One thing I believe everyone should have in this day and age is a paper shredder. Try as you might, not everything can be sent to you electronically, which means it comes through the mail. If you store everything in a filing cabinet indefinitely then there is no problem, however if you recycle/throw of these items away and they have sensitive information then you run the risk of the information being stolen. To remedy this, get a paper shredder.
A paper shredder it actually fairly cheap (word of advise, don’t get the cheapest one you can find as they are complete crap) and can do a lot to protect you from identity theft. Anytime you get rid of bank/credit card statements, bills, etc. you should always shred them first.
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Better shredders are always cross-shred and will eat up not only paper but old credit cards and compacts discs also. OfficeMax and Staples are the places to go to get the good ones. You’ll spend between 40 to 65 bucks for it.
I actually got an Office Depot brand paper shredder (including the bin) which cost ~$20. It “diamond shreds” up to 6 pages at once, but no CC’s or CD’s.
The cheap ones which sit on top of a trash can you get at Walmart (which is an oxymoron because _everything_ at Walmart is cheap) are a complete waste of money.
In this day and age where we tend to think identity theft or credit card theft occurs on-line having a paper shredder should just be standard equipment for the home. It is not just for the office anymore. As Rich Menga says in his comment make sure you get a cross shredder not the cheaper one that cuts your paper into long strips. My God, the other day I saw a promo for software that puts the long strips of paper back together. You put the strips of paper print side down in a scanner, then scan it like a regular document and the software rearranges it back into its original form. Then you just print it out. What a world we live in!!
I totally agree with this post. From an ex-double-glazing saleswoman – yes I realise I branded myself in another comment on another post – you can’t be too safe.
In fact if you buy an industrial-strength paper shredder you can also use it for making chips and french-fries in addition to shredding your unwanted personal paper documents.
This ingenius tip was brought to you in association with the UK Government; who remove the necessity of having a paper-shredder by losing unencrypted DVDs with all your personal data on them in transit, or leaving laptops with similar content on the hard-drive on a train.
The UK Government: Why shred it? They’ve probably revealed it already.
For home use, isn’t a pair of scissors a more sensible alternative?
A human with a pair of scissors can shred a document as good as (or even better than) a paper shredder. Without too much extra time.
Of course, for office use, a paper shredder could be a good idea.
Yes but have you ever tried making french fries with scissors?
Is there some deficiency with office workers that causes them to be unable to use scissors? – I mean; if a human can allegedly avoid a paper shredder by using a pair of scissors at home; then what prevents office workers from using a pair of scissors in the office? Do scissors breed in an office environment? Is that the reason why they’re not used in an office? The manager arrives to find that all the paperwork has been shredded by adolescent scissor-thugs, and there’s groups of hooded scissors hanging around on desk-corners vandalising paper-clips and putting drawing-pins on all the chairs.
Office workers get to deal with an enormous amount of paper. Their fingers would start bleeding or bruising if they had to cut all these with scissors.
It’s automation though; technology enabling a more comfortable and convenient lifestyle. Saying that only office workers should use a paper shredder and people at home should use scissors is like saying that only business people should use email as they have to communicate quickly over long distances by necessity; whereas people at home don’t have to communicate as quickly so they should use the postal service.
I’m not saying that you may not buy a paper shredder at home, I’m just saying that you don’t really need it at home.
My point is that paper shredders at home are an unnecessary luxury, while Jason is saying they are as critical a part of any household as a front door.
That doesn’t mean I don’t want people to have paper shredders at home :p
I just take all my to-be-shredded items to work and use the shredding services of my company.
Home shredders are very helpful as well as cheap there are usually old documents and records related to banking and saving sheets.
I bought a cheap shredder the trick to prolonging the life of the thing is to spray it with WD40 or light weight machine oil occasionally oh and dont choke it . any thing is better than nothing .