Ready to start organizing that family room with me? I really want to get to the point where we have a family room that we can be proud of. Do you have your own family room that can use some organization? Are you up for the challenge? I really hope we can share our adventures.
As I mentioned in the previous article, our list for the family room includes the following challenges:
- Books
- Magazines
- Video tapes and DVDs
- Cassettes, CDs and records
- Games
I’ve already tackled the books, so let’s hit the next thing on the list.
Magazines
As for magazines, we have a few attractive magazine holders on our bookshelves to hold reference magazines that we want to keep, such as Consumer Reports and Family Fun. Our other magazines get read and then passed on to friends, donated or recycled. Of course, there is something to be said for not subscribing at all and instead using the library.
I got into the habit of magazines from a very early age. My father would take short trips into Brooklyn, NY at night to pick up the early edition of the paper. I loved riding over with him and looking at all of the glossy, colorful magazines. Inevitably, he would always buy me one or two, which I would read and re-read. Now, as an adult with a family of my own, I still love magazines, but I must face the fact that I don’t have a lot of time to read them.
Here is my solution. We have a small section on the bookshelf (you could also use a basket). When that section is full, no new magazines can be added. We either need to spend some time reading and sorting through magazines that are already on the shelf, or get rid of any new incoming magazines. When you aren’t collecting the magazines haphazardly, and there is limited space, you’ll start to learn how much you really don’t value, read or need certain magazines. I only buy or subscribe to magazines that I love or that definitely help me with home or work. Organizing the the magazine is becoming a habit, and pretty soon, I hope to be sorting through the magazines when my available space is only half full.
Coming soon: We’ll tackle those video tapes and DVDs and all forms of music clutter. Yikes.
Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here.
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