Whenever I see something online that I think I want to read, I put it in Instapaper — and then I try to leave it for a while. Often when I visit Instapaper the chief thing I do is delete the pieces I only had thought I needed to read. So for me it’s not just a read-later service, it’s a don’t-read-later service. But that only works if I don’t go there too often. I try to catch up with my Instapaper queue once a week at most.

this and that – Snakes and Ladders

This is the reading version of grabbing an item at a store and carrying it around while I shop. If I look at the item when I am ready to check out, I buy it. More often, by the time I’m ready to check out, whatever impulse that overcame me to grab the item is gone. So it stays at the store.