I can't stand the PAPER

Sorry if this has been discussed already - but I need to vent


I am drowning in paper. Between the medical journals, magazines, handouts, books, pamphlets - there is just paper EVERYWHERE. If it was up to DH, he would aper: read everything and keep more than half of it. And he is a ripper. So there are whole journals, and ripped journals, articles on everything. Seriously, how could we "need" all this???

DH seems to think that if there is a spare inch of cleared off space on a horizontal plane, it is the perfect place to put yet another pile of PAPER. I found a hidden stash of paper under the bed. :banghead:

We are moving in about a month or so. I am turning the spare bedroom into an office area for him and made him promise me that I would not see any papers outside that room. I swear, if there is any ripped articles outside that office they are going straight to the


Am I the only one with the paper problem? is this a DH issue or a dawkter issue?

[SuzySunshine]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

Oh you should see my DH's office, you can't even find the desk. Our problem is that his office isn't on the main floor so the main floor has become his dumping group, luckily our little one is on the move so if he leaves anything within her arm's reach she'll eat it. So that has helped.

I think its a dawkter problem, they think they'll read it or use it someday but when are they going to have time? :huh:

[PrincessFiona]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

luckily our little one is on the move so if he leaves anything within her arm's reach she'll eat it. So that has helped.

Sadly, I am the paper person in this house....so I have to just slink away. My husband hates my paper stacks....but I know exactly what is where. It is my system....hands off!

Kris

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

I became ruthless with the paper when we moved. My theory is: if it's important, file it. If you leave it laying about, then it's not important and I will dispose of it. After all, the articles are available on the internet, too! Frankly it would be much easier to search the internet to find the articles than dig through all those journals!!!!!

[Meenah]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

After all, the articles are available on the internet, too! Frankly it would be much easier to search the internet to find the articles than dig through all those journals!!!!!

OMG, this is my favorite new quote. I will be using it over and over again!!!!!!!

[weeniegeniewife]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

You're SO not alone, my DH is the exact same way. :banghead:

He saves EVERYTHING because "maybe someday I'll have time to read it, work on it, use it, etc."...you get the drift. Right now he has a HUGE stack of catalogs and ads sitting on his nightstand; they've been there for weeks. I can't stand looking at them, he does NOTHING with them, so guess what! In the trash they go tomorrow.

[alison]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

Most of the anesthesiology stuff that dh gets is oversized - like 17"x24"!!! Why do they print journals on HUGE paper like that?

And then one of the journals that comes is wrapped in plastic. We are sinking in plastic-wrapped journals. They don't stack nicely, and just sort of slide around. He just doesn't have the time to read all this stuff!

[bahama_mama]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

I've found the best way to deal with the paper problem, is to never let it become a problem. My DH gets about a third of the actual mail that's sent to him. (I hope none of you work with the postal service, 'cause I'm not sure if 'intercepting' someone else's mail is legal).

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

I have more of a tendency to keep paper than DH does. He tosses ruthlessly. I get so mad when I have to call a company for a service problem, and I can't even find a statement for an account number. I keep my papers in plastic file boxes or in my secretary, off DH's radar.

But - DH does keep his stacks and stacks of journals. (Yeah, I don't get it, either - why not just look for the articles online as you need them?) When I want to clear up an area, I throw all his papers and hobby stuff in a clear plastic box. If he can't find something, I refer him to the box.

[DCJenn]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

The medical journals end up going directly from the mailbox to recycling because he has found he gets better information from the web searches and he keeps them in files on the harddrive. If he needs to he'll print it but it's rare.

I give myself a month or so to read my magazines and they get recycled, too. I've moved too many times to bother w/ accumulation.

Jenn

[Amiens]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

Most of the anesthesiology stuff that dh gets is oversized - like 17"x24"!!! Why do they print journals on HUGE paper like that?

And then one of the journals that comes is wrapped in plastic. We are sinking in plastic-wrapped journals. They don't stack nicely, and just sort of slide around. He just doesn't have the time to read all this stuff!

ITA! Why are they so stinkin' huge? Dh has a large cardboard box sitting in our office full of articles, and the like. It's been like that for 3 years. I am at the point that he hasn't looked at in that time frame, then it needs to be pitched. I am starting to take the same approach with most paper/articles that I myself have saved. We both look things up on the internet if we need something.

[HouseofWool]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

I have to admit that I tend to have one stack that is under 2" tall (if you don't count crinked elementary school artwork). But we are also drowning in papers. There are stacks everywhere. I am ready to light a match to it all.

I am a packrat, but DH boarders on obsessive about keeping stuff. Case in point. My parents sent us home with about 4 boxes worth of childhood momentos because they no longer want to hang on it it for me. I managed to whittle it down to about 2 boxes. DH bring home boxes from his mom's all the time and cannot manage to part with any of it. NOTHING was tossed. It drives me crazy.

Even better, his step-dad was an MD and used to get his CLE courses on audiotape. She mailed him a box of these stupid tapes from the early 90's and DH insists that they are worth keeping. I think the ones on new HIV/AIDS treatments may be a teensy bit out of date.

I cannot wait to get rid of more stuff!

[Amiens]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

Apparently Kris and I are in the minority here, I'm the paper stacker in our house too. And the stacks of journals don't bother me because I would much rather read a paper in the journal than online.

I am a paper stacker too! I am trying to reform, because we have had lost a couple of things, and when we found them have said "We need to declutter big time." We have been, it's been a long process. We are about 1 1/2 months into it, and we are almost at the point where we are caught up on the main floor and are able to maintain. The office we have more purging to do, and I think if I didn't have kids I could do it in 1 week, but because I do have kids and other responsibilities it will take me a month.

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

I see the makings of a Paperstackers anonymous. :guilty:

[alison]

Re: I can't stand the PAPER

I see the makings of a Paperstackers anonymous. :guilty:

I think I'll have to join. Writing a dissertation brings this out in me BIG TIME!