Gayle’s interview begins around the 33:30 mark of the recording, but we encourage you listen to the whole episode. (Tony’s first guest on this show was children’s book author Jenny Blakey.)

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The Clutter Fairy gets lots of questions about shredding. Where can I get it done? How much does it cost? Do I know of a free shred day? It used to be that the only people who cared about shredding documents were large law firms. Now everyone wants to destroy sensitive paperwork as protection against identity theft—a new security threat that comes with living in the Information Age. A shredding industry has grown up to handle the needs of big businesses, but how are ordinary consumers and small businesses supposed to tackle a big paper pile problem?

NAPO Houston (of which The Clutter Fairy is a member) has a corporate partner in the shredding business: Southern Shred. Like other shredding companies, Southern Shred offers pickup or on‑site destruction of secure documents either on a regular schedule or as a one-time service. But Southern Shred also looks out for customers who don’t need that level of service by offering convenient satellite drop‑off sites.

These are secure drop boxes at locations all around the Greater Houston area where you can take your documents and deposit them in a locked container for a fee. The going rate was $1 per pound at all the locations we surveyed. When the drop box is full, Southern Shred sends one of its state-of-the-art mobile shredding trucks to the location to shred the contents.

The satellite locations provide a perfect solution when you’re purging the filing cabinet, emptying a lifetime of records from a parent’s home, or getting ready for a move. Instead of feeding those stacks of paper into your home shredder five or six at a time until the motor burns out, take them to a Southern Shred drop‑off location, pay a modest fee, and voilà!—your problem is solved quickly and securely. I plan to recommend this convenient, valuable service to all my home-office organizing clients.

Southern Shred operates 20 satellite locations around town. The Google map of Southern Shred drop‑off sites is complete with business names, addresses, and phone numbers. Take advantage of this great service, and make your nagging pile of sensitive documents go away today!