If you're a magazine lover, here's how you can make that big collection of yours a useful and interesting feature in your house... it's all in the way you organize the magazines, say the maid service experts at MOLLY MAID.

BY TITLE: Group all your different titles by month to make seasonal ideas - such as recipes or beauty tips - easy to access.

BY SUBJECT: Group magazines by subject - for example, fashion and beauty magazines in one stack, recipe and homes magazines in another, and magazines that you consider 'good reads' in another.

THE FINISHING TOUCH: Bind the magazines together with colourful ribbon for a vibrant and original display.

FINALLY: When you are finally ready to give them up, consider donating them to a hospital or doctor's waiting room. Or, be sure to recycle them.  

Arranging your books in different patterns is a fun way to liven up your bookshelves and make your books part of your decorating scheme! 

1. One way is to use colour and arrange the lightest colours of books on the top shelf and then work your way down for a graduated effect.
2. Another way is to arrange books from the darkest coloured books at one end of a shelf to the lightest books on the other end. For balance, reverse the direction of colour on the next shelf down and so on.
3. A more practical way to showcase books is to arrange them in alphabetical order by author or title and use decorative book ends of big individual letters (placed on the bookshelves or the first book of each letter) to mark the start of each section.

These ideas work on all styles of bookcases, from small shelves to a continuous rainbow on a run of wall-shelving.

The cleaning services experts at MOLLY MAID recommend that you rotate your books regularly when dusting and cleaning - to help keep the covers from warping and fading. Other cleaning tips: be sure to clean along the top spine with a feather duster or cloth - that's where dust tends to settle.