Somewhere in Middle America

archiving magazine articles

0205_magazine-pile

Once upon a time I subscribed to the now-defunct design magazine, Domino. I religiously tore out inspirational pages and glued them into scrapbooks or slid them into clear plastic binder sleeves; I never saved the entire issue. Then I got lazy. I stopped cataloging my favorites and just started stacking past issues on my bookshelves. In retrospect, I’m glad I decided to keep a year’s worth of Domino. It’s fun to flip through them to see what strikes my fancy now.

It’s not practical, however, to keep every single magazine I’ve received, and I receive quite a few of them: Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, Vogue, Glamour, Lucky and Body + Soul. I also buy several on occasion, including Women’s Health and Psychology Today. When an article piques my interest, I end up setting aside the magazine to return to at a later time… which rarely happens. I’m wondering if I should start saving specific articles again, and, if so, how. I could paste them inside a notebook, file them in folders, store them in binders or scan them into the computer, as this post from Unclutterer recommends.

Do you save magazine articles for future reference? If so, what strategies do you employ to keep everything neat and organized?

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purging papers

This afternoon my friend Jamie came over to help me organize my office and hang up some artwork. We spent two hours categorizing a large box of papers and other mementos. For most of the items in the box I was able to find a home, but I still need to come up with an easy and effective way to file important documents, papers and newspaper/magazine articles.

How do you organize your paperwork? Do you use a large filing cabinet, a portable filing box or a multipocket expanding file? Do you keep all of your receipts or just those for large purchases? Please share your organization secrets! I’m desperately trying to get (and stay) organized.

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