Reddit reviews AmazonBasics 12-Sheet High-Security Micro-Cut Paper, CD and Credit Card Home Office Shredder with Pullout Basket

Most of our gifts were replacements or upgrades of things we already owned. A really cheap and awesome gift we got was this stainless steel scraper, which makes it so much easier to transfer food from a cutting board to a pot/pan. We also got a matching set of this luggage belt with a TSA lock--I actually gifted one to my husband years ago, but we used this as an opportunity to replace his now worn-down belt. We also replaced our kitchen scale with this Amazon Basics one, which works really well. Another Amazon Basics item we received was this paper shredder, which is a kickass workhorse of a machine.
One of the first gifts we got was a Corelle dish set that I LOVE--it's so much lighter and more durable than the stoneware set we were using. We also replaced our silverware set with an Oneida set that we both picked out, which was a very sweet and meaningful experience. We already have a nice Oneida silverware set, but it belonged to my husband's late mother, and he wanted to retire it so it wouldn't take any more wear & tear.
Those are all gifts that were my hands-down favorite things we received. We were also able to buy two expensive items off our registry thanks to Amazon's completion discount. We purchased a Sonos soundbar and a Miele vacuum that were absolutely worth every penny we spent on them!

I use JotNot Pro for random stuff, like when I'm not home & need to capture a document, or for receipts or business cards or restaurant menus or whatever. Otherwise, I use a dedicated Epson WorkForce Pro GT-S50 Document Scanner + Adobe Acrobat software. I scan to PDF with OCR & then save it into Google Drive so that I get a built-in search, online backup, and accessibility across devices. It looks like this model is the newer version of the scanner I have:

https://www.amazon.com/Epson-WorkForce-ES-400-Document-Scanner/dp/B01M4NANZ6

It was not a small investment; the reason I got this (fast) scanner model was because my goal was to remove the hassle of scanning paperwork, meaning I would be more apt to actually do it because there wasn't that barrier of dealing with a slow scanner & crappy software. I scan & shred my paper mail & other documents on a daily basis. I use a micro-cut shredder to reduce the chances of information theft:

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-12-Sheet-High-Security-Micro-Cut-Shredder/dp/B00D7H8XB6

I had a hard time finding a portable fireproof safe for important documents like car titles, social security cards, passports, etc. and ended up settling on this oversized fireproof bag as part of my bug-out (72-hour) kit:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076BQB45V

Other than that, I try not to keep any paper, outside of physical books. I use my Kindle for stuff like novels sometimes, but I've found I like paper books a lot better IRL than digital books, especially cookbooks or other books that have special formatting. Pretty much completely paperless outside of my books & the stuff in my fireproof bag. Even stuff like manuals for equipment go into digital storage on Google Drive (usually by finding the PDF manual from the manufacturer's website, rather than scanning it).

Having a solid paper digitizing system & not keeping paper around really makes life a lot more simple.

> while shredders that pulverize paper into dust cost thousands of dollars but are essentially reconstruction-proof.

...Or you could just buy several $100 micro-cut shredders from Amazon. Good luck reconstructing this.

I've heard good things and we'll be purchasing. No hands on experience yet. http://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-12-Sheet-Security-Micro-Cut-Shredder/dp/B00D7H8XB6/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1406925571&sr=8-5&keywords=shredder