What should you keep?

I hit a critical mass of bills and documents in my filing cabinet this weekend. I started to consider purchasing another filing cabinet when I thought, “Why don’t I just throw some of this crap out?”

Then I realized that I have no clue what I should be keeping. So I turned the Internet.

Here’s a rather dry, yet useful site explaining what you should keep, and how long you should retain it.

Commencing destruction

When you are getting rid of sensitive financial or other personal information, you want to make sure that the documents are thoroughly destroyed.

Dumpster diving for other people’s personal information isn’t my thing, but it seems that some of us are into that sort of thing. So, shred your documents.

What you want is a cross-cutting shredder that will turn your papers into confetti. Just tearing them up, or shredding them in one direction isn’t enough to deter the committed ID thief.

I’ve gone with an inexpensive Staples 8-Sheet Cross-Cut Shredder (about $35.00).

There are a lot of fancy, and expensive shredders out there. My feeling is that you don’t need it unless you are destroying massive amounts of paper on a regular basis.

Happy shredding!

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