One of the clutter traps we see often in people’s homes is reading material… there is this strange guilt hanging over people’s heads about all of the things that they "should" read sometime. The reading material that stacks up the quickest is newspapers. Sorry, Lois Lane– the newspapers have gotta go.
Here is what my colleague Judith Kolberg says about newspapers in her book Conquering Chronic Disorganization:
The information in newspapers is obsolete about eight hours after it is published. Over 70% of a newspaper is advertising. Of the 30% of real news and information, 80% can be accessed with ease through other kinds of media, like radio or TV. 100% is obtainable over the Internet. A good 50% of any newspaper will repeat in some form the very next day. A newspaper unread is closer to trash than orange peels.
OK, how’s that for a reason to recycle that stack?? Please do not guilt yourself into thinking you should go back and read those unread papers. You don’t have time. And if your newspapers are consistently stacking up unread, you might consider changing your subscription to weekends-only, when you may have more time to read and enjoy them.
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