Old baggage

I am an incorrigible packrat. I keep things because I think they may come in handy sometime (which, in my defense, they often do -- I can't count how many times I've solved a logistical problem with some random object I kept with no specific reason in mind). I also keep papers, either because I think I will want to see them again years down the line for sentimental reasons (also usually true) or because I am under the delusion that sometime I will have the desire and the time to sit down and learn something in which my old readings/notes/glossary pages will help me. Despite the years that pass and the multiple times I sort through my piles and piles, there are always those items that I've never touched since I used them in elementary or high school but attached to which are the notion that they will have some purpose in my future. This happens most frequently with the old Hebrew stories and poems, the articles on Jewish history and thought, the text sources from old shiurim. They become just like all the books on my shelves that are still staring me down, waiting to be read.

I even kept a pile of unread Time magazines from March-July 2003. When I had the subscription I read them faithfully, but I got behind. And then, very behind. It seems many people can read a magazine or two a week, and even a newspaper (or several!!!) a day, and still go about their normal productive lives, and even read books on the side. And they browse the web, and cook real meals every night for dinner, and work full time. This mystifies me to no end, without even including the people who take care of kids in addition to all that. But anyway, I kept the magazines because I was actually learning things from them -- some current events, some political issues, some popular science and popular culture...so I figured it'd be better to go on learning this stuff even a little while after it happened. That, of course, is why those magazines have been sitting in my "stuff" cabinet for a year, right?

So my problem is, how do I differentiate between the things I might really read -- like, hopefully, all those books on my shelves -- and the things I am deluding myself about?? Must I prefer to read something from the pile to anything else that might catch my eye in order to justify keeping it?