You know you have made a good start in  your secure clean up of your old Financial Records!

I attempted this weekend to find the desktop that my computer sits on and the floor in the room I do most of our personal finance work (and mostly where I write this hallowed piece of literature). Most of this clutter is old bills and old financial statements (although some of the clutter is pictures and other things that I am not sure what to do with), so I started using my shredder to dispose of these old records (NEVER throw out old bills as they can easily be used for identity theft).

I view as “old” anything before 2006 mostly (except for anything to do with my taxes which I keep forever right now). I shredded old check books from old bank accounts (closed ones), old hydro bills, bank statements, etc., and it felt very satisfying.

The shredder did an excellent job until it stopped and I noticed a flashing light on the top (a flashing RED light) which I had never looked at, and in fact I had “overheated” my shredder and it needed to cool off before I did any more work with it. This gave me a feeling of elation knowing that I have disposed of that much financial stuff.

I guess I could try to either buy a bigger shredder or find a place that does secure shredding, so that I don’t burn out my shredder.

Anybody else have any interesting shredder stories? No ties in the shredder stories please.