Should I buy a shredder? (Or are there alternatives?)

[Lsbcal]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Amethyst ...(snip)... So, I am down to a) burning in the fireplace (seems like a tall order), b) buying a shredder and spending my first year of retirement carefully feeding pages into it bit by bit so as not to burn it out, c) visiting an ER Forum member whose community offers shredding services. ...

If you save maybe 5 years of records, then every year after tax time you just shred the farthest back year's records. Saving e-statements is also nice. This really is not so much work. Paper statements are getting shorter and less desireable anyway.

Also when you get those mailings that have some personal info or your name + Visa application, having a small shredder is handy.

I just take the shreddings, put them in a paper bag and dump in the recycle bin.

[rodi]

We keep our shredder right next to our paper recycling bin - on a desk in our foyer. Mail comes in - gets recycled or shredded except the very rare piece of mail that actually needs attention. If I deal with it daily - it never builds up or moves to other rooms to clutter the house.

Shredder output gets put in the big recycling bin outside.

I have kids - so when I purge old financial records - I can convince the kids to spend time shredding because they think it's fun. LOL. Free labor.

[Alan]

I store my electronic statements to my hard drive and thumb drive so that I have access to them off line and for a few years back

[Al in Ohio]

You can simply burn small stuff less than 20 pages in a chiminea or fire pit too. I do it often.

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sittingduck Problem now is anybody we know with a shredder is bringing us bagfuls of their shreddings and it is becoming more than a horse can accommodate.

The solution is simple. You need another horse.

[Meadbh]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Walt34 The solution is simple. You need another horse.

[traineeinvestor]

I still have access to the ones in my office until the end of 2014. After that, I will need to buy one - or incentivise my daughters to reduce the relevant documents to sufficiently small pieces

[Amethyst]

I know! I'll rent one of these. They eat anything!

RentAGoat

[LOL!]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calico Buying a shredder has been on my to-do list for some time. Thanks to this thread I finally decided to do some online comparisons of different models and prices, read the reviews, etc. I think a micro-cut model is what I need; I have a backlog of financial documents to get rid of. Does anyone have experience with the Dynex 10-sheet micro cut shredder, model DX-PS10MC? The prices on the Dynex shredders are more reasonable than the Fellowes shredders, and the reviews are just as good if not better in some cases.

Just bought this shredder today and given it some use. So here's a little review for folks searching the forum for shredders in the future.

Size of shredded results: This is the third shredder we have used and it is the most expensive at $70 and the best one. Past shredders were all cross-cut and produced strips of about 1/8" x 1" or 3/16" by 1". The cutting blade mechanism of both of these previous shredders filled up with the cut paper. The 1/8" wide cuts was notorious for this and needed constant cleaning to remove the shreds from between the blaces. The 3/16" wide cutter was better as the gaps betweens blades was not so narrow. Also it is generous to call these 'cuts' as the mechanism is more of tearing action. One could read names and numbers on these 1 inch strips without difficulty although putting together an entire mess of strips would take some time.

I am impressed by the micro-cut as the little pieces that come out are about the size of Grape-Nuts (does anybody remember those?), cat litter, aquarium gravel, or about 3 mm x 3 mm with some tearing action and no sharp cuts. It even does this to plastic credit cards. I don't see any casual maid or neighbor re-assembling any of the shredded bits, plus one gets thorough mixing of all the shredded documents (think of shaking up a box of cat litter).

Number of sheets: We typically shred mail, health & financial paperwork and anything with our name or address on it. These often take the form of brochures or folded paper in envelopes. I must say that a shredder that takes 4, 6, or 8 pages at a time just cannot easily handle the thickness of common pieces of mail including those stupid plastic cards with your name embossed on them. Also I like to jam in stuff at an angle which causes things to fold over and thus get thicker as it goes through the shredder. Those are all reasons to get the 10-sheet shredder which seems to have no problem with the kinds of thicker items that we shred.

Noise level: I was surprised that this shredder is significantly quieter than the others, but one does expect a shredder to make noise. It just seems like this one operates more "smoothly".

Bin: The waste bins on previous shredders seemed let the paper bits escape into the nooks and crannies of the shredder and around the edges and out everywhere especially when emptying into a plastic trash bag. Also one could not tell easily how full the bin was because of the dark-tinted or opaque plastic. In contrast, the Dynex has a clear plastic window of about 4 in x 4 in where one can see the shredded bits accumulating which is rather satisfying. However, this window has a gap at the top which will "leak" out the scraps when the bin is full much like the extra gap in a bathroom sink to prevent water overflows when the stopper is used. The bin is easy to remove and replace. Negative: Shredder will not stop shredding if bin is full which can cause backing up into the shredder mechanism.

Size: Bigger and heavier than past shredders. It is about the size of two brown paper grocery bags (do those exist anymore?) and has small plastic wheels.

Extra slot: For DVDs, CDs and credit cards. This is probably useless. Credit cards only get sliced into 4 pieces, but one can easily reassemble them to get the card info. This is mentioned in the online reviews, but not mentioned is that one can just put credit cards into the regular slot to get them micro-cut into about 250 pieces. I put DVDs & CDs into the microwave oven for 1 or 2 seconds to destroy them.

Value: At about $75 w/tax, I think this is a good value for a home shredder. I might even treat it a little better than our past cheap-o shredders. I think the micro-cut is better technology than cross-cut and recommend micro-cut hands down.

[Calico]

LOL,

What a thorough review - thank you very much for taking the time to post that! You answered every possible question I had about the shredder.

I just checked the inventory of several Best Buy stores around here, and they all have it in stock and on sale for $69.99 (normally $119.99) so I plan to pick one up this week.

Thanks again for the valuable information. It makes it much easier for my frugal self to spend the money!

[LOL!]

I see that after you use the shredder that you can probably confirm whether it makes good cat litter or not.

[Calico]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! I see that after you use the shredder that you can probably confirm whether it makes good cat litter or not.

Good point! I may have to give that a try.

[Rustward]

I save shreddables in a cardboard box. Today there was a "spring cleaning day" sponsored by the city. They will take just about anything that they don't want going to the landfill other than ammunition or explosives -- electronics, old paint, herbicides, liquids of unknown origin, any type of batteries, etc.

(Just between us, I wonder how they expect people to dispose of unwanted ammunition or explosives, but I didn't ask).

We took most of the above (other than ammunition or explosives -- I prefer to keep those in reserve), in one form or another. They also have a shredder on a truck, and they shred your stuff while you watch, so we took the box of shreddables.

We also belong to a credit union that does the shredding on the truck thing (but not the "bring anything you want to be rid of" thing) and gives you a free hot dog and soft drink for showing up, so sometimes we do that also. That is usually once a year.

We do have a little consumer-grade shredder and use it sometimes.

[FreeAtLast]

I have a shredder with the cross cut. I shred as things come in.

[mickeyd]

I use a small shredder that provides me with much shredded paper to burn in my BBQ. Makes great kindling.

[travelover]

I use a chipper / shredder.

[audreyh1]

We recently bought this shredder: Amazon.com: Swingline Style+ Super Cross-Cut Shredder, 7 Sheets, 1 User (1758581): Office Products.

Very happy with the compactness and lighter weight. It's also not so loud. Nice bin. Pretty fine cross cut.

[walkinwood]

I just saw this deal if you have an office depot close by

http://www.officedepot.com/specialli..._shredding.pdf