Recycle Magazines: 5 Thrifty Tips for Recycling Magazines
Here are my Top 5 Thrifty Tips for Recycling Magazines! We share dozens of free subscriptions here on Gimmie, and receiving all those free magazines can be overwhelming. So many magazines can lead to some serious clutter!
Want free magazines? Check out our Freebies > Magazines category and get yours!
When I’m done enjoying my free magazines – every 6 months or so – I give away a HUGE box of magazines to declutter. Then, I start my collection all over again. 🙂 There are lots of ways to repurpose magazines and reuse them. You can upcycle into really cute magazine crafts or simply share with others who might like to read them!
Here are my Top 5 Thrifty Ways to Recycle Magazines:
- Arts & Crafts – use pictures cut from magazines to make children’s crafts, homework projects, or design a your own artwork. You can also use pictures, words and clips to scrapbook. Be sure to check out our Recycled Magazine Craft ideas pinboard on Pinterest!
- Give – to friends or family, or on Freecycle or Craigslist, or drop off at a local establishment such as those listed below. Be sure to remove address labels before giving to people you don’t know. Donate – to charity and get a tax write-off!
- Sell – set up a newsstand at your next yard sale or garage sale and sell your magazines! You can sell them for however much you want; I’ve seen them for 25¢ each or choose 5 for $1. Or, you could bundle a whole year and sell it for $2-$3 or so. It helps to show buyers the cover price for contrast, so they see the value they’re getting! For example, if you have a year of ESPN you’re selling for $3, but the cover price is $150 – that’s a savings your buyer will want to know! Sure, they’re not current, but the stories are still fun to read and for magazines that include craft ideas or recipes – that stuff never gets old. And as long as the magazines are in relatively good condition, they don’t really wear out!
- Filler – shred and use in place of packing peanuts, popcorn or bubble wrap for shipping or packing.
- Recycle bin – If all else fails, be sure to recycle your magazines! If you have newspapers or non-color, non-glossy magazines you can even compost them.
More ideas for where to recycle magazines when you’re done enjoying them:
- doctor and dentist waiting rooms
- retirement homes and rest homes for the elderly
- animal shelters may be able to recycle the paper for cage bedding
- women or homeless shelters love additions to their libraries
- teen counseling and family planning clinics would love parenting magazines
- banking and small business development centers would love money and business magazines
- restaurants and cooking schools would love food-themed magazines
- home design centers and furniture stores would love housekeeping magazines
- car dealers and repair shops would love auto-themed mags
- beauty salons and barbershops would love fashion and hair mags
- classrooms, libraries, hospitals and clinics would love just about any reading material
- It’s always a good idea to ask before you start dumping magazines all over the place, and make sure to remove your address label from the magazines before you drop them off.
Check out our Recycled Magazine Craft ideas pinboard on Pinterest!
We’ve shared a few here, but check out all the neat ideas on our Recycled Magazine Craft ideas pinboard.
Recyled Magazine Stool Recycled Magazine Coaster Recycled Magazine Gift Bags