In the beginning for me, I would save the mags for a year then go thru them. Had stacks and stacks. Eventually cut it down to 6 months so it wouldn't be such a huge job. Now I have so many put up in binders (the big 3" size) that I am very selective on what mags I get, one or two every once in a while now.
Even tho' I've spent much time putting them all together, sorting, labeling and such, what I really need to do is go thru them and keep only the patterns I really, really love.
Wishing I had time to start the "purge" but off for another very important activity.