For some time, there has been a stack of papers in my office waiting to be shredded. Problem was, I didn’t have a shredder. I finally broke down and bought one, wanting to get rid of the growing pile of papers.
The other night at Wal-Mart, I spent a good ten minutes on an office supply aisle comparing the prices of shredders. What I thought was the best deal was this:
I bought a shredder head and an inexpensive trash can to put it on. I didn’t feel the need to spend an extra $10 or more on a shredder that came with a bin attached to it. My $2 bin works just fine! In fact, you could probably even find a bin that would work at the dollar store.
Though an even less costly alternative would be a pair of scissors, a shredder is a bit more efficient and less time consuming. So, end your year productively by finally shredding that pile of papers for a more secure 2013.
Here is a list of items that should be shredded:
- Address labels from junk mail and magazines
- ATM receipts
- Bank statements
- Birth certificate copies
- Canceled and voided checks
- Credit and charge card bills, carbon copies, summaries and receipts
- Credit reports and histories
- Documents containing maiden name (used by credit card companies for security reasons)
- Documents containing names, addresses, phone numbers or e-mail addresses
- Documents relating to investments
- Documents containing passwords or PIN numbers
- Driver’s licenses or items with a driver’s license number
- Employee pay stubs
- Employment records
- Expired passports and visas
- Unlaminated identification cards (college IDs, state IDs, employee ID badges, military IDs)
- Legal documents
- Investment, stock and property transactions
- Items with a signature (leases, contracts, letters)
- Luggage tags
- Medical and dental records
- Papers with a Social Security number
- Pre-approved credit card applications
- Receipts with checking account numbers
- Report cards
- Resumés or curriculum vitae
- Tax forms
- Transcripts
- Travel itineraries
- Used airline tickets
- Utility bills (telephone, gas, electric, water, cable TV, Internet
- Old credit/debit cards
