Decluttering

9 years ago

Have a small guest closet crammed with decades worth of documents and papers that need to be gotten rid of to gain some much needed space. About 3 20x20 boxes worth. These papers are of a type that can't be tossed in the trash and will have to be thoroughly destroyed. Attempt with two personal shredders working simultaneously for an afternoon did not even put a dent in the amount as they frequently have to "rest" when overworked so as not to burn out the motor.

Have looked into free community shredding services, but they only allow a couple of grocery bags worth--same for banks that will shred free for customers. As for companies that shred for a fee, it is usually pickup or drop off material, so you don't really know if the job was done correctly or not. Or, the job has to be for a large company for them to warrant bringing a shred truck on site.

It has been suggested to burn the papers in a barrel or a dug out hole in the ground, but am not comfortable with that--have heard of too many horror stories happening with people's attempts to burn leaves. Would appreciate some suggestions for disposal. Thanks.

Featured Answer

sushipup1

9 years ago

Keep calling around to shredding companies and ask about drop off service. Many of them do it, they just don't advertise it. Or for the free community services, just break it down into several bags/trips. Get a couple of other people to drop off with you. There;s a local church that holds free service annually, and I bet a $20 donation to the church would help them to see their way to bending their rules.

In short, breaking down into several smaller bunches will get the job done.

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Comments (8)

Kathy Yata
9 years ago
I've read about pouring something nasty on them. Oil or syrup maybe.

You could look into making fireplace logs with them then burn them. Looking for ideas on making paper logs found this. So really all you need to do is pulp the paper then get rid of it! Might be worth a trial run anyway.

Just shredded some papers, maybe 10" last week. Set a time to stop before shredder got hot, set another timer to get back to it. Seemed like it was going to take days but there was a tipping point where it finally seemed doable. Now I want to make paper bricks if I come upon a big batch of papers that need to be defaced!
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Pea
9 years ago
I burn mine...when the neighbor burns his yard trash i go and throw my papers on the fire...you could use a barbq grill or one of those metal fire pits.
graywings123
9 years ago
I suggest you re-consider the idea of turning the documents over to a company that shreds for a fee. There is no reason to believe they are going to do an inadequate job of shredding. It's their business, and in the absence of any evidence they have done a bad job in the past, you should be able to trust them.

In the course of your life, you trust the skills and integrity of other people. This is just one more time. Do it and get on with your life.
apple_pie_order
9 years ago
Try calling your accountant or your doctor's office to see where they send their papers to be shredded. The drop-off services work just fine in my area. You can ask them if they use cross cut shredders or whatever your preferred method is.
jemimabean
9 years ago
My parents have used shredding services that have come to their home and shredded on site, and they didn't have large amounts. Keep checking around to see if someone will come and shred on site. I believe that my parents paid $30 for it.
Kathleen Squires
9 years ago
I had a huge pile of boxes as well I burned up two shredders before I finished as well as a family bonfire night where we burned a bunch Halfway through I discovered most had private information in the top quarter. I finished by doggedly attacking the pile for half hour stints a couple days a week. I tore the private information off the pages and fed that to the shedder and simply trashed the rest of the page. Saved my third and newly purchased shedder from joining the other two.
teaka123
8 years ago
Some of the public storage rental units offer shredding services. I've used one and they charge by the pound - cheap. I also used Office Depot/Max.