One thing I have noticed as a professional organizer of homes and offices is that most people hold onto magazines and catalogs way after they have 'expired'; which creates clutter. It seems today everything has an expiration date, from food, medicines, children's car seats, batteries to parts in cars.

Expired magazines or catalogs are the ones that have been around for so long the articles are out of date, you didn't even know you still had them so weren't missing them and new catalogs have replaced the old ones. If you have received a new catalog and haven't tossed the old ones, do it before the day is over.

Here are a few suggestions for eliminating this problem. Keep catalogs separate from magazines. When a new catalog for a specific company comes, toss the old on into the recycle bin. I know some people who only look at catalogs on line-on the internet. I say good for them. I am the kind that likes to sit and look at a catalog in my hand and earmark the pages I think has something I want to buy. When I look back later I often think, "Why on earth did I think I wanted that?" Do you do this too?

Regarding magazines: only subscribe to those you honestly read, be tough and honest with yourself. Often our eyes are bigger than the time we have for all the things we think we will read. If you have craft or hobby magazines that have a project you think you will make someday here is a suggestion: Photocopy the front page and the table of contents. Put these in a plastic sleeve and place in a three ring binder. Then you can store the magazine in a magazine organizer somewhere less prominent than on your bookcase. You will have the magazine for future reference without cluttering your space. Organize by the name of the magazine and the year.

If you keep your magazines in a basket or on a table they need to be 'weeded' out regularly. If you haven't read an article 'you just knew you would read', but haven't found the time; then rip it out and put it where you usually read or sit down right then and take five minutes to read it. Or just recycle the magazine then and there. No matter how good our intentions are sometimes we just have to let it go. Remember all those articles are probably on the internet. This will eliminate a lot of clutter and guilt feelings while you are at it.

Another thing you can do with magazines is to repurpose them. Give to a clinic or hospital waiting room or women shelters. Just remember to cut off your personal identification. My daughter loves The New Yorker magazine and saved them for years because she liked the covers. She decided to repurpose them by using the front cover and covered suitcases with them using modge podge. They are now end tables and great conversation pieces. Another person took the covers and wallpapered her bathroom walls with the interesting covers.