Three Ways to Use Pinterest

I love Pinterest. I’m sure I’m not alone in that sentiment. Pinterest tells me that I have 122 boards with over 7900 pins. That’s a lot of pinning!

There are a few ways I use Pinterest, however, that make it less of a time suck and more of a tool. Here are three strategies (plus three tips) that work for me, and may work for you too.

Create seasonal boards

A while back I stumbled on the idea of creating a board for each season and pinning anything and everything to do with that season there. That includes things like recipes, books, decor, table settings, and more. All of those things can go on general boards for those topics of course, but if they’re specific to a season I like to pin them all in one place.

I include holiday pins on the seasonal boards with the exception of Christmas, which has its own board. I also use the seasonal boards for inspiration pictures that just give me the feel that time of year. I love opening the board at the start of each new season; it’s like a one-stop-shop for all things Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter.

Improve your reading

You knew I was going to include this, didn’t you? I haven’t been shy about sharing the fact that I love using Pinterest to plan and track my reading. Here’s what that looks like:

• When I run across good book ideas, I pin them to a books to read board for future reference. This gives me an easy place to go when I’m looking for reading ideas.
• I also have a board for the books I’m going to read next. This board only has a few pins and it’s constantly changing as I finish (or occasionally don’t finish) a book. Having this shortlist helps me reduce my reading downtime by eliminating the “what should I read next?” question.
• I created a board for the books I read in 2019 when I made a resolution to read more. I started another board for books read in 2020. (Prior to 2019, I used this board to track all the books I read, regardless of year.) I love seeing the covers of all the books I’ve read in one place.
• Finally, because I’m such a big book nerd, I also have boards for bookstores & libraries and other bookish stuff.

Plan your trips

Pinterest was made for travel planning. Here are the two types of boards I like to create:

1. Boards for places I might want to go someday. On this type of board I pin freely anytime I come across information about or photos of that place. I have boards for some of the places on my places to go and things to do list.
2. A board for planning a trip that’s actually going to happen. This board is more specific and includes things like where we’re staying, things on our itinerary, and maps.

Three more Pinterest tips.

Delete pics/boards when they’re no longer relevant. 

We’ve all been using Pinterest long enough that we have things pinned that are no longer relevant or we’re no longer interested in. One thing I’ve learned about myself is that I’m not a DIY-er so I’ve gotten rid of all of my crafting or DIY boards and pins. I also run across pins while I’m perusing my boards that don’t reflect my current taste (on decor boards for example). I don’t hesitate to delete those pins; doing that helps me identify what I really love.

Use the sections feature.

I don’t remember when the ability to organize a board into sections showed up but I use it regularly. My furniture board, for instance, has sections for sofas, chairs, desks, chests, benches & ottomans, etc. My Christmas board is divided into sections including trees, garlands, recipes, gift wrapping, and even Christmas movies. 

Not every board will warrant sections but creating them for my biggest boards has helped me use them more efficiently.