I thought I’d share a quick tip with you that will help you to keep your organised space…well, organised.
Boundaries.
For me, this is one of the best ways to keep things under control.
I have one lever arch file folder for my household filing (phone, bond, water and electricity, insurance, credit card, etc.).
When things get too much, I need to declutter as I’m not prepared to create any more space than just that one file.
As for magazines, this is the container I use.
I allow myself just this one basket for any reading material. Ignore the tangled phone extension cord.
If this basket ever becomes too full, I have to go through and declutter it.
Two questions for you:
Do you have organising boundaries like these in your home?
How many magazines do you allow to flow in before they have to flow out?
This is just a sample of the tips you’ll receive on the virtual Spring into Organising workshop.
What a great idea! Putting limits on things is a great way of making sure it doesn’t overspill anywhere. I’m definitely going to put this into action!
I love the physical boundaries for organizing. When my to file folder gets full, I need to file. I have an inbox that is one file tray and it’s in a cubby so I can’t ignore it when it gets high. So even if I can’t get to it daily, I am reminded once a week that it needs to be gone through. If the books don’t fit in the bookshelf it’s time to declutter those. A lot of people just try to get bigger organizing equipment instead of culling. Hope that workshop goes fantastically!
My problems with magazines are that I have hundreds of cross stitch magazines and about 40 card making magazines, but I refer back to them often! I have patterns in the cross stitch magazines which I intend using one day, and whenever I need inspiration to make a card, I go through my card making magazines, so I cant bear to part with them!!! However, I have now stopped buying cross stitch magazines, if that helps?
Claire, then it’s not clutter because you are using them 🙂
Exactly the same thing I wanted to ask, because I keep all the “Go” magazines for information on trips we want to take, as well as my Gardening magazines, which I often refer back to. It is a relief to hear that they do not need to go, Marcia!
Otherwise I think your tip makes so much sense, and I will keep that at the back of my mind EVERY time I have to decide on another magazine I want to buy. Way back, when money was tight, I always borrowed magazines from the library, so I can just go back to that routine (and save some money too) 🙂
I keep magazines in a cupboard in my bathroom (love reading them in the bath) and as soon as the shelf is half-full I start to toss. Works for me.
wow…this is a sure way to overcome magazine clutter.At our home we have a similar system,but use a drawer for storing all the magazines and clean it monthly,before putting anything new.Mostly mom and me subscribe to magazines.So in the last week of every month we sit together and declutter the drawer while watching movie.Its our monthly ritual which i love so much as it enable mom and me to spend time together doing something productive .
physical boundaries are a great way to remind yourself that you need to declutter. I know I need them anyway! LOL I don’t read many magazines, but I use the same system for many different things in my house: “to file” box (about 5 cm high), shoes, clothes, etc. With a boyfriend who is a woodcrafter, getting bigger furniture would be really easy, but it’s easier (and healthier) to declutter!
Magazine boundaries I don’t have because of how all my magazines is about health and fitness. The reason being that I use them over and over again for advice and guidelines. Also for references to my exercise routines. So they don’t get sorted at all.
I have boundaries where I don’t collect all the plastic containers food come in with like margarine tubs. When I see I have too many, I get rid of the old ones and replace them with new ones.
I have to say that magazines are a problem for me…. I save them and save them…. many I do and will use again, crochet and cooking.. but still WAY too many… and then I cut things out and don’t look at them again!!!! I do share magazines with a daughter in love so that she can glean what she wants and then toss them… but last night, I looked at a pile of clippings that i cut months ago…. had not sorted thru, etc… I decided that they had been sitting there long enough… I wouldn’t miss what I didn’t remember I had, so in the circular file they went! But I do need to create boundaries with magazines.! Good idea here. I have a couple of baskets that will work for this. 😉