Been there, done that! I have tons of cross-stitch books in particular, but when I find online patterns, I like them and want to keep them. I have probably 20 binders full of free internet patterns.
When I started quilting, I was determined not to let the patterns get so out of hand (like the cross stitch ones), so if I find a pattern on the internet that I just can't go on without, I immediately save it to a file. I make it a point to review this file at least once a month and every now and then I find something I want to make. So, I just print it off and away I go! I take my laptop to quilting group and let them look through the patterns too to see if there is any they want. We have a few laser printers at home so printing is not a big problem.