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I have finally motivated myself to shred all the old records I have stored, lots of stuff from work, taxes and a legal case. Don't want to leave it for my heirs to sort through.
When I started shredding, my shredder jammed and I couldn't find a way to un-jam it (instructions have disappeared). But I can see that it's not what I need to shred such a large quantity of paper.
How have others dealt with this problem? Should I get a better shredder? Can any of the consumer type shredders handle this? There might be a pile 15 or 20 feet high if I piled it all up. I feel like I need to shred anything with personal information on it, even just my name. Is this overdoing it?
Many Town's Do Shred Events. Where you can bring 2-3 box loads to be shreaded.
Google "Free Shredding MyTown"
Some Banks/Credit Unions have "Shred" Cans, You feed them in bout 1/2" at a time into a locked Bin, once a month or so they have a service that does the shred onside.
Near our CA town there's a place you can take your documents. Either they'll shred them for you or you can put them in the shredder yourself. Maybe there's something of that sort near your home.
Consumer-grade shredders, in my experience, are made cheaply and don't last.
I think the many pages are too heavy for me to try to take them somewhere. Even getting them all out into the car would be hard. It would take many separate trips. Otherwise I would take them to a place where you can get them shredded.
I think the many pages are too heavy for me to try to take them somewhere. Even getting them all out into the car would be hard. It would take many separate trips. Otherwise I would take them to a place where you can get them shredded.
There are mobile shredding services. Check the yellow pages under recycling or call the city landfill or trash pickup to see if there are any locally. All you may need to do is fill a rolling trash bin and take it to the street when they arrive.
When I cleared out my dad's house I was faced with about 60 years of paper records. He NEVER threw anything away if it had anything to do with money. Boxes of cancelled checks dating from the 70s, every tax return, just to give you an idea. I found a mobile shredder. All I had to do was schlep the stuff out to the driveway (used the equally-hoarded paper grocery bags to do it...filled it from one end to the other). They charged by weight, so weighed everything, shredded everything, and hauled it off. About 1200 lbs of paper. A pretty impressive accomplishment!
I clean/shred once a year. I used to have several shredders but they were all fairly lightweight and were able to shred 2-3 sheets at a time. I got tired of that and started shredding by hand.
But, with the amount of paper you have, that wouldnt be practical. Another thing I do, if I have a lot of shredding and dont want to do it by hand, is put the papers in a big garbage sack and then put the doggie poop from my semi-weekly back yard cleaning into the same sack. I have a large dog so the sack gets pretty smelly and no one would want to go through it even if there were dollar bills inside. With the amount of paper you have, you might want to use multiple large garbage sacks. And here's hoping you have a large dog too.
One caveat: I used to throw away receipts after a few years. But, with all the class action lawsuits requiring proofs of purchase, I've learned to save receipts and other documents like medical bills, insurance statements, etc for 10+ years. There have been class action lawsuits against Aetna, Samsung, GE, eMachines/Gateway and many other companies that required proof of purchase or other proofs, going back 10-12 years, in order to file claims -- and I was able to do that. I was even able to file a successful claim for $12,500 because I had all the old documentation. Some class action lawsuits go back many years, much further back than the normal 4-7 years required by many statutes of limitations.
Most shredders that people buy for home use have a printing on it that states: 3-5 pages (or whatever) - if you can't find local shredding events, in the future, obviously, don't wait until you have so much piled up. But now: shred a couple pages at a time, empty into a bag (preferably paper so it can be recycled), while you are watching TV, etc. - the shredder will get hot and need a rest - let it cool down and shred some more.
Office Depot/ Office Max Used to be about 69 cents a pound.
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- let it cool down and shred some more.
