Buying a paper shredder has been on my to-do list for like 2 years now. I should really get on that. I'm sure it beats having to rip everything into tiny pieces myself.

Some of this hype about identity theft bugs me, because they seem to be lumping in lost/stolen credit cards with it. I consider identity theft to be opening new loans and accounts in my name, not using a piece of plastic that I dropped. I had my credit card stolen online, but it took about 30 minutes of my time, and no liability, to resolve. I don't consider myself a victim of identity theft. I'd reserve that term for the guy who had his SSN stolen and someone took out a mortgage in his name and ruined his credit. It's just a bit different in magnitude, no?

I assume #11 was complaints about Rex Grossman.

Lisa is awesome.

The problem is that shredding will only secure you from a /very/ small segment of identity theft. Most of your risk comes from intrusions on your data at a third-party. Unfortunately, there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent that outside of not having an identity.

I always shred credit card offers and old bank statements, etc.. What I've been wondering is whether I should be shredding the random requests from charities. I do open the ones with "free" return address labels so that I can rip up the labels, but I recycle the other ones unopened. Does anyone know if I should be shredding those, too? Thanks.

A lot compared to what? Thats not even half of a percent of the Illinois population.

@DrGirlfriend: The ones that shred your stuff into confetti is great, even better if it also shreds CD/DVD's and credit cards like mine does.

Has anyone ever had their identity stolen by someone rummaging through unshredded garbage (or someone sniffing unencrypted packets on the internet)? I bet not. I'll eat my hat. It's employees at the retail and in the CC processing centers.