What Do You Do with Your Old Magazines? Cleaning House Today

For family-friendly magizines preschools and daycare centers like them for art projects. The others, especially if out of date, I usually put in the recycling bin. The childcare at my YMCA likes the family friendly magazines. If adult magazines are still up to date, I rip off my name and address and put them in the magazine rack in the fitness center, also at the Y.

.

Ask local schools if they want them. My district will take old magazines provided they are kid friendly so teachers/students can use them to cut up. Magazines I've donated the school has taken are:

Parents
Parenting
Fitness
Better Homes & Gardens
Recipe booklets that have pictures

Hi A.-

I take them to a nursing home...(as long as it's nothing 'racy' lol)

Best Luck!
michele/cat

I freecycle them or give them to a friend for a group home. My husband reminds me to take our address label off before giving them away.

Alot of times I take them to our office and put them in the breakroom for people to read during lunch/breaks. Ones that are tattered go in the recycle bin.

try anysoldier.com. You can search for what different units are in need of. When we have a pile of mags, we find a unit that wants them, get the addresss from the site, fill the box with other treats or soap or whatever, and off they go in a carepackage for our troops. you can get flat rate mailing boxes at the PO. Just send mags that have staying power (no 4 year old people mags.) and are of wide interest. You can even find out if the unit has men or women or both, and pick what you need.

Do you have a local senior center?

Depending on the content, elementary school teachers like old magazines for collages and other art projects. Just make sure there aren't any racy (by kid standards) pics or articles.

I either put them on the curb with a free sign, or take them to the local library, they have shelves that people leave magazines and you can take them if you want.

Our library has a basket in the lobby where people can put old magazines and others are welcome to take them. If your library doesn't have one why not suggest it?

your children's class/schools, tearchers can use them for kids activities and class plan.

Our library puts out a "free magazines" display with any that they don't need to keep. Any day care, Scout groups, crafty moms or just people who want to read can come and take home as many as they like. We donate all our old magazines there.

I agree to call the school. My mom once decided to do a major clean, and took all her old National Geographics to their local recyling center. One of her best friends was later telling her a story about the day she was at the recyling center and crawled INTO THE DUMPSTER to retrieve the treasure trove of National Geographics in there... she works at the school and couldn't believe someone would recyle (literally) 25 years worth of such great magazines. My mom was horrified that she had done it without thinking.

Schools (especially elementary) are always looking for good magazines for projects.

Jessica

I just throw them in the recycle bin. So many of the articles are out of date anway.

I didn't see that anyone said doctor and dentist offices. Ours takes them, even if they are a few years old because their patients steal theirs all the time and its costly to replace them with new ones! =)

I post mine on Freecycle, and they are usually gone within hours.

meals for elderly(meals on wheels) MIGHT give them out to clients.

Most of the time, I just pitch them. I know you can donate them to the library and get a tax deduction. I have done that in the past.

I recycle them. I think doctor's offices may take them or we have bins around town that give them to children's centers.

I second Sunny's answer.

Other options would be hospitals, veterans centers, senior citizens centers.