Paper Shredding

I had intentions to shred my six-inch stack of old confidential files, but this option seemed to make more sense. UPS charged me $8.40 to shred my ten pound grocery bag of old tax documents.

My present paper shredder can handle about 2-4 pages at a time. If I think about doing the shredding myself, I suspect it would take me about two hours. My time is worth more than four dollars an hour, so I’m happy to have it done in an instant.

Other options are to shred it yourself with a machine or by hand, then recycle it. You can put shredded paper into a paper bag, then staple it shut and put it in with paper recycling curbside or at a local recycling center. Occasionally our local news will host a free paper shredding day where you can bring in two grocery bags of documents along with a toy donation. Try Googling your town and “free shredding” to see if there is such an event near you.

It feels so good to have a little less paper in my home. I’m aiming to have a little less paper each year and to scan most of my important documents. I like doing it in stages as it feels daunting to consider doing it all at once.

Let us know if you have additional tips for shredding papers or scanning by commenting below.