I don't have a lot of storage space for hard copy magazines, patterns or books. I've dedicated one shelf in my stash closet, it's about 2' long & 18" deep. If I want to add an item to that shelf, then something has to go... Before I get rid anything, I go thru it & if there's something in there I think I may ever want to do, I scan it to a pdf file. I've invested a lot of money in to digitized quilting patterns for my longarm & digitized embroidery patterns and am an a firm believer of back it up and then back up the backup! I have 2 portable hard drives that I backup all my files to and then there's "the cloud". Backups can go bad & even online storage can 'go away' if the company takes down it's server. I back up anything & everything I can! Just God, please don't ever let an EMP (electro magntic pulse) go off in my neighborhood!