Here's an idea if you have a large amount of paper that needs to be shredded and have a small shredder that can handle only so much or the motor gets hot if it runs too long. I used this method to destroy old checks when we changed addresses.
Fill a sink up with water and place all the papers in there then wait a few hours they will turn to mush Stir them around and squeeze them out with your hands, then place them into a plastic bag for the trash. Takes a lot less time then shredding.
By NoRulesArt from Sunny Florida
This page contains the following solutions.
Keep a pair of scissors near your paper shredder. Then you can cut the private information off of the page, and shred that. Keep the rest of that sheet for scratch paper.
I highly recommend to never post your home address (# portion) in photos anywhere on social media. Even though you are not displaying your complete address with just the # portion of your address, it would easily be researched online.
Invest in a paper shredder and shred all of your financial papers, receipts, etc. before you throw them away.
When shredding paper you only have to shred the parts with your personal info. Recycle the rest or use the blank side as scrap paper.
Always keep your personal information stored in a safe deposit box.
Please be careful about giving out personal info on websites, including thriftyfun.com. Last week I posted a comment about a cute little dog photo on thriftyfun.com.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
An old friend is asking me for my email address. I don't want her to know where I live, in what country, state or city. If I give her my email address is there a way she could know or find out?
By sophia from Vista, CA
You can get a free e-mail address at hotmail.com, yahoo.com,
icq.com and others. I have a couple of them that I use for very specific people. They do not require to list a legal name of any sort, nor any postal address.
If you have a need to hide that drastically from her why don't you just stop all correspondence with her. Just end the communication. No contact. Done.
Personally, I'd be more concerned if she has your telephone number, unless it's a cell phone. I've easily found home addresses via tracing a phone number by simply visiting whitepages.com and using reverse lookup.
I traveled to a big family event over 1,000 miles away from home. There was a very distant relative (through marriage) that was collecting snail and e-mail addresses from everyone. I had just met him, and he seemed weird to me, so I think I gave him our P.O. Box address (we use that for business), and I did NOT give him our e-mail address. When he saw that I didn't put down an e-mail address, I told him I don't give it out to very many people, because we've had problems with being spammed. That was the end of that conversation. It has been a few years, and I don't think he's ever tried to contact me (or my parents, they were at the event, too).
It's okay to say no, and that you're not comfortable sharing much information. If it's hard, make up an excuse like I did. I do have a relative who I haven't spoken to for probably over 10 years, and he fills my inbox with tons of forwarded mail (never personal notes). Thank goodness I use that as my junk mail address. I just delete his mail, it doesn't harm me, but it's kind of a pain. So this is not an unrealistic excuse.
Does anyone know the name of the website that you can go to for removing your name and other personal things from the web? My niece is a probation officer and she needs to remove her name, address, phone #'s, etc from Google and other websites that have this information. I removed my info a couple of years ago, but I can't remember the name of the site that I went to to do this!
By Jackolyn Smith from GA
Perhaps the agency where she works can help your niece with this? I am sure she's not the only probation officer to need to do this so there must be standard procedural help available at her job.
We are giving an old computer to a friend. What can we do to clear the memory of our personal information?
Donna from Columbus, OH
I just recently came across this info.
InfoAve Questions and Answers
Cloudeight Information Avenue
John Asks About Erasing Data From His Hard Drive
There are a lot of different software programs that claim they can erase files and data from the hard drive so that they cannot be recovered by anyone. Have you ever used any of these programs and if so which ones would you recommend? I have been a subscriber of your newsletter for a long time and have used several of the programs you have recommended and have been completely satisfied with them. Thank you for being out there and providing such accurate and informative information through your newsletters. John
Our Answer
There is one free program which works well and it is one which have used for many years. It's called "Eraser" and there is nothing simpler to use. You can download "Eraser" free (no spyware or adware of course) by visiting this Web site.
A couple of things you should know: When you delete a file from Windows, it is not really deleted. Deleting a file simply frees up the space that the file occupied so that space can be used for other things. In other words, deleting a four-megabyte file simple tells Windows that the four-megabytes of space once occupied by that file is now available for use. The file still exists and can be recovered. You can never erase a file, you can, however render it virtually unrecoverable by overwriting it many times with data. This is how Eraser works. It overwrites the space occupied by the deleted file many times with random characters, effectively rendering the deleted file unrecoverable. The more times the freed space is over-written the less likely it is that the file you deleted could ever be recovered.
The FBI and other investigative agencies have access to very powerful software recovery programs. The can extract data even from damaged hard drives. Such software as used by these types of investigative agencies is available to anyone. The reason why most law-abiding citizens would want to thoroughly erase data is to prevent the recovery of passwords, social security numbers and credit card information from their hard drives. Anything you type or do in Windows leaves a trail somewhere. It's best to erase all sensitive information before selling your computer. Simply deleting the files is not good enough.
You could always FORMAT drive C with the click of a few buttons..... Now that would erase EVERYTHING (except the operating system, I believe) & the new owners would have to install all their own programs, so may be too drastic for what you want. Just google "reformat Hard Drive" to get the instructions if you want to,
or click this link to read CNET'S ADVICE: forums.cnet.com/
OR Microsoft's advice:www.microsoft.com/
Otherwise, that ERASER program someone previously suggested sounds good & efficient!
Even though it sounds very wasteful, the best thing to do with a computer you don't want anymore is to take a sledgehammer to it. Even if you "wash" it and give to someone you trust, you can't control what THEY do with it down the road. I'm sure anyone who has ever experienced identity theft would gladly have paid a few hundred dollars (or whatever an old computer might be worth) to prevent the identity theft. After you've destroyed the computer ask your local public works department how to dispose of it properly. I know this is hard for people like us who don't even want to waste a soda tab, but sometimes safety needs to outweigh thrift.
you don't have to destroy the actual computer... just take out the hard drive and destroy that. a new hard drive can always be put back in
www.asktcl.com is where you can download a free erase program. You can erase your whole harddrive with this program. Once you erase there is no turning back!! Make sure this is what you want to do. This website is a lady who gives computer advice and tips for happy computering. This is a trust worthy site.
Go to Worldstart.com and check their tip archives. They just covered that subject in today's e-newsletter. Good luck, and God bless you.
Prescriptions from Express Scripts come in mailer bags with the address stamped on them. How do I destroy that address information before I throw away the bag? Shredding by machine doesn't work, alcohol and nail polish remover don't either. Melting them on a burner on top of the stove makes a mess (and toxic fumes).
The microwave does nothing. Writing to the company got a reply saying basically it's my problem, not theirs. I've been cutting them into small pieces, but it takes forever. Does anybody know a better way?I cut mine up too. It is the safest way. I save up a few, stack and use my sharpest scissors to snip a bunch at once. I turn, snip, turn, snip. It goes fast.
Best way and guarantee destroying address would be cutting it up.
