Mine are such a mess!! How do you have yours organized?

well.      I've been struggling with this myself. The plan is to use binders with tabbed headings. any loose recipes will get taped to a plain sheet of paper and then put in the binder. Course' I have at least five envelope boxes full of loose recipes-from magazines and/or internet. So this might take me a while.  The headings I've finally decided on (I hope so anyway) are: Appetizers, Hor'deurves & Snacks; Beverages; Breads; Cookies & Candy; Desserts; Entrees, Meat; Entrees, Other; Miscellaneous; Salads & Salad Dressings; Side Dishes; Soups & Sandwiches.  I also have a book that I purchased years ago where you can list just the recipe name with the cookbook name and page #. You can probably make up a sheet to put in a binder to do the same.

I wouldn't mind any other ideas......

found another idea.....   to organize before putting loose recipes in a permanent binder.

use an accordian file.   This one I'm going to do for sure. Then I can go through and decide which ones to keep.

I began using a computer program for saving recipes...11 years ago.   MasterCook.  LOVE IT!!  (Newest version is 9 and is PC only.)  I've tried them all...so have my online friends...and this is the Rolls Royce of recipe management software.  Nothing we've seen comes close...for too many reasons to go into here.

Using recipe management software gives you a *chance* of getting your favorite or 'to try' recipes into some order...and gives you a place to keep notes, make shopping lists, plan meals, check out nutritional analysis, email recipes/share, etc.

After awhile, you discover that many recipes you have clipped (and have in boxes all over the place, if u are like me) are online -- or someone else has typed (for instance, I copy many I find at the Cooking Light forum).  Mastercook 9 has a feature that lets u grab recipes in several ways...one new way is right while u are online, highlight various parts of the recipe and save ...and the recipe, plus photo will appear in your 'cookbook.'    

There are many recipe groups online that share NOTHING but Mastercook formatted recipes.  You end up with more than you can make in a lifetime, but it's very addictive and fun to collect recipes. 

Recipes are stored in 'cookbooks.'   You can create your own or you can receive them from online friends or at download sites.  (MC comes with cookbooks, too.  On the CD, I mean.) I can edit any changes I make and note about the recipe and save.  There is no limit to amount of cookbooks.  Friends of mine share recipes and entire cookbooks with me.  It's a blast.  Everything can be viewed in title order, or author, or book,,, or nutritional contents, etc.   IF you get the software, priced at about $20 everywhere...do NOT buy the downloadable version.  It is missing a nice feature (the web import feature).  Instead, purchase the CD to get the entire program.  Whoever did the downloadable one, I hear did no good service to the public.  People are upset that they bought it and not the CD - and were not told the feature would be missing.