Magazine Organization

One of my favorite freebies to search for online is free magazine subscriptions. Maybe it's because I love to receive mail. Maybe it's because I love to search for ideas. Maybe it's because it's a freebie that usually lasts for a year or more. Or maybe it's because there are often coupons tucked away inside the free magazines. A few years ago, I scored a free 3 year subscription to Family Fun. It's a great magazine full of creative crafts, recipes and activities. Although it is focused towards children, I have found great art ideas, creative gifts and delicious recipes. I rarely hang onto the magazines for very long, but this one is a publication I often refer back to. When I started organizing the basement, I realized that these magazines were taking up quite a chunk of space on my bookshelf. I decided to combine the magazines into a convenient 3 ring notebook. I already had the supplies on hand.

Large 3 ring notebook
Scissors
Page protectors
Card stock
3 hole punch
"Tab" punch

First, I organized my magazines by month.

I then cut the binding off each issue and removed any pages that I didn't care to keep. For example, if there was an advertisement on both sides of the page, I didn't need to keep that.

After punching 3 holes in each page, I was ready to assemble my notebook.

Since I worked through my share of Women's Ministry classes in college, making page dividers was a breeze.  Colored card stock in regular page protectors create a quick divider for each month.

After printing the month's text onto plain graph paper, I glued these to the card stock.

Many years ago, I purchased a "tab" punch from Stampin' Up. Gluing this to the page protector turns these simple supplies onto beautiful dividers.

I've already started sticking post-it notes on the pages of activities that I want to implement.

How do you organize your magazines?