The Recipe Conundrum

If your love for cooking and recipes is anything like mine (and I would venture to guess that for many of you it is), you have a recipe problem. Not a problem with the recipes per se but a problem with organizing the recipes in a way that they are usable. They are everywhere, in all kinds of formats, and they are driving me bananas.

Way back when I was in library school, I picked up a key phrase in the world of library and information science. It went something like this: information is only as usable as it is findable. I'm sure that the scholar who coined the phrase said it far more elegantly than that, but you get the idea. What's the point of having a bazillion recipes if, when you are making your grocery list for the week, you can't find the recipe you want?

At present, my recipes are in the following places:

• in cookbooks - These are the easiest to find as they have indexes and are all together on a shelf. They subsequently get used the most.
• in magazines - If the magazine in question is Everyday Food, then they are on the top shelf in chronological order going back to 2005. A print index is occasionally released, and I think there is an index on the website as well. If the magazine in question is any of the countless other magazines to which I subscribe, the recipes are likely still in the magazine with the corners bent over. They are then in a huge pile waiting for the day when I get a system figured out. On a side note, I find it hilarious that all of my January magazines want me to "get organized" when one of the areas in my life most needing organization is...figuring out what to do with my magazines.
• in a folder on my hard drive - Those that I download from the Internet get saved in an aptly named "Recipes" folder. This does not mean I ever look at them again.
• in a folder in my email - Those recipes that I receive by email often end up here. Per the above re: ever looking at them again.
• in my allrecipes account - Those recipes that I save in allrecipes get saved in the "recipe box" feature.  The catch is remembering what recipes I saved there when I am looking for a recipe.
• on my pinterest board - Again, there if I remember to look.
• on sheets of paper in a folder on my shelf - These are generally recipes that I find online then print out or recipes that I photocopy from books I check out from the library. This collection may also include recipes clipped from magazines or recipes given to me by friends. To be filed into aforementioned desired system, of course.
• on this blog - With a grand total of 33 entries at present, I can generally remember what recipes I've included here...for now.

Does anyone out there have this figured out? Or have any brilliant ideas?Anyone?