Old/Used Magazines - repurpose, recycle, donate or other?

[Curious]

Apologies if this thread already exists, but what are you all doing with your old/used magazines?

I find I have trouble letting them go because someone (likely many of you!) worked very hard on those images/stories. I've an excess collection I need to do something with. What do you do with them? Do you donate, repurpose, just recycle or other?

 

[Thefrenchy]

^ It depends of what kind of magazines they are, but if they are somehow prestigious (i.e: not Glamour and the likes) I just can't get rid of them I keep mine on shelves and just can't stand the idea of getting rid of them or even tear up some pages. I'm planning to move to London next year and I'm already trying to persuade my parents to keep them for me as I do not want to throw them away but at the same time can't travel around with luggages full of magazines

If unlike me, you're not OCD with your magazines you could just tear up your favorite pages. Donating them to a fashion school could also be a solution. Or you could do what Mademoiselle Agnes did and make a coffee table with them

 

[Melancholybaby]

^The Bumble & Bumble salon must have followed Mademoiselle Agnes' suggestion, since they have (a way more practical) side table made out of W magazines.


instagram/wmagazine


And just like Therenchy I can't even stand the idea of tearing apart my magazines or throwing them away, although I had to get rid of some supplements from Vogue Italia to clean up some space. You could donate yours to a fashion school or you could sell them on eBay, to get something back from all the money you've spent on them.

 

[Chanelcouture09]

^That's what I'm having to do, I have so many stacked up, in boxes and some are even in storage that I'm having to sell them on eBay, granted I am taking my time to sell them but I intend to keep my favourites all in one place in bookshelves I've bought, but it's incredibly time consuming doing the eBay route.

Mademoiselle Agnés idea was genius, the bumble & bumble table is incredibly chic, too.

 

[Srdjan]

I only keep magazine covers which I carefully remove from the magazine (first with the magazine spine and the first two pages which are sticked to the cover itself; after that I carefully cut of the spine and slowly tear of the pages but keeping the line where it was sticked to the cover)...Finally, I store my covers in 3-hole binders. And that's it - I recycle the rest of the magazine.

I really have no interest in keeping whole magazines, the covers are what I'm interested at. Plus, I've seen huge magazine collections of some people here on TFS, no offense - but it looks hoarder like. It kinda reminds me of those cat-collector ladies. Not to mention the problems with maybe moving to another place or something like that.

 

[Deleted member 1957]

i once had 2 suitcases o magazines and moving was quite an issue, seems am almost getting there again

 

[honeycombchild]

My bedroom in my family home is filled with magazines from when I was a teenager, under the bed, stacked on the floor, on shelves, in the wardrobe... My grandma's house also has a spare bedroom filled with stacks of my magazines from my late teenage years and my own flat has bookcases filled with ones that have come from my twenties.

And that's after having magazine 'culls' over the years. I stopped buying US Bazaar and so recycled most of that collection, I got rid of a lot of US Elle also after I stopped purchasing that. Can't say it made any dent on the volume of magazines though! Ha.

 

[ash92]

Maybe it's just me, but I find that the best way to solve this problem, of which I am definately a part of, is to just go cold turkey and not buy the magazines. It hurts at first but I got used to it. I used to lug magazines from the bookstore every single month. Multiple editions of Vogue, Bazaar, Numero, those bi-annual issues it became such an addiction and I forced myself to quit cold turkey.

But I found a way to still read the magazines. I sent in a suggestion to my local library to stock up on US Bazaar and US Vogue and Aus Vogue and because I think I'm the only one who cares about them, they're usually crisp and brand new for me when I go to the library at the start of each month. Another library about 20 mins from my place stocks up on British Vogue, Vogue China and Vogue Taiwan.

 

[vogue28]

I could never never ever recycle a magazine. They're far too good to just.. discard (regardless of recycling being a good thing for environment). I'd much rather list them on eBay, or donate them to a local class or school.

I have recently parted with a large amount of magazines on eBay, with most of them going to same person, which made parting with them so much easier, just knowing they were going to the same home. It sounds ridiculous and I didn't want the magazines but I still enjoyed having them. Although after they were eventually boxed up and ready to be shipped, I felt a massive sigh of relief. I often used to pick up about 15+ copies of H&M's magazine, until I realised how much space they actually took up. So I donated most of them to a local textiles course, where they were very much appreciated - which also felt good to do.

 

[bun-bun]

I'd much rather list them on eBay

This. I know it's such a hassle to list on ebay, but sometimes that's the only way for others to find older magazines and your pros are that you get some of your money back and you know they're going to someone that really wants them since they're willing to pay for them.

Question that may be related to this topic, whatever happened to that sell/exchange magazine thread we had going right here on this forum? It was such a great idea, I know I exchanged/got rid of a few of my magazines that way and it worked out great.

 

[VogueDisciple93]

I would be happy to relieve you of any unwanted issues

 

[Deleted member 1957]

i should donate to a fashion school one of these days

 

[AD011620]

I thought about donating as well but I can't help buying stuff with my fav models especially Helena... After moving to London space has really become an issue... I am tempted to say that I would gladly accept everything with Helena Christensen but have to think twice in case this is something I already have:-) tragic!:-)))

 

[AD011620]

I also put some of them on bookshelves in my lounge and it looks quite cool... in a sort of disorganised order:-)))

 

[MissMagAddict]

I donated all of my Vogues to a fashion school in 2007 I think it was. Then before I moved to the wilderness for good I donated everything else. Now I only have a few subscriptions and order the rest online. I am very selective about what I buy and keep as I no longer have room to store much. I just pass them along to someone else. Considering how fanatical I used to be about saving everything this was a big change for me and now I would most likely save a cooking magazine before Vogue.

 

[gossiping]

there is a website (for only people in the uk) who you can sell back issues of some magazines to...might be magazine subscriptions or magazine group something like that?

i thought about it but it's too much hassle though i have so many issues of elle and vogue uk from years and years ughh now i only buy "good" magazines like the more expensive ones and vogue japan

 

[hfgl]

the best, best thing to do is to send them all to me. All.

 

[GivenchyHomme]

Occasionally I'll shell out for some issues if their good but for the time being I've started to transition to digital.

 

[Deleted member 116957]

Does anybody have any advice for selling "older" (like they're not vintage classics or anything) magazines on ebay? I'm just realizing how many magazines I've accumulated over the years and, ugh, I think it's time to get rid of probably 75% of them. How exactly does eBay work for this stuff? (you can just send me a PM if it's easier to explain) I need to get cracking on this.