Recently at the recycling center I found a few Box Tops For Education coupons in the mixed-paper bin. As I walked back toward my vehicle a woman rolled down her window and said, “Why are you going through the garbage?”
I told her I was looking for Box Tops For Education for my nephews’ schools. Also that I prefer to think of it as mixed paper.
The woman frowned. “Well, I don’t like it. Some of the stuff we throw in there is kind of sensitive. Private.”
Um. What?
It took me a couple of seconds to form a coherent response. “You should be shredding that stuff! If you throw personal information away without cutting it up you could have your identity stolen.”
She sniffed audibly, then drove off.
Readers: Do you ever throw away things like bank or credit card statements or health insurance info? If so, please stop it. Right now.
Cyberhacks get most of the ink these days. But do a search for “identity theft from trash 2014” and you’ll get news items like “Women arrested in dumpster-diving ID theft” and “Manteca police warn residents junk mail thieves searching trash for identity theft material.”
Be on guard
The recycling center in Anchorage is a bunch of open bins – no fence, no gate. People can come at any hour, including after-hours in the summer when there’s plenty of light to see by and no one to ask why you’re spending so much time rooting around in the dumpster.
In other words, even if the center forbade people to pull out coupons or My Coke Rewards codes there’d be no way to stop them from doing it once the employees have gone home.
According to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse, identity theft was the top complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission in 2013. During that year when 13.1 million U.S. residents had their personal information compromised.
That PRC article has a lot of tips on protecting your identity. Give it a read even if you consider yourself well-informed. You may learn something that will keep you from having to enter the nightmare of trying to get bogus information off your credit report.
Again, it’s easy to dismiss trashcan theft as unlikely. Be on your guard anyway. More than once I’ve seen preapproved credit card applications at the recycling center and also post-office receptacles.
Sure, shredding records takes time. So does having to prove that no, it wasn’t you who bought $18,000 worth of fire extinguishers in Great Britain.*
Related reading:
- How secure is your identity?
- Dumpster wading
- A graveyard of reading
- Got a credit card? Get another one
*This actually happened to me. Fortunately, my card issuer refused to allow the sale.
Identity theft is scary business indeed. Every few months I’m able to find some organization offering shredding services for those items I’ve saved up that are sensitive but I don’t feel like shredding myself. I will generally only use those services if they let me witness the shredding. I guess I’m not a very trusting person when it comes to my personal data.
I feel the same about those services – if I can’t do it myself, then the weak link becomes whether or not they actually do the shredding properly and whether or not the employees do their jobs and don’t go rooting around the documents first.
Good point. After all, plenty of ID theft happens when a server or salesclerk uses a skimmer.
I do have a shredder at home and all those cc offers, bank offers, various bank & investment statements (anything w/my name, address, soc #, ….)…. …get shredded. For the last several years Staples has run a 5 lb free shredding coupon at this time of year (expires 12/21/15) so the BIG tax time load goes there & I watch them run it thru the machine.
I agree with you that using a shredder in 2015 is very important. That lady probably drove off quickly because she may be one of those people who just tear up their documents by hand and throw it in the trash. Times have changed and people should always be paranoid about losing their identity to ensure that they are utilizing some type of system to protect themselves.
I usually tear them up by hand and then cover and soak them with food grease or some other rotten food trash. It has gotten harder to do as I have resumed my “Friday Fridge Cleanout” and have wasted less food, and the number of “fabulous offers” has increased due to improvement in my credit rating.
I hope that, despite her indignation in the moment, that lady follows the good advice you offered!
We were especially grateful for the free community shred events as we cleaned out my mother’s office after her passing… her files were so extensive that we had to divide them up among family members and make several trips to the events that had a limit to how much you could bring. Finally, we found an event with no limit. It was a challenging undertaking during a difficult time, but we treated the provate information of my late mother’s clients the way we would have wanted ours handled.
That experience taught us to keep up with our own shredding, and not let things pile up too long… We wouldn’t want anyone else having to deal with too much of our private information in the event of a tragedy!
Good thing to keep in mind: Don’t dump all this on your kids! Hard enough for them to deal with a lifetime’s worth of stuff if you haven’t been able to pare things down:
http://donnafreedman.com/2013/03/24/lets-talk-about-dying/
I do hope the woman took your advice.
I shred what I can, but did just clip the coupon from Staples for 5 lbs of free shredding.
My dear 91 year old father carefully marks out his name and address with a black marker on every piece of junk mail he receives. If somebody should steal his identity, we would never get it fixed in his lifetime at this age.
I do have a shredder. My bank also offers free shredding to it’s customers. You can’t take in a big patch each time, but I do take in things monthly to be shredded.
I doubt she did, because of the “hmph” noise she made as she drove off, glaring…
Wish my credit union offered free shredding. Oh, well. My own li’l shredder is really hanging in there and it was a hand-me-down that I’ve had for at least 10 years.
I want to say this sensitively, tactfully and diplomatically.
That woman is an idiot.
I have opted out of as many “pre-screened offers”that I can,as well as other sites that send junk mail. If I order anything I comb their website to find a place where I can refuse catalogs and I email them to tell them not to send anything. I still get a small amount of local grocery mailers from time to time when my regular mail carrier is off. I am fortunate to live in a rural area where I am allowed to burn after 6 PM so what I get goes into my burn pile.
Years ago I was volunteering at the local recycling center and happened across my parents tax return check one afternoon while sorting paper. It took awhile for them to resume taking in their paper. Now their papers come to me and I burn them as well.
Wow — was that a stroke of luck, finding their check! If you’re a sorter I bet you’ve seen those credit card apps and bank paperwork et al.
I have my cards, debit and otherwise on a $500 per day limit. I also don’t allow out of country or out of state purchases on the cards. I notify them if I’m traveling. I use PayPal for internet purchases other than Amazon.
Been hacked 3 times now. PITA…
It is indeed a PITA. During one memorable period last year I had four cards hacked within a one-month period. Wondered if it would ever stop.
That’s another tip for readers: Notify your card company when you travel. I do that, too.
Great link to the privacy rights clearinghouse. I make an effort to shred anything that is privacy data.
I used to shred and then my daughter ask to borrow my shredder. I live at the end of town and am allowed a burn barrel that has a lid. I burn that stuff and then when I am sure it is cold, I put the ashes in the garbage. I will probably get flak about burning and pollution, and I know it is bad. I do it about 4 times a year. Feel I am not any worse than all the people burning wood.
I always shred. But what about magazines, etc., that have my name and address on them? Should those labels get shredded too?
On another subject, has anyone mixed the paper shreds with cat litter to make the litter go further, or is that going to irritate the kitties? We are cat-free at the moment, but I thought shredded paper might be a good way to stretch the litter, plus GUARANTEE nobody wants your identity, LOL.
My humane society will take your shredded papers for it’s puppies. They take our newspapers and shred them and said they would take my shredding. I try not to put in any plastic type labels in the shredder not sure that would be good for the puppies.
Good idea! Thanks for sharing it.
Look at you trying to be a one woman fire department. Well, bless your heart.
I destroy everything that could give out any of our information. I try and be as safe as possible but I just found out that another big business was hacked and they issued me a new card. My card didn’t get hit but now I have to change all of the credit card numbers on my reoccurring payments. UGH
Oh and many moons ago someone tried to buy surfboards in England on my credit card. And I had never been to England!
A few years back my Visa card issuer had a “compromise” issue and pulled a whole bunch of cards (including mine) even though nothing bad had showed up yet. Thing is, they didn’t notify me right away and when I tried to buy lunch for somebody the card was declined. Embarrassing. (The letter showed up a couple of days later. Thanks, guys.)
My son went to buy gas a few days after Superstorm Sandy and it was declined! The credit union had caught someone using our card in Philly and blocked the account. They couldn’t contact us because the power was out for a week (we have VOIP phone). Fortunately, the gas station took another card over the phone.
Donna, I think I’ve run into that same woman at the recycling center! 🙂 I recycle my glass there – wish the muni would take it with everything else… – and will often look in the mixed paper bin for magazines. This gal gave me grief for “digging in the trash”. Crazy….
Donna, I am so enjoying all your very useful words. You may not remember me (and in fact my name is different anyway) but I remember you. I’m Rose Cox’s daughter, and the last time I saw you I was a teenager and we were chatting in the rare Alaskan sun on my parents’ back porch. Now I’m about to be 30, I’m a stay at home mom with a two year old and another due in April, and we live in North Carolina on my husband’s post-doc salary.
We’re certainly not in poverty, but I laughed yesterday when I read about you swishing out the mustard container with pickle juice, because that’s what we do here, too (add some olive oil- makes good salad dressing). We cloth diaper, buy used, cut each others’ hair, bundle errands to save gas, share a house with friends to split costs, cook at home because it’s cheaper and better, and relax at the park and the downtown museum (and occasionally the pet store) because it’s free. When I recently put the question “how do you save money?” to Facebook I got tons of good ideas back, but not a single one that we don’t already do in some form.
So I was hoping to tap into your wisdom about being broke and also a parent, specifically about how to balance little peoples’ needs (and tired parents’ needs) in a situation that is less than abundant. Lots of my hacks for living cheap as a singleton no longer work (I can’t squat in a cabin with no water, can’t move into the truck and drive south for the winter, can’t live on ramen and emergen-c when I’m trying to grow a tiny human, can’t take any crummy job that comes along because none of them would pay a daycare bill and I’d be even farther in the hole). It’s not just a lack of money that poses a challenge, but also of time, of energy, and especially of flexibility. Can you direct me to past posts you might have done that address the challenges you faced when you had a little one? Or maybe just share any particular adjustments in attitude that made the difference between impossible and workable?
Kara,
After reading your reply I was reminded of Amy Dacyzyn’s “Tightwad Gazette” newsletter from the ’90s. Eventually it was all compiled in a book. She had six children so I think you would be pleased at her inventiveness and creativity. If you can’t find it used, then most libraries would have the book.
I second the vote on Amy Dacyczyn’s books. And if your library doesn’t have it, ask for an inter-library loan.
I’d also recommend the Penniless Parenting website (http://www.pennilessparenting.com/) because its author is living on a freakin’ shoestring. She even makes her own cooking fat by scoring free chicken skin from the kosher butcher and rendering it.
Something else to keep in mind: acceptance. Unless your husband miraculously gets a huge raise or you suddenly discover a way to make big bucks while home with your kids, the two of you will always be a little tired (or a lot), a little harried, a little broke and a little overwhelmed. Those conditions are simply part and parcel of young parenthood, especially when you have two kids close together and only one salary.
The good news? It gets better. As the kids get older the workload will change (not necessarily decrease, just become more manageable) and some costs will go down (although new costs will pop up).
If you can go with the flow, e.g., “We have two wonderful little boogers who take almost all our time and energy but we wouldn’t trade ’em,” then you might find things a bit simpler. Not easier, just simpler.
In and among all the chaos you somehow need to find time that’s just for you and your husband. It’s great to be a united force as parents, but you need some periods when you aren’t just wiping butts and pureeing bananas.
So when you’re asked what you want for your birthday/Christmas/anniversary/whatever, reply “Enough cash to pay a babysitter for at least one night out.” You and your husband need to get out once in a while and remember that you’re not just mama and papa, but two people in love.
As for my site, check the tag cloud for entries like “frugal hacks,” “frugality” and “personal finance.”
Incidentally, I ran into your mom at the Huffman Carrs about a week ago and she gave me the update. It was a nice surprise to see your name here.
The interest in “Hard Core Poor” makes me realize I need to get back to a project I started and dropped earlier this year: A book that not only talks about general tactics (cloth diapers, buying used, etc.) but also includes frugal hacks that can get you things like free produce, links to organizations that will pay for orthodontic and dental care, rewards programs that can get you free gift cards (I paid for almost all my Christmas that way) and eyeglasses for under $2.
Basically it would be everything I’ve learned in my own broke times plus seven years’ worth of reporting for MSN Money and other sites.
Right now I’m working on another personal project. After that, back to the frugal hackery.
Thanks, both Donna and Anne, I will get that book, and I’ll read yours when you’re done! And penniless parenting has already been a help, but I’d forgotten about it (there is definitely a scarcity of memory too). That date night advice really hits home. A meal out once every six months is good enough for us, but I notice we get cranky quick if we skip our hour of check in before bed for more than two nights. I think that is what really reminds us who we are, and it just happens to be free.
I had a similar “interaction” with a gal at the recycling center when I dumped some recycling out of some heavy duty plastic contractor bags, in a large dumpster to reuse. I spoke to the custodian on duty and he told me …”you’re fine”… and agreed with my thrift…”those things are not cheap!”…That lady was a real jerk about it. In addition, Unbelievable you have had a shredder 10 years. I bought one a year ago and it failed three weeks out of warranty. Thank goodness I bought it with my American Express which doubles my warranty and almost immediately credited my account. Sad… as this thing wasn’t cheap. Debating now whether to go second hand or buy another new one. I usually shred my junk mail, bag it and use it to start fires in the wood stove. Then sift the ashes and spread them on the yard like lime. This wood/paper ash is an excellent amendment to your lawn’s soil…and it’s FREE….and GREEN.
What does wood ash give your soil? I’m interested because I could use the ash from my pellet stove to help out the poor soil in the backyard.
The wood ash is a very good amendment to the soil and provides results similar to potash and lime. Be sure to spread this thin. Spread it and in a couple of days you’ll notice “greening” in your lawn where it was spread.
Definitely scary stuff. I’ve been “manually” shredding our sensitive documents for a long time, but it would be nice to actually have a shredder to do that.
My banker offered to shred free when I asked her. She was gone one day. The snippy wannabe banker refused and was very nasty. My banker was doing me a favor and no longer could because “wannabe” tattled.
The senior center offers free shredding. However, the put it right next to the director’s door who then complained about me every time. So, someone would carry the shredder some place where I could not disturb the powers that be. They complained I brought too much at my once a month visit. So, I quit going there.
I bought a fire pit reduced to half price. That won’t fail. It is legal. So, that is my solution to having a shredder. It works and could do double duty in the yard.
I keep an extra waste basket by my desk for materials that need to be shredded. About once a month I go into shredding mode and get it done. On another note…do NOT plug your shredder into the same electrical circuit as your computer, laptop, etc. I’m talking about the whole circuit, not just the same outlet. (Check your electrical box to see what’s connected where.) I fried a mother board and only then did I read the shredder manual that warns about electric surges from a shredder!
Yikes! Thanks for the warning.
I suppose we ought to get a shredder. For now, I take advantage of the weird setup we have with recycling in our area. There’s a communal recycling bin out back, but our trash gets put out front once a week. So anything with sensitive information, including old credit cards, gets torn in half (or more). Some goes into recycling, some goes into the trash. They’re also picked up on separate days of the week. So both pieces of the mail are never out at the same time.
Our stuff helps start the wood stove. Cheaper than buying fire starters.
I shred everything that could be useful to an identity thief: application forms (for unwanted life insurance, for instance), paper with account numbers, balances, identification numbers (my work uses a number separate from SS#s for employees; I wish all schools and businesses were as respectful of SS numbers), and anything else I wouldn’t want to see in print or online.
My Dad wants to shred all papers with his name and address: is that overkill?
I don’t shred the whole page — I just tear off the part with my name and address and run it through the shredder.
And about those Social Security numbers:
Don’t let anyone on Medicare carry his or her card because the social is part of the thing. Instead, photocopy it and use a black marker to color out all but the last four digits. If s/he is going to the doctor, it’s OK to take the card — but lock it up afterward.
When a doctor or dentist asks for your social, decline respectfully. “I don’t feel comfortable giving it” has worked for me thus far.
Recently, I helped an elderly friend dig out from under a mountain of charity solicitations. As in over ten thousand “ask” letters. She was so worried about her name and address in the trash that she just started bagging up the ones she didn’t have time to sort through and the mountain grew…
For our Christmas gift to her, my family and I opened, sorted and discarded it all. The scariest thing I saw was that she had received mail from “psychics”, asking for her date of birth!!
I showed her on my computer that name and address are not the invitation to thieves she thinks they are, but giving ANYone she doesn’t know her date of birth is a four-alarm fire. A simple google search with just her name and city turned up way more information than her address. She had no idea that property and tax records were so readily accessible via the magic of the internet. Imagine what an evil intender could do with her DOB.
So, while I appreciate this warning, Donna, I gould also encourage everyone to be vigilant about ALL their information and to check in on their elderly friends and relatives to make sure they’re not being targeted by scammers, “charity” or otherwise.
Good to keep in mind. Thanks.
We’ve been pretty vigilant about shredding anything and everything with our names and addresses on it, and I periodically search online databases to remove our names and addresses from there as well. It’s creepy how much information can be scraped from public records and published online. I recently read, as well, that there are algorithms to figure out your SSN using your name and birthday which is information people freely post on, say, Facebook so that’s something else to be aware of!
My shredder died this year after being overworked for the last 5+ years. I went and purchased a new one, cheap, too cheap, I took it back b/c it over heated after ten pages. So I spent a decent amount, using points and coupons I got one for $160. It cross cuts 12 pages at a time and is made to do credit cards and disks. I love it, well worth it. I do own a business so I have A LOT to shred every year including employee info that contains their private info. Of course every year I get to shread an old years worth of receipts b/c I only have to keep so many past years info on hand for the IRS. I shredded 7 bags of stuff over the last few weeks.
Eternal vigilance is one of the prices of being a business owner.
I should mention, one of my employees uses an app to photograph her paycheck so that it is deposited into her bank account. I had to tell her a number of times that that check is an official document with MY info on it. So she better shred it, tear it up really small or leave it for me to do so. Kids today don’t even sign their checks on the back, not even when they deposit the item into an ATM machine. Clueless kids
I hadn’t thought about what happens to the check after it gets scanned into the account. Yikes!
Another business owner has paid vendors with checks for years. Someone created checks using her account info, wrote several high value checks and had a third party (scammed that victim too somehow) go to cash the checks. It drained her account over $30,000. She changed her banking info and it happened again for the same amount! Now she has to “pay” them by logging onto her bank and write them an electronic check that the bank then “cuts” and mails to the vendor. That way if someone tries to create a fake document the bank teller can see right away. People can scam on checks, just depends on how much of an effort they want to make.
She got her funds back but the bank/banks insurance had to eat the over $60,000. That is something that costs us all!
A couple I know up here put the mortgage check in the mailbox and put the flag up. Big mistake. Someone stole it, “washed” it and wrote himself a nice fat check. They didn’t check their account regularly so imagine their surprise when the mortgage company contacts them with a “Where’s your payment? And you owe us interest!” letter.
It got cleared up, but it was a huge pain in the neck.
Myself, I put all outgoing mail in a box at the post office. There’s no such thing as a crime-free neighborhood these days, and all it takes is one theft to ruin your day — and maybe your credit.