Save Money and Space by Reusing Magazines

We've all got a stack (or ten) of glossy magazines piled up somewhere in our homes. Maybe you held on to magazines in preparation for a new baby or home redecorating, and just never got rid of them. When I was engaged a few years back, I stockpiled not only bridal magazines but also big glossy catalogs for invitations, favors and just about any other wedding accessory you can think of. 3 years later I still had most of them in boxes and milk crates in my basement, completely useless and taking up space.

The thing about magazines is that they tend to attract more magazines - and before you know it, you've got a hoard of them gathering dust because they're too heavy to get rid of all at once. Taking a trip to the recycling center with 150 pounds of shiny paper in your backseat isn't exactly appealing, but you don't want to leave them all on the curb either. Why not get creative (and green) to pare down your stacks of magazines? With these tips, you'll declutter, save money, and make those old magazines useful all over again.

One potential place use your old periodicals is in your closet. When rolled up, they can be used to help tall boots stay up and retain their shape. Individual pages or small sections of magazines can also be removed and crumpled into a ball, then shoved into the toe of other shoes to help maintain shape. This is similar to when you purchase new shoes (dress styles especially), they often come with thick paper crumpled into the toe.

Use magazines as inspiration. If most of your magazines are fashion-related, start a "style file" where you can place photos of styles and colors that you like. This can help you cultivate your personal style, or get a feel for how certain items might look together. If you're into home design, save your clippings as an "idea board" for your next project. Cooking magazines? Start a recipe box. Clip out motivational photos, phrases or words to tack up on a bulletin board or magnet to the refrigerator. You can also tear out useful articles you think you might want to refer to in the future, rather than hanging on to a 300-page magazine for a 2-page article. These clippings can be stored anywhere you like - such as an accordion file or photo box.

Magazines can also be used in home décor. Full-page advertisements or photos accompanying articles are essentially free art. You can frame single pages - alone or matted - or create a custom collage from your clippings. Pages can also make unique wipe-clean place mats. Measure a piece of cardboard or poster board to fit your magazine page (or slightly larger if you want a contrasting border), then have it laminated at an office supply store. This can be an especially nice use for vintage magazines, since you can serve meals on kitschy old advertisements.

If you're crafty, your magazines may wind up with even more uses - being used as clip art for handmade greeting cards, decoupage projects, colorful origami, scrapbooks and lots of other crafts involving paper. Pages are also a great way to wrap small gifts such as jewelry boxes or DVDs, creating an interesting-looking package. For bigger gifts, you can tape multiple pages together on the underside - creating a custom patchwork look.

Once you've gone through your magazines and ripped out anything you may want to use, you'll probably have a lot of leftover scraps. These will probably be much more manageable for recycling or garbage purposes than originally, so you should have an easier time disposing of them. Before you do, consider reusing the scraps. This will completely "use up" your stockpile, without you having to throw away anything.

If you're planning a party, why not make confetti out of old paper? Glossy magazine sheets make great confetti since they're so colorful and won't stick to everything like normal paper does. Grab a large bowl or plastic bag and a pair of scissors. Cut your page(s) into long, thin strips - usually about 8 per page. Then stack the strips on top of each other, cutting into squares as small as desired right into your bowl or bag (to keep them from flying everywhere). You could also use a paper shredder, but this doesn't take very long to do by hand and you'll avoid using unneeded electricity. Keep a big bag tucked away if you entertain often, especially for children's parties. Small favor bags of confetti can also be given out at the door when hosting a party for New Year's Eve.

Confetti is a great use for smaller scraps you have remaining, but you can make a second use out of full pages and magazine covers. Cut into thinner strips (10 or more per page) and set aside for gift bag and box filling. Not only is it colorful, free and green, you'll also save money you might otherwise spend on decorative tissue paper. You could also use a paper shredder for this, but there's really no need. If you ship things often, you can also save pages to bunch up in your packages instead of using old newspaper or packing peanuts.

Hope you've enjoyed these tips - with a little time and creativity, you can chip away at your magazine stockpile in no time!