Do You Know What to Shred and What Not To?

Years ago, people had to rip up or burn items that they did not want others to see but it wasn't something that people thought a lot about. Today more and more people are becoming concerned with such things as identity theft so it is no surprise that people are shredding their person items. It is important to know what you should shred and what you do not need to. This can save you hours of time if you know the basics of what to shred and what not to. The type of shredder you get should depend on the amount of things and the type of things that you will be shredding such as credit cards or papers.

Below is a brief breakdown of items to shred and when to shred them.

• Items to shred right now would be such things as credit card applications and any items that contain your personal information such as address, name, social security number, date of birth or your account numbers. This can be legal papers that you no longer need to hold onto such as an old driver's license card, papers that have employment information on it, airline tickets or luggage tags and any other papers that you no longer want but may have info on it that you do not want others to see or know.

• Things that you need to hold onto would be marriage certificates, death certificates, birth certificates, divorce papers, military records, medical records, tax documents, social security papers, receipts for valuable objects and wills.

• There are things that you can shred but you will need to hold onto the items until they expire. This would be such things as warranties, credit reports, benefits packages, loan contract, pet records and mortgage or lease agreements.

Learning what to shred and what not to is simple if you just use your judgment. If the item has personal information on it and you no longer need it then you can be safe to say that it is good to shred it. There are something's that you will want to hold on to for awhile such as pay stubs so that you have them if you need them but these are items that you do not need to keep indefinitely. Items such as this should be kept for at least 2 years.

If you are looking to keep your personal information safe as well as your identity, then you should really look into getting a good quality shredder or contact a document shredding company. You will want one that will be able to handle your shredding needs and that will last. They make them in all sorts of styles and sizes so you can go with a heavy duty one that will work well for a personal business or you can go with a compact one that will be perfect for the small shredding jobs that you need it for. It can help to make a list or a schedule of what needs to be shredded on a daily, monthly and yearly basis so you will stay on track of the clutter and personal papers in your home.