We bought a shredder a while ago because I kept taking stuff to shred to work. I had enough stuff that appeared in my house that I did not want to leave my home in the garbage where anyone might look at it, and I also enjoyed destroying things.
What kind of things do I enjoy running through my shredder?
- Most of the credit cards I have kept sending me “cheques” that I can use to make cash withdrawals and get charged 20% interest from when the cheque is cashed. These things have my credit card number on it, and thus if someone got a hold of it intact, I would be in intense trouble. They shred very nicely.
- Credit Cards that I do not use, I have a bunch of credit cards that I do not use, that I am going to cancel, but I have already shredded them. They shred very nicely, indeed.
- I also shred many old financial documents that I don’t need to keep, don’t want to burn or leave out in my garbage either.
- Cancelled cheques and the like as well.
- Old pay stubs.
I put my shredder in the same class as my safe deposit box as being something important in my Financial Planning, an important aspect of safety and security in finances.
Yes, the shredder is an important household appliance. I often remind people to get one and use it regularly, specifically my grandparents – seniors are easy targets. Another thing that shreds well: credit card applications that come in the mail. They might not be dangerous, but they’ve still got your name and address printed on them when they hit the blue box. I prefer to shred those.
I also enjoy destroying things:)
I made friend with the shredder last year. I feel it will be a lifetime thing.
Can you advice on how long we have to keep our records? I have a list from Real Simple magazine as reference, but the American standards might be different. I read on the CRA website that tax records should be kept for 6 years instead of the more commonly known 7 years.
I use my scanner liberally. Are scanned images are acceptable records?
I would go with whatever the CRA says. As for other records, depends on what you want from your records. Old Credit Card bills are mostly for your protection, as are old pay cheques and such.
good call on the shredder, when I lived in an apartment building, someone went through my garbage, found those visa cheques, and wrote some nice ones to themselves, then went on to open a Rogers cellphone account under my name.
I now have equifax and transunion required to call me anytime anyone accesses my credit for anything, to verify that is indeed me who is trying to open an account.