Now to continue the series of this week about saving you money by being more secure. Today, I want to looking at shredders. Not the Shredder of Ninja Turtle fame.

I am talking about the shredders that take a document and cuts them into little pieces of paper. Shredders are not the perfect solution for making documents unreadable before throwing them in the trash. If you want to prevent people from really reading those documents, then to need to hire a document disposal service. However, a portable shredder is adequate for the average family or individual.

A good shredder may not totally prevent a thief from getting your information, but it will definitely make it much harder. You will never make it totally impossible to prevent identity theft, but you sure can make the job extremely hard.

There are two basic types of shredders. The first type is a straight shredder where paper is cut into thin strips the length of the paper being shredded. The second type is what is called a crosscut shredder. This is where the paper is cut in across as well as lengthwise.

What should be shredded:

• Personal checks
• Expired Drivers licenses
• Bank statements
• Credit card statements and receipts
• Pay stubs showing your income and employer

Each of the above items in the wrong hands can open the door to identity theft. So watch what you put in the trash as well as their condition.

I have seen shredders ranging in price from $25 to over $200. We purchased a crosscut shredder about 4 years ago for under $50 at Wal Mart. It is still works quite well.

We bought the shredder because it was a crosscut type. We can shred up to 3 pages of regular paper at the same time. It also has a slot to shred old credit/debt cards. In a normal week we usually empty the basket under the shredder about once a week.

For a more complete guide paper shredders I recommend that you go to HeavenlyOffice.com. There you will find out all the you want to know about shredders in plain simple language.

How do you dispose of your old bills and credit cards?

Tags: Heavenly Office, identity fraud, identity theft, New Year, Paper Security, Shredder