Drowning in magazines !!!

Happy Wednesday Blogland Neighborhood! Here at MBIAJ Headquarters we are trying to sift through/ sort out/ weed out / and throw out/recycle some of the gazillions of magazines that seem to multiply by the thousands when we're not looking . How did we end up with so many? Well, actually we know .... those sly magazines lure you in with their pretty covers (they had us with "hello") .... then they seal the deal with all the wonderful things between their covers ....and before you know it you're needing to reinforce the floors of your house due to the extra weight of all those magazines! So, to avoid that costly little renovation, we're forced to spend time (and lots of it) slogging through all of those magazines.... and you know you're gonna get completely distracted by all the pretty stuff in there that you forgot was in there because it's been such a long time since you looked through those magazines because you have so many other magazines to look through .... and they keep coming in the mail , or you keep buying them at the store .... and now , of course, some of the very favorite magazines are gone .... Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion & Country Home, for example ... so you definately hate to part with those ......but, really something has to give ......because there are magazines .....


....on the red bench in the kitchen and....

...in this basket in the living room and....

....here are gardening magazines overflowing in this basket in the kitchen and...


....cooking magazines in this basket by the door and...


...this basket of magazines in my sewing room that I've already gone through and want to keep and...

.....these 2 overflowing baskets of magazines (also in my sewing room) that I want to keep ....






So, once again, the "De Cluttering Dept" here at MBIAJ finds itself submerged in magazines and the tediously slow process of going through each one (because we already don't waste enough time piddling around on Facebook , etc...) Anyhow, this is our current system of magazine de cluttering .....



....we get our handy dandy stapler, post it notes and a pen.....and we follow this little rule as we page through a magazine ..... if there are 3 or more projects or articles or whatever in there that we LOVE and want to keep, we mark each one with a labeled post it note and keep that magazine. If there are only 1 or 2 projects, or articles or whatever in the magazine, we tear out those pages and staple them together , then that magazine gets the ol' heave ho. Now don't ask where those torn out pages will be going other than in some sort of a folder that will be stored somewhere (and we'll probably forget where we put it)...

Anyhow, as for the magazines that haven't made the cut and are getting the boot out the door .... DON'T throw them in the trash!!! Drag them out to your car (where they'll probably stay for at least 6 months til you remember to stop at the recycling center to toss them in the magazine bin) OR take them to a nursing home. I sometimes take a bunch of magazines to the nursing home where I used to work and I give them to the Activities Director. She uses the craft magazines for ideas for the residents' activities or for them just to look through. And don't forget about the men that live there .... drop off hunting and fishing magazines and Sports Illustrated (especially the swim suit issue ..... I'm pretty sure Playboy would be frowned upon, but give those guys a little eye candy .... after all, what is it they say is the last thing to go ? I'm pretty sure it's not memory!)

OK ...back to the magazine pile (you realize of course, that stopping to blog was just another procrastination tactic!)

Be back soon!
Toodles,
Mary Anne (aka Mare)