Ahhhh Summertime. It's the perfect time to kick back, relax with a refreshing beverage, and clean out your file cabinets. Wait. What? No way.
Yes way. Why not use the summer months to have your own personal Shred-A-Palooza so that 6 short weeks from now, (oh mercy, yes just six) you can head into the new school year and a new season feeling all organized and caught up? We all keep too much paper (yes, even me) and with identity theft remaining a major threat, it's more important than ever to take precautions with not only your own personal information, but that of your clients as well.
You should already have a personal shredder at home, but if you don't, here are some tips to keep in mind when purchasing:
1. Buy as much shredder as you can afford. Generally speaking, the more expensive the shredder is, the heavier duty it is. It's also likely to offer more function and features than a cheap one. The good news is that these days you can get a decent shredder for as little as $40.
2. Make sure it will accept multiple sheets of paper at the same time. Shredding is time-consuming enough without having to sit and feed single sheets through the teeth. Yuck.
3. Get one rated to accept as much "hardware" as possible, while still staying in your price range. Hardware is anything NON-paper such as staples, paper clips, credit cards, CDs, DVDs, and even binder clips.
4. Look for a shredder that produces a cross-cut or a diamond-cut shred. Anything that turns your paper into small confetti is fine. Ribbon cut paper is way easy for the unscrupulous person to re-construct. Plus, confetti shred is easier to handle and takes up less room in the bin than strips.
5. If you work with documents larger than 8.5 x 11, be aware that your shredder's feed opening needs to be wide enough to accommodate the size paper you'll be shredding.
6. Look for auto-start and stop. This is such a nice feature that prevents you from having to turn the machine on and off all the time. There is a sensor that knows when you put paper into the feed and it automatically starts and then stops when the paper is shredded. Be sure your shredder has a REVERSE function on it, so you can back out of paper jams easily.
The best way to shred is piecemeal, as you come across items you want to destroy. It's fast and easy to shred a single piece of paper or even a handful. But if you let the shred pile grow for too long, it can become too big to reasonably shred yourself and then what do you do?
In Atlanta, there are a few companies who do residential shredding, such as i-Shred, SecureShred, or ClubShred. Be sure to ask for a certificate of destruction, which guarantees your documents have been securely destroyed. Happy Summer and HAPPY SHREDDING!
PS: Follow me on Twitter and Facebook. And if you like this info, share it using the links below!
