Shredding

So, one of my projects for this vacation period is to shred all of my confidential paperwork that I have not disposed of since 2004.  The IRS says we need to keep business/financial records for 5 years, so that is what I had done for years. But got out of the habit of doing in 2009. So, now I am having to get caught up so I can clean up.

Last Christmas I purchased a good shredder that allowed me to shred more than a few minutes at a time. I started last night, with some records I had pulled years ago, and never finally finished shredding. So, I started with those, and moved to the others that need shredding.  I have repacked the ones that do not.  I am keeping some important receipts and special documents that have been filed in with the bills, receipts, tax returns, and what have you.

Getting these documents cleaned out and sorted was a primary project for this week off. And, finally when I have used up a large portion of my time off, I am finally working at it in a serious sort of way.

Shredding Documents

I used to try to keep up with disposing of my documents. The IRS mandate is to keep 5 years of documents.  I keep 6, for a cushion. For some reason I got really behind and have documents from 2004 and more recently that need shredding. I had a small shredder that used to cut out after a few minutes. That would have been fine, if I had one or a few documents a week to shred. But I do not. I do not know why, but I have a large amount of documents to shred every week. And, I have a large amount of old documents to shred, in addition to the documents I should shred weekly.  With the electronic age, it seems we use more paper, than less.

My old shredder was a diamond cut shredder. My current shredder makes little pills of the documents (that is kind of neat.)

Today, I did a lot of shredding of current documents that needed shredding, and documents from 2004. I am on vacation this coming week, and one of my plans is to sort and shred documents from 2004 to 2011. 

My New Shredder

I have a little shredder.  I have been trying to get caught up with the shredding that I needed to do, and this poor little shredder kept conking out.  To the point that I gave up on shredding. I was beginning to feel like a hoarder, with the collection of paperwork that I had, waiting to be shredded.  It was oppressive.

Today, as a Christmas presents to me, I purchased a larger, much better shredder.  I have been shredding tonight.  What would have taken me many shredding sessions over weeks has been shredded into micro bits in the course of a couple of hours, during commercials, while I am watching TV.  It is like a weight has been lifted from me.  This is a blessing.