Confession: I have a bit of a magazine problem. I just kind of love them . . . and subscribe to a lot of them. This obsession has a bit of a downfall -- as in, piles of magazines, everywhere. Even when I try to corral them in magazine racks, they still manage to escape, piling themselves on the coffee table, on the side table, and on my bedside table. (Hmm . . . maybe it's me that scatters them about.) For the most part, I keep the magazines around because there's something in them that I want to clip out and save for later use. This is particularly the case for Food & Wine, Sunset, Everyday Food, and Real Simple magazine recipes. About a month or so ago I finally sucked it up and set to organizing the unwieldy stack of magazines.
I decided the best way to organize my magazine clippings was to pick up a big ol' binder (the large "economy" size) and a couple packages of clear plastic page protectors.
Though I considered for a second to use an x-acto knife or similar to cut pages out of each magazine cleanly, in the end I decided to just (carefully) rip out the pages. If the torn edge was a total mess, I used my desktop paper cutter to clean the edges up. Real Simple happens to be a larger format and thus the pages didn't fit into the page protectors, for those pages I used my paper cutter to significantly cut down the size of the pages.
Another bonus of using the page protectors is that they come in quite handy when you're a messy cook and happen to spill things all over the recipe page when cooking -- a quick wipe with a damp cloth, and the recipe page is good as new!
Admittedly, my binder organization is still a bit of a work-in-progress. Though I've put all the recipes into the binder, the step I have yet to do is to further organize the pages--most likely by either type of recipe (appetizer, dinner, etc.) or by major ingredient. But, the hard part is done, and now my old magazines are in the utility closet, waiting for a trip to the local recycling center.
P.S., Today is the last day to vote for my Project Food Blog, Challenge #2 entry. You can vote for me here. Thanks!
I have a recipe binder I keep clipped recipes in as well - but I have sheet protectors for a group of recipes - your way is tons better! I was sad to learn you didn't advance in Project Food Blog. I was hoping to see you in the future challenges!
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