I have about 10 years of Choice magazines taking up considerable space in one of our beside tables.
I have finally decided to do something with all the old choice magazines, with exception to the past 2-3 years where the information should be relatively current and potentially useful.
I am reluctant to throw them into the recycle bin, but may have to if I can’t find a good home for them.
Just wondering if anyone has any ideas?
I also live in Brisbane is anyone wants them (in good condition and 2006 to 2014 are available).
I have them dating back to around 1985 and I keep them in our ‘library’ in the correct Choice folders cataloged by year. As I haven’t moved house for over 30 years I see no need to do anything other than leave them on the shelf.
We don’t have Choice magazines, but we do have National Geographic magazines and many much-loved novels, both soft and hard covered fiction books. To my surprise, Public Libraries are not allowed to take good condition books as these freebies interfere with their supplier contracts. Sitting at our local GP’s office the other day and saw a gentleman come in to try and give the clinic some pre-loved magazines and he was rather huffy that he was turned away magazines in hand. My mother has many quality-conditioned novels which I guess are going to go into our Council Recycling Waste bin. I think I’ll have to tell an untruth to her to get them out her door, though. Even the secondhand bookstores don’t take them. I will have to check with our local hospital. Fingers crossed.
I give my old magazines i.e. Time, National Geographic and Choice to my nearest Lifeline store. They have always accepted them and I know that folk who possibly cannot afford to buy have the opportunity to read, learn and enjoy!
Try your local Senior Citizens Clubs . They usually take books . I used to phone publishers of puzzle books , cross word magazines etc and get them to send me their returns from the News Agents . They always obliged and I would drop the mags off to the Elderly Citz Clubs .
Have just thrown out about 6 years, keeping 2016 to current. Decided it is much easier and more current to get info online, and I’ve found Choice’s ‘compare’ option really useful.
What a good question. I see it has invoked many answers with worthwhile suggestions. So what do I do with my collection dating back 35 plus year?. Probably not going to become collectors’ items. Information is now outdated as another respondent wrote. Interesting though on occasion to look back at prices and styles, or show Grandchildren perhaps the only reasons for keeping.
Please don’t throw them away they honestly can find new homes! I pay forward a years worth of magazines at a time through one of my local Pay-It-Forward groups and they often use them for high schools or community groups. There are so many organisations who would be champing at the bit for some of the collections noted above who have 10+ years worth!!!
So my advice:
Pay-It-Forward groups
Retirement Homes
Schools
Community groups
Might I suggest scanning the articles you do want to save, and then recycling the mag? (Don’t forget to back-up your data periodically (pun not intended!)
I had 20 years of 2 computer magazines when I lived on 40 acres. I used them under my fruit trees and then racked up the bark and leaves around native trees and put this on top of the magazines. After 12 months the magazines had disappeared.
Choice used to have an online archive that, as a member, one could access - does this still exist? I have used it in the past: saved having piles of magazines gathering dust.
I still have 34 years of computer magazines, mainly my computer club (AUSOM Inc) ones as I have recycled most of the commercial ones. I have decided to keep those with my own articles, stories, photos, etc in and recycle the others. Now, which issues have my articles in?
Good attempt at an unintended pun Mark, but you really need to be more obvious. Anyway, I applaud your effort. I would suggest that ‘no News is good news’. My two puns worth!
Yes they were glossy paper and I also do the same trick when my library went under water in a flood. It got 3 drawers of a 4 door filing cabinet and 400 books these were also put around my fruit trees and turned into carbon in the soil. I just opened the books out and placed the on the ground, no sign of them now.