off the bat as you no long have a huge stack of magazines taking up space.  But now what do you do with the unorganized stack of loose papers?  Institute a binder system:

I have 3 different binder of magazine clippings.

1. The Recipe Binder

This one I use all the time; truth be told, I actually have two recipe binders because there was some spillover!  The binder includes food and drink recipes, as well as tips for washing veggies or storing produce.

2. The Life Binder

 This Binder System started here.  When I was younger I would read an article about keeping the family schedule organized and even though it didn’t apply to me at the time I just couldn’t bring myself to throw it out.  This binder houses party ideas, decorating tips, hair and make-up ideas, as well as how to’s – get a wine stain out of a carpet, unclog a drain, etc.

3. The Healthy Living Binder

This one doesn’t get used nearly enough.  This is the binder where I store all of the strength training cheat sheets that fitness magazines include each month.  I also keep stretching and meditation routines in here.

Starting your own binder system is easy as pie!  And you can customize it in whatever way suits your taste and needs.  However, here are a few of my tips to keep things running smoothly –

• Tear out pages willy nilly; if something seems like it might be worth saving, there’s no point in leaving it in the magazine to be thrown out, but
• be a little more discerning about what goes into the binders so you don’t end up with pages and pages of “why did I save that?”
• Cut out what you are interested in – if a page has a recipe for a meat dish I won’t eat, a recipe for some nasty sounding low-fat cookies, and a recipe for some killer roasted veggies I’m certainly not sticking the whole page down in my binder.  As far as recipe photos are concerned it’s up to you; I often omit the photos to save space, but leaving them in can help you have an idea of what the finished dish should look like.
• Buy tabs to keep your binders organized and paper protectors to keep the pages safe (this is especially important for the recipe binder!).  I tap or glue my clippings to thick pieces of computer paper and then stick them down inside the page protectors. 
• Be your own editor.  Using the tabs is step one, most books don’t write up chapters and then throw the material into them at random.  My recipe binder tabs read appetizers, salads, soups, entrees, etc… Within those tabs I keep things further organized by grouping chicken dishes together, or grilled dishes together, etc.  Don’t just fill every page, leave space as you go.

The Binder System is a great way to stay organized, and it’s also pretty cathartic to cut and organize the papers.  Remember to have fun with it!