Now I save the cardboard rolls found inside paper towels and use them. It works well because it allows the stirrer to dry on each side, and it is the right length. I store a stirrer for each color of paint that I have used in my home in the cardboard tubes on the garage shelf. That way, if I ever need to touch up some paint, I already have a stirrer with that color on it and never have to search for a stirrer again. Replying to the lady who said we should all put junk mail into the trash, I would suggest that people recycle it wherever possible.
Many towns now have facilities for taking care of clean paper.
Ours doesn't, but our daughter lives 60 miles away, and her town recycles clean paper, so we take ours to her and bring back with us the plastic items, which our town will recycle and hers won't. Just please be sure that any junk mail you recycle does not have personal information on it. I use discarded pantyhose cut into strips. The nylon will stretch as the plant grows and will not cut into it. They are also good on young trees.