Do you use a shredder?

[Salsa]

For shredding bills, letters etc
I see them selling for around $50. Wonder if we should get one?
Do you use one? Do you think its worthwhile?

[luna moth]

Nope. I do chop stuff in half though, or scribble over it. So that nobody can use it as ID.

Big stuff though, like anything with birthdates or cc numbers or whatever, I chop up small and split it between a couple of different bins.

To me, a shredder is just another piece of clutter that I don't actually need. The $50 could go somewhere far more useful.

[human bean]

We've had one for a couple of years now - it gathers dust most of the time but when we do do a purge of old paperwork I feel much better having shredded it for privacy reasons. I only use it for bills, identifiable paperwork etc

It was a real cheapie on sale (around $30 if I remember) and it can be a real PITA because you can't do more than about 5 sheets and it can't run for more than a minute or so without a minutes rest. Shredding a big pile can take a while, but you get what you pay for I guess! Either that or I should clear out the study more regularly!

[lauren22]

We use ours alll the time for anything we wouldnt want other people to have their hands on I guess because DF is a barrister we use it more but we get good use from it
HTH.

[feeb]

We borrow my parents one but takes a long time as only a few pages at a time and needs regular rest.

I then bag all shredded paper and take to pet shop.

[Cherished]

we want one too for shredding everything, you never know who is going through the rubish tip!

[MantaRay]

I use one and shred anything that has our address or other personal details on it. It might be overkill, but identity theft can happen from people going through bins, and even a name and address can get fraudsters a long way, so I'd rather be safe than sorry.

[Salsa]

ok, thanks girls Think I should be even more vigilant about ripping things up well. I might buy one if I see something for under $50 and then remember to use it regular so not to have same overload issues a few of you have!

[Eenee]

I got one cos I was too lazy at ripping things up LOL- plus I love shredding stuff, we got a fairly decent one so it shreds credit cards aswell.

[luna moth]

identity theft can happen from people going through bins, and even a name and address can get fraudsters a long way.

So identity theft is as likely to happen by someone pulling a letter out of your mailbox.