Operation Tearsheets

This is what I consider an acceptable amount of magazines to keep. You should've seen this side table 3 weeks ago - the stack was so high that it was constantly tipping over. Now that I think about it, that was the best part about working for Conde Nast - the monthly delivery of a rather heavy mega manila envelope full of magazines.

I came up with a better solution. I now have a routine that I follow:
Flip through the magazine (out of pure excitement) and scan as if I were the Bionic Woman (btw I can't wait to see the new series)

1. Read from front to back, earmark (or use the lovely stickers that now come with LUCKY and DOMINO) everything that I want to keep for future reference. It could be a product, an inspirational room layout or a paint palette. If I'm feeling up to it, I'll kill two birds with one stone and rip out the page as I go along. If I'm really into it, I actually circle or make notes on the page so I don't forget why I earmarked it in the first place. Believe me, I would forget. I always find myself launching a new browser window and then forget where I was headed!
2. If I was too lazy during the editing phase, the 2nd step is to rip out the earmarked pages and put the sheets into my designated tearsheet plastic bin (.99 at the dollar store - I love the Container Store, but sometimes the dollar store will do the trick. See my cute white bin with neon green handles above).
3. (Keep in mind that I haven't actually done this yet) Sort through the bin and separate sheets into categories (e.g., Fashion, Food, Travel etc). You can get creative and use pinking shears to cut out the images. Use a gluestick to paste them on the pages of a notebook. I'm still trying to decide what type of notebooks to use. I just hate spirals but I also don't want to pay a ton for notebooks. I just came up with a great idea. There are about 20 yellow pages in our lobby that have been sitting there for a month. I should pick up 3 and recycle the pages and figure out how to bind it into a notebook. Oh my god a project within a project!!! More on this later. Watch - the yellow pages have been there for a month and now that I want them, they'll be gone. I'm not going to chance it, I'm going downstairs after I publish this post. I think yellow pages paper would be perfect because its thin, might be tricky because of the rubbing ink issue but who cares - recycling is good right?? Anyway, back to the original project - so you basically create a separate book for each category. This way, you keep what you want from the magazines but you don't end up with stacks and stacks of magazines. Now you can find what you need faster, without having to go through a years worth of MARTHA STEWART LIVING!
   

Off to get some Yellow Pages books ...