Personal identity security is one of the most talked about topics in recent years. That’s because there are so many people out there who would love to get a hold of your personal information and steal your identity. And that’s pretty easy for these criminals to do when you don’t protect your important documents. Whether these documents have your social security information on there or your bank account information, you have got to protect yourself by properly disposing of these documents. You might have some idea of how to do this, but there are probably tons of methods that you haven’t heard about yet. Keep reading down below to learn about the top ways that you can dispose of your important documents and keep your personal identity safe.
Shred, Shred, and Shred Again
Shredding is absolutely the best way that you’re going to be able to dispose of your documents. When you shred documents, there is no way that criminals will be able to piece together everything and get your confidential information. If you haven’t gotten yourself a shredder yet, you can easily pick one up at your local store for a reasonable price. There’s no reason that you have to go for anything fancy, either! All you need is a shredder from a high quality shredding services company that will properly cut up those papers that you want to get rid of.
Burning Your Important Documents
Another idea if you want to get rid of important documents for good is to burn them. If you have a fireplace in your house or a fire pit around back of your home, then you can easily start up a fire and burn those important documents you want to get rid of. This is a sure-fire way to get rid of documents and have them never see the light of day again! However, just be careful that you don’t burn yourself or cause a fire when you’re doing this.
Soaking Them in Some Water and Then Tearing Them Apart
If you don’t want to burn your papers or buy a shredder, then your next best option is to soak them in water. When you soak paper in water, this is going to protect your information in two ways. Number one, this is going to smear the ink on the paper and will make it impossible to read the information. Number two, you can take it one step further and easily shred the paper with your hands when it’s soaked. When paper is soaked it becomes super easy to pull apart to protect your information. Just throw away the shredded paper and you’re going to be completely safe!
Redacting Pens
Now, there are times when you don’t want to completely get rid of the documents, but instead you want to protect certain pieces of information on the paper. For this, you can get a redacting pen or a Sharpie that will allow you to mark off those areas of the paper that you don’t want anybody to see. For example, if you need to show some papers to your bank, but you don’t want some personal information to be seen, then you can easily redact this information.
Hole Punching
Now, this one might be a bit tedious, but if there is no other option available to you, you can use a hole punch to punch out those parts of the paper that you don’t want people to see. Just hole punch around the area.
There you have it! When you want to protect your personal information, this is the way that you’ve got to do it. Never throw away pieces of paper that have confidential information on them.
