by Texas Homesteader ~
Sometimes you need to permanently dispose of confidential papers such as sales receipts, credit card statements, etc.
Come see how we easily dispose of confidential documents without using a shredder. And that ‘trash’ actually serves a purpose! Check out this Homestead Hack:
(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)
Gathering Confidential Documents At Home
This time of year RancherMan & I gather financial documents needed for our income tax return. Now is the perfect time to do a quick cleanup of the remaining confidential documents that we no longer need to keep.
We utilize electronic bill-pay for almost all of our bills. And we enroll in paperless billing whenever possible too.
But there are still some cases where paper receipts are received such as packing slips that serve as receipts, etc. So even though we fight against extraneous paper coming into our home, come it does!
Many people shred these documents for security’s sake. But we don’t have a shredder and I don’t fancy ripping all that paper by hand.
So here’s what I do to actually USE that ‘trash’ instead.
Turning Paper Into Valuable Compost
Paper receipts are often received as packing slips for online purchases, etc. If you’ve read my post about how to Easily Compost, you know properly balanced compost needs both ‘greens’ such as vegetable peels, etc. as well as ‘browns’ such as dry leaves or paper.
To satisfy the ‘brown’ requirement of our compost I often use Repurposed Cardboard that I receive from our community volunteer position.
But today I’ll be using this paper from confidential documents that I’m needing to permanently destroy.
I use those sheets of paper to line the small compost bucket I keep beneath my sink. It keeps the bucket a little cleaner and that’s a good thing.
But these unneeded paper documents also provide some of the ‘browns’ requirement for my compost.
When I go out to my *Compost Tumbler I dump in the entire contents of the compost bucket and give it a quick stir.
Now our files are cleaned out PLUS we have compost in the making to help our veggie garden grow.
Can You Use Thermal-Paper Receipts In Compost?
I don’t like to put thermal paper into my compost. Thermal paper is coated with chemicals that should not be in my compost nor in my garden. I use only uncoated paper in my compost.
So any thermal-paper receipts we have are instead stuffed into my most recent EcoBrick.
What’s an EcoBrick you say?
It’s simple. An EcoBrick is just a plastic bottle you use to stuff non-recyclable trash tightly into. It corrals all those small pieces of trash into a tightly-compacted bottle.
I use all manner of unrecyclable trash for my EcoBricks. Small candy wrappers, plastic caps and yes – these thermal paper receipts too. You can stuff a surprising amount of non-recyclable trash into one of those bad boys!
Supposedly there are many things you can use an EcoBrick for too – even use them for building! But my needs are much more simple.
I’ve most recently used my EcoBricks at the bottom of a large galvanized trough I was planning to plant. That trough will become a raised bed for my vegetable garden.
The EcoBricks at the bottom help provide drainage before planting. But they also significantly reduce the amount of soil I need for this huge planter. And, as I mentioned, those EcoBricks actually help corral receipts too.
Who knew this confidential documents ‘trash’ could actually serve a purpose??
~TxH~
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My Favorite Garden Hacks
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Seed Planting
- Planting Seeds In A Milk Jug Mini-Greenhouse
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- Repurposed Cardboard Seed-Starting Pots
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- How Leaves Benefit Your Garden
- Using Manure In Your Compost & Garden
Garden Styles
- 3-Sister’s Garden – The Original Companion Planting
- Planting A Large Galvanized Trough
- Where I Found The BEST Raised Bed!
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Water/Irrigation/Drought
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Good ideas, I love those ecobricks, and have started creating some of my own. We do have a shredder for confidential documents, but rather that putting the shredded stuff in the trash, we use it as insulation around our well head. It seems to work very well, and since it does break down (and even mush down as it gets wet) there’s usually room for more the next time we have a stack to shred.
Good repurpose, Patty. Gotta love it! ~TxH~