I went to make a routine purchase the other day. The card payment stations at the stores are each a little bit different from the others, so I read the instructions carefully. One of the screens gave me options for how to receive my receipt. I could have a paper receipt, an email receipt or both. I chose the email receipt and the machine printed a coupon on the receipt paper about the same size as a paper receipt. I commented to the clerk that the system isn’t really saving paper if when I ask for email only I end up with a piece of paper. The clerk mumbled something and made it clear that he was straining to be polite to a customer who had found some small thing about which to complain. I took the coupon and my purchase, after refusing the plastic bag that was offered, to the car and placed the coupon in a clip that contained a dozen other coupons received over the past little while. Then I took a second look at the coupons in the clip. Several had expired. They went into the trash can. One could no longer be read because the toner used in receipt printers these days fades quickly. A couple were for stores that I know I won’t enter before the coupons expire. Finally, I decided to keep the clip and throw all of the coupons into the trash.

Our so-called paperless society certainly produces a lot of paper waste.

We try to recycle as much as possible and we do take office paper, magazines and catalogues and types of cardboard that our curbside recycling do not accept to a carry in recycling center.

I have set up my city utility bills to be paid automatically from my checking account. I still receive a paper in the mail each month that shows my billing amount and shows which day it will be drafted from my account. I keep these statements in the glove compartment of the pickup because they can be used at the landfill to qualify for free dumping. Of course I don’t go to the landfill as often as monthly, so the papers pile up until I finally toss out the ole ones.

I’ve gone paperless with the bank, but that still means that I receive multiple letters from them each month. Some are documents that I can readily access online.

I still enjoy receiving letters in the mail. We got a few more letters via this method during the holiday season, when cards and personal notes as well as newsletters from friends arrived. They are worth reading and I enjoy catching up with friends. But even in the holiday season more than half of what we receive in the mail is not needed. Just because my mother once went on a cruise and later had her mail forwarded to my home doesn’t mean that I need to receive a dozen or more flyers advertising boat cruises each year. There are a lot of merchants from whom I have made an online order who believe that I would suddenly stop shopping online and revert to using their catalogues, so they send one to me. After all, they got my mailing address from the order when I made a purchase. If i’m shopping online, what makes you think I want a printed catalogue?

It isn’t just that my house tends to fill with clutter, which is an annoying problem in itself. It is also that it wastes time having to sort the various papers after each venture. And, worse of all, it wastes valuable resources. Let’s save the paper for love letters rather than waste it printing color catalogues of items that I would never order.

According to Erik Erikson’s developmental stages, I’m at the point in my life where I need to be sorting out and discovering integrity. I’m willing to accept that sorting is one of my psychological and physical tasks at this point in my life. I need to sort my possessions and get rid of the ones that I no longer need. I need to downsize my home and my life. I understand these things pretty well.

Trust me, however, another catalogue with storage solutions is not helping me clear away the clutter and get back down to the essentials. Yes, I did purchase a piece of Ikea furniture as a gift to my grandson, but no, I don’t need another cabinet with clever plastic bins to get my life organized. I don’t need to buy anything new when my focus is on what I can get rid of. Donate, Recycle, Trash: these are the categories I’ve been using for sorting. Of course there are a few things that I am keeping - OK I’m keeping far more than necessary - but the focus is on having less and purchasing more doesn’t help that process.

My electronic life is not that much different. My email inbox is showing nearly 200 messages this morning and I’m positive that most of them will not even be read. I’ll do a preliminary sort and then go pack through the few that require a response. When I have time, I unsubscribe form emails lists, but that is a task that often has to be deferred and the spam folder and the inbox continue to be filled in a way that forces me to sort the important messages from those that are of no consequence. I have a friend who simply deletes all messages from his email on a regular basis. When I have sent an important message to him, I have to pay attention. If I don’t receive a response, I know I will have to re-send my message because the original was deleted without being read. It works for him, but makes more work for me.

I guess we are condemned to have to deal with a certain amount of clutter and trivia. It is so ingrained in modern life that we don’t really have another option.

But I’m going to start refusing the coupons at the store. I’m going to leave them for the store to deal with. I may miss some cost savings, but I might also avoid purchasing something I do not need.

Copyright (c) 2019 by Ted E. Huffman. I wrote this. If you would like to share it, please direct your friends to my web site. If you'd like permission to copy, please send me an email. Thanks!