Distribution and donation of how-to magazines, reference magazines, craft and other magazines, as part of downsizing and house clean-out.

ITRR, you just gave me a new idea:  I used to teach quilting at night school; it might be a basis for launching a quilting program at AL or rehab.   The quilts would be simplified with a lot less stitching though.

Some of my students shared how relaxed they felt while quilting.  I guess I did too but never realized it.   AL or rehab quilting might help with anxiety, as people focus on stitching and what they're creating.

The only shelters of which I'm aware are Grace Center of Hope and a Veteran's shelter which used to collect clothes and furniture, but dropped that program and focused more on shelter and rehab.    Paralyzed Vets was one organization on my list to contact, along with Wounded Warriors (although I don't think they have a donation program).

I appreciate your insights on helping others, very much so.


JoAnn, how interesting! I also used to get Annie's Attic patterns!  Day care and scouting are good suggestions.

I think this is going to be a bigger project that I anticipated.

MidKid, I think I forgot to thank you for sharing your insights.   And BTW, I was considering giving some of the woodworking magazines to Dad's LDS friends as I know a few who also did woodworking.

And if I missed anyone else, thank you for your participation and suggestions as well.

GA, I do all kinds of quilts.

Usually whatever patterns I can get my hands on.

I think this year and next I am going to make throw size quilts and donate them to CPS/DCS to give to the children being removed from their parents. I even thought about making them with pockets to store what little they are allowed to grab when the removal happens.

I don't focus on one type, I enjoy changing it up and creating something different each time.

Your family sounds like you all were very clever and crafty. What fun.

I would speak with the director at the shelters that help get people back to life. Quilting would be a great resource to use the unusable clothing that gets donated, it can provide bedding for the shelter itself or it can make money by selling them at farmer's markets.

Your thoughtfullness will make a huge impact for people, I just want you to know that. These resources are not available to everyone and they can be expensive when they are. Well done!

Hi gloss or 4 color should not be composted. The chemicals can be dangerous.

This is probably a ridiculous question, can you compost magazines?

I agree, hard to get rid of magazines. I know, your craft ones are not cheap. Years ago I belonged to a Yahoo crochet group. I collected Annie's attic. I sold all of my collection to a fellow member. She was able to pick them up so I cut down the price.

Facebook has groups. Maybe you can find a group and ask if anyone wants them and just charge to mail them. There maybe a Free cycling group.

Try a Daycare for things kids maybe able to do. Maybe even Boy and Girl Scouts.

I was curious about a couple of 'side tables' with doors that mother had in her very cluttered apartment. I asked her what was in them and she hemmed and hawed, so I opened one. Out slid a couple hundred magazines & catalogs. Some were as old as her apartment (23 years). Why she kept TV guides from 2002 is beyond me. She fussed at me and told me to put it all back but I didn't. I asked her what in the world she was planning on using them for and she stated they'd only been there a 'couple of weeks'. No, some were 22 years old. I grabbed a big plastic bag and they all got hauled to recycling. She was SO MAD. I didn't handle it very kindly, but she had been complaining about the lack of storage in her apt. 90% of her storage is storing junk.

The 2nd 'cabinet' was holding ancient Tupperware. It gets all weird and sticky over the years and there was not a 'set' among all the pieces. I left that, as she was so mad at me I knew I'd crossed a line. One day I will go up and empty that cabinet. She'll never miss it and she'll have a little more room. It's really a lost cause.

I tend to go with recycling rather than donating. Mom gets 2-3 catalogs PER DAY and never throws them out. You cannot keep up. Every corner of every table is piled with magazines and catalogs and mail order books she can't read. When those get bumped, they slide to the ground causing a falling hazard--but nobody really cleans for her, so it just is what it is.

Yes--I've cancelled quite a few of her catalogs, but I can't stop her from buying more magazines at the grocery store or ordering them on the phone.

GardenArtist, sadly magazines are going the way of the dinosaur. Any magazine type material we get, such as AARP, will eventually see itself in the recycling bin after reading. How I remember when grocery stores and drug stores had an aisle for magazines. Not any more.

Oh how I hated to bag up my Dad's old books and put them in the trash. No one would want them. One book was c1895 but it was crumbling. Collectors want mint condition. As a child I use to scribble in books with a pencil. Wish my parents would have caught me doing it before I ruined a lot of books :P

My primary doctor stopped offering magazines couple years ago when it was noted that germs can transfer from one patient to another. YIKES !! Same with the hospital, no more accepting donations of magazines/books. Gone are the days of the Candy Striper taking a cart of reading material from one patient room to another.

Just recycle, it's the quickest thing to do.

GardenArtist, our senior center, too, is open but with guide lines as you mentioned. We have not gone back although we did enjoy stopping by for lunch at times.

Take a look at littlefreelibraries.org. It describes better than I can what/how the libraries work. The boxes are located near someone’s house, in a park, or perhaps near a restaurant. I just pull in to the driveway nearest the box, look through the selections available, leave any books I may have and go on my way. Two minutes at the most? I have seen various magazines in the boxes although the selection usually consists of paperbacks and hardcovers of different subjects.

I have too few magazines so I just donate them to the little free libraries. They are gone by my next visit.

Gracie,

More good suggestions.    I had also wondered if special ed teachers might be able to use some of the projects.     I will contact art teachers though.   I think it might be appropriate to draft an inventory outline of the types of projects, since they do range from appropriate for children to more adult style projects.

Some of the designs might be appropriate for preschool as well.   I confess though that the levels of performance of children these day is sometimes beyond my comprehension.   I remember sticking our fingers in these big jars of particularly aromatic paste to make various types of "artwork".   

Your post also reminded me that I have a collection of books with embroidery patterns which could be used as models for art work, plus collections of construction paper (anyone remember that?), plus a lot of designed paper I bought for various other projects.

From what I understand, many schools are equipped with computers, so that's a totally different approach.  I still stand by good old finger painting and art work though.   Computers aren't the be-all to learning.

I've never heard of Half Price Books, but I'll check that out.  

I'm thinking of contacting day care facilities locally to see if there would be a use for the magazines as well, or they could make them available for parents (in a break room).   I hadn't thought of anything like that.  

You've given me another idea:  the old how-to magazines for men might be something firemen might find interesting while they're in-between runs.  


Thanks to each of your for taking time to respond; it really helps me.  I guess I inherited a Depression Era saving and recycling passion from my parents, and really want to find good homes for everything I'll be disposing of from my sister, my mother and my father collections.

IsThisReallyReal,

It's a good thing I didn't respond earlier b/c every time I read the comments, I get new ideas.   Yours especially falls in that category.    I'm not at all familiar with the homeless shelters currently in this area.  I did find one for Veterans and donated some of my sister's furniture to them, but eventually they decided to close their donation center and focus elsewhere.

I NEVER even thought of homeless shelters, but I'm thinking that the how-to building and trades magazines might be of interest to them, especially folks who were in those fields (which from what I understand are highly in demand now.)   Even though there have been a lot of changes in the trades, especially in the use of tools, I understand that the older tools are better than some of the new ones.   At least I can figure out how to use a screwdriver w/o reading several pages!

There are 2 trade schools which I located for donation of my father's tools, as well as some steel that Dad kept for various projects.    I was especially inclined toward them, not only b/c they're 501(c)(3) organizations, but one has a Veterans Day each week on which the Veterans can use the tools for free.   

Dad had some good tools (until they began disappearing) as well as a drafting board which I think they'd like, and the magazines would be a good compliment.


As to quilting, what types of quilting do you do?   I began collecting quilting magazines for piecework patterns, but eventually focused on wholecloth quilts, and embroidering instead of running type stitches for quilting.    Then I focused on embroidery thread entirely instead of quilting thread.

I also gravitated toward landscape quilts.   

What interests you? 

Their mission is to get people off the streets, clean and sober and trained for employment, perhaps they would be a resource or something similar.


Cover99,

Inventorying the title would be a major project.   But first, to which category(ies) are you referring?  Second, do you have specific titles in mind?

Hallah,

I appreciate the understanding, personal gratification and insight accompanying donations.   There isn't much I can donate, so I would like to share these very good magazines with others. 

It's interesting that your senior center isn't taking donations, although I do understand that in terms of safety.   No one really knows what items might have been exposed to during their sojourns in someone's home, even if nonhuman items aren't carriers (from what I understand).

My father's senior center has always had good turnouts and good display areas.   One was held yesterday, but I had to resist the temptation to go.   Masks were required, but there would be a lot of people together, in a small type potential super-spreader, so I decided to wait until it's safer.   (I sure am missing all those freebies though!  That's how I collected my cloth grocery bags.)

I think the pandemic has made us aware of permeability and how communicable some items may or may not be.    I recall when I had to rationalize this when I began cleaning mail!   (Others I know did this also.)

I've seen tv clips of the box stands for books, but I hadn't thought about magazines.   I believe there are some book stands in the SE Michigan area, but I'll check with the local libraries.   I know some in this area are on stands built and placed on lawns, but that wouldn't be practical, or in some ways, safe, for my street.   

I assume the boxes in your areas are at libraries?      I will ask the better libraries in this area.

The comment on the large yellow recycling dumpsters brought back an image of one that I saw repeatedly at a school, but I just can't remember which school!   Guess I'll just call the local schools.

That's a great idea for schools, and children grow up learning that recycling is a part of life.

Pam,

Interesting, but perhaps not surprising, that people prefer to get information online.   Me, I prefer the comfort of NOT sitting in front of a computer, or staring at a screen which requires blue lenses.  Reading online is tiring, and I need to take periodic breaks.  

That doesn't happen as often with magazine reading.  In addition, I can sketch as I read; my gardening magazines are full of sketches and ideas.   That's just me, though.

I think another facet of magazines is the ability to transport people, to inspire, to provide relaxation, and to be included in binders of files with information that needs to be saved.   In addition, other than overhead electricity, magazines don't raise an electric bill.  

You mentioned old cooking magazines...as I'm sorting, I found cooking magazines that my mother used, and her notations are still there.  That was a bit unsettling at first, but it did bring back good memories.   A few I found are Women's Circle Home Cooking (1989), and Pies and Pastries (1993) (that was too tempting though, so I had to bury it in business magazines before I headed for the chcoolate and baking utensils.)

I will check with thrift shops before I donate them.  I recall that Salvation Army reps once commented on the amount of "stuff" they threw out, for various reasons.  


Bridger46164Oct 6, 2021

When I was in Brownie, then Girl Scouts (eons, if not centuries ago!), we met at schools, so I'm unfamiliar with a scout center, but that's a good sign of progress in providing for children and young adults.

I'm going to check that out; I live in the middle of multiple communities, ranging from small to large and unsophisticated to those that do reach out to their residents.

I can also contact the scout centers; I remember doing some work with the Girl Scout HQ (or perhaps that's when I took some ill fated fencing lessons) some centuries ago.   They could probably make suggestions on which troops that could use magazines.  My father's church also sponsored a Boy Scout group, so that's another option.

Good suggestion; I hadn't thought of Brownie, Girl, Boy or other (Eagle??) Scouts.

Gracie that is a good idea, I used to take my read magizines to work for the waiting rooms,, after I cut out my address of course.. LOL But with COVID that was no longer an option. Hopefully that will change soon.

If no one wants them for content, you can ask the art teachers at various elementary school, or preschool or after school programs in your nearby area. They can be used for art projects, crafts etc.

If you have a nearby Half Price Books store, they do buy magazines for resale, but don't expect much for them. But someone with those interests might buy them there.

I used to leave magazines when I was done with them in a small box with free written on it in my office breakroom. People read at their break or took home, or cleaning crew took. If they weren't gone by the end of the week, I recycled them.

First, thanks for all the suggestions.   They offer options I hadn't even knew existed.  I do plan to respond to each of your comments, but just wanted to quickly acknowledge and thank you for your suggestions.

Do you have the titles of them?

Have you considered homeless shelters that offer job ops? Gospel rescue mission is what we donate to locally.

Their mission is to get people off the streets, clean and sober and trained for employment, perhaps they would be a resource or something similar.

I wish I was closer, I am a quilter and would love those precious magazines. But, I would pay for shipping if you can't find a local need:-)

GardenArtist, I know how you feel wanting to donate to someone that will appreciate them. I tried to donate paperbacks to our senior center. They aren’t taking donations because of COVID.

Here, we have scattered around the county, small boxes on a pole that people put books and magazines in. The boxes are sponsored by our library and are called “Little Free Libraries”. People can put in books and take books. I’ve been doing this about a year now. Maybe your library would be interested in starting something like this.

The only other solution I can think of is, if you can’t get rid of the magazines, “donate” them to one of those large yellow paper recycle dumpsters located near a school. At least that way the school will benefit somewhat from your magazines. The schools get money from the recycle company for the paper.

My town has a scout center. It serves both girls and boys from ages 7 thru high school. They collect magazines for various projects.

I recently read an article that said one of the least wanted items at yard sales was magizines... I think alot of people now go online and simply dont want to go through a book or magizine anymore. I personally love old cooking magizines ( at 25 cents a pop) but hey,, I love to read! You may have to donate to a thrift shop if they will take them?