Invest in a paper shredder and shred all of your financial papers, receipts, etc. before you throw them away. There is too much identity theft out there and if they are shredded, no one can get your information.
Just a word of caution about paper shredders--just this week on TV they reported that small children are getting their fingers caught in and cut off in the shredders. The pictures of those little fingers were just awful to look at. So please, parents, keep the shredders out of reach of small fingers.
What a timely tip! I already had a paper shredder on my list for a shopping trip today. I use shredded paper in the chicken pen mixed with grass clippings. It stops the ground becoming muddy in wet weather and quickly breaks down with uneaten food scraps and chicken manure, which I then rake up periodically to make a rich soil additive.
Be sure to spend the extra money to get a crosscut shredder. The shredders that only cut paper into long thin strips aren't good enough because they can easily be pieced back together by a determined identity thief.
Of course, if you put the shredded docs into your compost bins like Pat suggested, then the cheaper shredders are just fine since no one will be able to get at the pieces. Just be careful that if you use the resulting compost on your vegetables or fruits, that the inks used on the papers aren't toxic. (There's always something, isn't there?) :-)
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