Printed But Not Forgotten

I'd like to pause from my usual printers/scanners blog for just a moment to consider what happens to printed pages after we no longer need them. I spent a couple of hours this evening going through a pile of old tax records, documents, schedules, and other papers from a long time ago, trying to make some room in my overcrowded basement. And realized in the process that a lot of this paper had information that I really didn't want anyone else to get hold of -- namely, my social security number.

So I'm buying a shredder this week.

I don't need to add my voice to the many urging people to avoid identity theft by properly disposing of their financial and other personal records. I just thought I'd say that, if you can print it, you can tear it -- and when you print out personal information for your own records, you should make sure that, when the time comes, you dispose of it with the same care. Just to be on the safe side.