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Shredding paper

January 11th, 2008 at 03:20 pm

Yesterday I tackled the cleanup from my file organization the day before. I had a huge stack of papers to shred, mostly because they had my social security number on them. My credit union AND my medical provider used to print my SSN on every document! Of course, ten years ago we didn't even think about it. Anyway, I had to get rid of them all. My shredder was not quite up to the task. It stopped several times during the process. I would clean out the teeth and let the motor cool down, and I eventually got through it, but it took a long time. Sometimes I just cut up papers myself in frustration. I wanted to run out and get a new, better shredder, but I remembered my resolution -- no unnecessary spending this month. A new shredder is not necessary. Nice, maybe but not necessary.

Well, now that the BIG job is done, I think the shredder will be fine for the few papers I do every day. That's the key -- I must do it every day, as I process the mail.

I'm going to think harder about what I save, too. A lot of records are available online now, like bank statements and such.

I paid my phone bill today ($44.92), but that is the first spending I've done since I got home on the 7th. I'm going to try to go a whole week -- a fiscal fast, as Mr. Yaeger recommended on this morning's Today Show. Other than that, I didn't get too much out of his spiel, but maybe his book is worth looking at. I think it was called The Road to Riches?

Posted in Uncategorized | 6 Comments »

6 Responses to “Shredding paper”

  1. luxliving Says:
    January 11th, 2008 at 03:24 pm 1200065072
    1200065072

    When my FIL passed away I spent DAYS shredding paper. Maybe an entire week? And I had spent hours and hours before that when he moved in with us as he did bring some paperwork with him when he moved in. After he passed and we cleaned up the house, Ohhhhh Myyyyyy!! He had saved his paystubs from his very first job onward. Every single one of them.

    Good on you for holding back on buying a new shredder. I've been there - I want a new cross-cut one, but have made do with what I already have! Maybe we could put that on our Christmas wishlist for next year?

  2. sagegirl Says:
    January 11th, 2008 at 03:29 pm 1200065365
    1200065365

    I have a really cheap, old shredder that takes forever to shred (it may be on its last leg!) If I have a lot to shred when I am organizing, I bring it to work with me and shred it using the shredder at my desk--works much better. I just signed up with all my banks for "green statements" meaning I can download/print the past 7 years of bank statements if I need one. I balance my account online, so I never really look at the actual statements for any reason. it is great!

  3. sounderella Says:
    January 11th, 2008 at 03:49 pm 1200066552
    1200066552

    I totally understand the drag in shredding. Back when I worked at the dr.'s office, sadly we'd have a large turn over every winter due to the deaths of our elderly patients. OMG I would have to shred all of their personal information. Took me weeks with a crappy shredder! They were too cheap to use destruction services.

  4. JanH Says:
    January 11th, 2008 at 08:46 pm 1200084399
    1200084399

    Believe it or not, there are companies that will do that for you. After Hurricane Rita, I saw a tractor trailer truck with a huge logo on the side in the parking lot of our damaged eye doctor. They shredded up all his old records that got destroyed. I kinda wished I'd had that when I was going through my shredding pile!

  5. Dido Says:
    January 12th, 2008 at 12:13 am 1200096798
    1200096798

    Shredding piles of papers IS a real pain. Keeping on top of it is the only way if you have a low capacity shredder and don't want to pay for the service--UNLESS your town offers the service at its recycling facility. I'm lucky--mine does. The last town I lived in, however, did not.

  6. Aleta Says:
    January 12th, 2008 at 08:27 pm 1200169620
    1200169620

    What I did before I bought my shredder was to get a pair of scissors and just cut out the area with my name and any personal information on it. The rest of the paper can be thrown away.

    After I bought the shredder, I did the same, I cut out usually small portions of information, shredded that and threw the rest in the recycling bin. There isn't any information anyone can gleam from that.

    I have since met a lady that does the same thing. As she said, why put your machine threw all of that unnecessary abuse.

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