How to dispose of old paper bills, paperwork without a shredder

[Anonymous]

A lot of local realtors do free shred days where they bring in a shredding truck for a few hours. I save mine in a bag under my desk and drop it off at one of those. You can also pay to have it shredded at UPS.

[Anonymous]

Staples now outs it in a padlocked bin for pick up and shredding at Iron Mtn. I take mine quarterly (wfh) and it’s <$3

[Anonymous]

I don’t worry about this any more. I’m not sure if it was ever a real threat but I don’t think anyone is going through my trash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Take it to your local UPS store. Print a 15 percent off coupon. It’s weighed. Just took a huge grocery bag full of WFH and other personal documents. Done.

Do they shred it in front of you? I ask because years ago I took papers to staples and they said their guy comes one a week to pick things up to shred and my paperwork would just be sitting there until the shred guy came I didn't end up leaving it there.

DP . At UPS you don’t watch them shred it but you can watch them put it into the big locked container provided by Iron Mountain or similar.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My high school math teacher told us if we needed to hand shred items do so but then put the shreds in different trash cans and bags. Some in each bathroom trash can, some in the office trash, and some right before you take out the kitchen trash and then some in a new kitchen bag. It sounds like a lot of work but it’s not really.

My (late) military intelligence officer dad taught the same! I used to do the this at work-rip up papers, shuffle and toss in multiple trash cans.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t worry about this any more. I’m not sure if it was ever a real threat but I don’t think anyone is going through my trash.

This is true. I tear off SSN and DOB etc and throw in the toilet or nasty kitchen trash sometimes but there is little point.

Theft in 2024 is mostly digital.

[Anonymous]

Basic stuff (name, address, account number) I rip by hand and mix with the cat's litter box business. Then put in a few different bags, with some old produce or meat juice or coffee grinds. Basically, wet stuff.

Are people really going through trash to find stuff like this? Especially if it's mixed with other garbage?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Basic stuff (name, address, account number) I rip by hand and mix with the cat's litter box business. Then put in a few different bags, with some old produce or meat juice or coffee grinds. Basically, wet stuff.

Are people really going through trash to find stuff like this? Especially if it's mixed with other garbage?

I often wonder this too.

Say it’s my CC bill. So they now have the last four digits. So what? And my name at my address. Public info. Plus what I bought. Ok…?

Or if it’s a medical bill. Ok? Again, last four digits of account, address, what was wrong with me. And??? Who cares.

What am I missing? Serious, no snark. Enlighten me!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is a fireplace an option?

The ashes will float in air and up chimney. Don't do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a fireplace an option?

The ashes will float in air and up chimney. Don't do it.

The odds this leads to ID theft is like one in a trillion.

[Anonymous]

If you have an outdoor firepit, you can toss the stuff in there. However, I found out the hard way you need to pull the folded paper out of the envelopes and separate the pages or the fire will not burn through them.

[Anonymous]

UPS store will shred. It will be picked up by Iron Mountain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is a fireplace an option?

The ashes will float in air and up chimney. Don't do it.

The odds this leads to ID theft is like one in a trillion.

The risk of the ashes is a chimney fire, not identity theft.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Basic stuff (name, address, account number) I rip by hand and mix with the cat's litter box business. Then put in a few different bags, with some old produce or meat juice or coffee grinds. Basically, wet stuff.

Are people really going through trash to find stuff like this? Especially if it's mixed with other garbage?

I often wonder this too.

Say it’s my CC bill. So they now have the last four digits. So what? And my name at my address. Public info. Plus what I bought. Ok…?

Or if it’s a medical bill. Ok? Again, last four digits of account, address, what was wrong with me. And??? Who cares.

What am I missing? Serious, no snark. Enlighten me!

I guess in theory if they got your SSN from one piece of paper, your DOB from another, and your bank account info from another...you'd be in trouble.

This rarely happens anymore. For criminals this is like a needle in 10,000 haystacks.

They are making money from the people who use passwords like cardinal1234.

[Anonymous]

I let my kids light it on fire.