Everyone Should Have a Shredder at Home
With the risk of identity theft only increasing, a shredder is no longer a suggestion it is a requirement. However, the right kind of shredder is also crucial. Old fashioned shredders will no longer do the job. You need a shredder that will essentially create confetti, not just strips.
What Should you Shred?
Shred anything that an identity thief could use. This includes anything with bank or credit card account numbers, your social security number, bills from utilities, credit card offers and so on. It is easier to tell you what doesn’t need to get shredded than to tell you what does. You don’t have to shred the circulars from stores, for example. When in doubt, shred it.
What Kind of Shredder
The new shredder I purchased is pictured on this post. It is called a Bonsaii DocShred and it cost $49.99 from Amazon.
The key for any new shredder is that it cuts your paper to the point where it is virtually impossible to make any sense out of the contents of the documents. Here is a picture of what my papers looked like after shredding. This kind of shredding is called microcut.
When I went to dump this out into my trash can, I ended up with a bit on the floor. It looked like the aftermath of a (very small) parade.
The DocShred is working very well for my needs. I can shred 8 sheets at a time, which is enough for most documents I need to shred. It can also shred cds and credit cards.
This is a Personal Shredder
Now, this shredder wouldn’t work at my law firm. It is only meant to shred a couple of pieces of paper at once. My home office is paperless, so I rarely receive paper from consulting clients. When I do, I scan them and then I shred them. This shredder is fine for the amount of paper I do receive. If you find yourself needing to consistently shred large documents, this kind of shredder won’t work for you. You should look into a larger shredder or check into a shredding service. Regardless of how you do it, make sure you are shredding everything that has even the slightest chance of making you a victim of ID theft.