GARBAGE SAFETY

What did you throw in the trash today? A bank statement, some junk mail credit card offers, a condom, a pizza box from lunch, six empty beer cans, Kleenexes, drawings, notes of phone messages and numbers, etc. You put all these pieces of your life, along with identifying information into a non-biodegradable plastic sack and sent it off into the world.

Government agents have been known to search through suspects' trash. It's easier and faster than getting a warrant. Trash collectors and vagrants are known to do the same. Truth is, once your trash leaves your curb, there's no telling who might get into it.

What could someone do with all that? They could certainly steal your identity. They could fill out a credit card offer, have the card sent somewhere else and charge thousands in your name. They could text someone whose number you'd written down and tossed after it was in your phone, a friend or lover. They could set up a meeting and kidnap them (why wouldn't your lady meet you in the woods for a walk?) kill them, drop off some of your DNA at the scene and leave you with the bill.

That's where one of these babies comes in:

The  Kobra C-500 meets NSA and NATO standards for security. It can shred 500 sheets of paper at a time. It chops DVDs, CDs, Blu-rays, floppy discs, credit cards and probably most things you can cram in it. Check out the manufacturer's video to see how huge and awesome this thing is.

While they may be out of your price range, you should at least have one that's NSA level 6, and you should be sure you can run more than just paper through it. If people can't tell what something is, they won't be able to use it against you. Anything with DNA, namely condoms, Q-tips, and bathroom materials should be finely chopped before they're sent off into the frightening world we live in.

Poor Man's Tip: Obviously, the government is mostly targeting the poor with this type of activity, and we're the least able to prevent it. If you can't afford a decent shredder, tear everything up yourself and put the pieces in at least three different receptacles. Make sure to take each batch of trash out on different days in an irregular pattern. I typically use five trash bins, and rotate the first four weekly. The fifth, which includes "the final pieces" to any documents, goes out on a random day near the end of the month.

I also use chemicals to deter snooping. Before taking any trash out, I pour a fair amount of bleach into the bag (double-bagged with heavy duty black sacks). Not only will this destroy most of what's in the bag, it keeps just about anyone and anything from getting into my information (no raccoons running through the streets with phone bills for thugs to find). You can use other chemicals, like ammonia or paint thinner, but I've found bleach to be the most cost-efficient and effective.