I bet your desk at work is immaculate, right? Congratulations! But what about your home office… if you are anything like me then this will be a disgrace. My desk in the study at home is a dumping ground for all the mail we receive in our household and I am terrible at separating out letters which need attention from junk mail and statements which need to be destroyed or filed. Add to this all the other bits and bats I collect: lovely drawings my children have done, offer vouchers, information leaflets and adverts and it makes for quite a sight!
This Christmas I have some time in the house over the festive period and I intend to put it to good use and get to the bottom of the out of control pile of junk I am hoarding, and I am itching to get started. One of the best ways to dispose of personal documents which may contain sensitive details is to shred them and then dispose of the resulting shreds. Shredders tend to have different settings and one of the most completely destructive is the shredder confetti cut option which will give you an impossible-to-reconstruct result. Be ruthless and only keep the paperwork which you just can’t do without and remember to keep on top of it going forward.
Office shredders are designed to deal with huge volumes of shredding so don’t feel you have to go out and purchase this type of model. Many home office versions are available which will take a sheet or two at a time and some even fit over a conventional waste paper basket for convenience. Make your New Years resolution to keep a tidy home office – not only will you create a nicer environment to be in but your other half will thank you for clearing up the mess too!