Shred day is my new favorite holiday, supplanting yak shaving day. I’ve been remiss in observing shred day so I’ve got some catching up to do. Shred day is observed by some in early January and by others in mid-April. It’s when you shred a year’s worth of records you no longer need. How many years’ worth you should keep is a matter for sages sager than I, but whatever your number, shred day is when you make sure you haven’t exceeded it. I’ve been very bad, so I’m observing early and might have to repeat soon.
I notice that a folder of useless old bank statements (from banks long-since merged out of existence) is a lot more compact whole than shredded, but I’ve jumped on the identity-theft paranoia bandwagon, so it’s cross-cutting for all of 2002. It’s a mildly melancholy process if you peruse the charges as you go and remember that night you spent in that hotel and almost – well, you didn’t, and that’s that so you might as well shred it and move on.
I wonder if shred day itself isn’t headed for the bin in the next few years. More and more records are kept electronically to avoid just this sort of paper waste. As I shred 2002’s statements I realize that 2008’s analogues are virtual. I suppose that if my financial institutions go belly-up, I’ll have bigger problems than trying to provide backup for some expense account item, but I still have the nagging feeling that I should be downloading everything in PDF and stashing it away in some safe virtual place.
Anybody out there want some cheap confetti?