miws
On the subject of shredding. Yes, *definitely* crosscut.
Before I bought my current crosscut shredder a few years back, I had a simple strip shredder, as that was all I could afford at the time. (I believe it may have been on sale as well.)
Once I noticed that a strip of shredded paper could easily have an entire line of info on it, I made it a point to shred the important info “vertically”, and then mix it up really well.
Sure, someone with enough time and determination could have possibly “put the puzzle together”, but at least they wouldn’t be able to get pertinant info from a single strip.
I’m a bit paranoid leaning on this, though I’ve never had any problems. So, I even tear off and shred the address labels from catalogs, before tossing the rest of the catalog in the recycle. Also, don’t forget the order form, with your info preprinted, that is usually stapled at the center pages of the catalog.
Sadly, our apartment building doesn’t have compost, or yard waste. So, though it’s not very often (maybe once every couple of months or so), I need to bag it up and put it in the garbage dumpster. :-(
Mike