Managing Magazines and Catalogs

In many of the classes I teach, people ask me what to do with all their magazines. Magazines and catalogs have a tendency to multiply and pile up in people’s homes. In order to manage them before they before they become a problem, consider the following:

1. Reduce what comes into your home. If you don’t want a catalog, ask that your name be removed from the subscription list.
2. If you get magazine subscriptions for birthday, anniversary or holiday gifts and you don’t want them anymore, suggest to the giver that you do something else to celebrate the occasion.
3. Decide where you are going to keep magazines once they come in. Put them where you are likely to read them, whether that is in the bedroom, living room or bathroom.
4. Decide how long you are going to keep magazines, whether you have read them or not. I suggest getting rid of the previous issue when the current one comes in. If that doesn’t work for you, choose whether you are going to keep issues for two or three months and stick to it. If you can't stand to throw out magazines, consider taking them to a school, hospital or doctor's office.
5. Don’t keep catalogs around. There’s always another one coming and they tempt you to spend money on things you may not need. If you feel that you must keep a particular catalog, toss out what you have when a new one comes in.

View a short video, featuring Peter Walsh, that displays these principles:
http://www.oprah.com/experts/experts_player.jhtml?video=452&category=49
Click on Manage Your Magazines in Three Easy Steps

Organized by Marcie: Getting you organized so you have time to do what you love to do!