4M - Margarita's Manic Monday Minutes - Magazines

I have to admit it, I love getting magazines in the mail. I only subscribe to two publications and I use them for 'work' purposes...o.k...I also like the lovely pictures. I like to have magazines around for a quick break, to get inspired or to decorate a space.

As a professional organizer, I always get the same question: what do I do with all my magazines? There are a few things to consider: (1) are they a quick read - current events (People or Time) (2) are they informative (The Economist, a professional publication); (3) are they eye-candy (House Beautiful, Architectural Digest); (4) are they informative (Real Simple, Parent)?

Some good questions to ask are: do you need to keep them or do you want to keep them? and; are they available on-line?

If you need to keep them, then use a magazine holder to keep current (within a year) issues. I

like an acrylic holder that you can purchase at Solutions - the Organized Living store. It is clean and holds a lot of issues. It is sleek, modern and can be decorative without having to stick to a particular 'colour pallet'.

If you don't want to keep the whole publication but want to refer back to an article, tear it out and place it in a plastic folder. Why, you ask? Because you can then keep the folder in your car. So, when you have a few minutes of down time (waiting for the soccer practice to finish, waiting in a doctor/dentist's office, waiting for your husband's train to pull in), you will read what you want to read and not just the emails on your

Blackberry.

My favourite plastic envelopes are these Globe-Weis ones that you can find at Staples. They are large, see-through and you can zip them up so all the articles don't fall out.

The last thing that you can do with magazines is to recycle them. Always the best alternative. So either put them out on the curb or share them with friends and family. You can trade publications. My mom gets Style at Home and I get Canadian House and Home. After we are done, we switch. So we get two publications for the price of one! Happy Reading!