Greetings!

No problem. Shredding stuff "the right way" is something I always tried to do before I bought a cross cutting shredder. But there are some times when it is just not as practical, and you have to pay more attention. It is certainly good enough in most cases.

As to recycling, I cheat. I build up a bag of shreds (or junk mail that is so generic it doesn't need it) and bring it with me to the office. We have a huge recycling plan here, so I just put it in the cube recycle bin. It is just a little every day (except for "bags of shreds" days), so it works out well. That, and they find recyclers for the glossy stuff too. Or perhaps that is too strong - it becomes their problem (and the company they hire) to deal with it.

Paranoia. It never hurts to start protecting yourself. Granted, one slip could cause a problem, but it is also a matter of probability. There is no certain defense against identity theft or fraud. You need to do business in the real world, and that information is necessary. Example: if you write personal checks to pay bills, your checking account routing number is floating around to anyone with access to (or intercepting) that check.

But it comes down to threat assessment and probability. I make it as hard as possible and leave as few windows open for this kind of thing. Sure, it can happen. But the odds of it happening are far less because of those precautions.

If you are very concerned, I strongly recommend joining a credit watch service. All three of the credit reporting companies offer a service where they monitor your credit history and inform you immediately of any changes. It also gives you a good baseline of where your credit is today and what is on the credit reports. This way, if something does slip by and your identity is stolen, you have documentation of when it started, find out about it much sooner and can control the damage much more easily.

It is not really obsessing. I don't have to watch every day and only use cash for every transaction. It doesn't change the way I live or anything. It is just a series of habits you develop or cultivate over time. Save and/or destroy receipts, ask yourself why someone needs the information they are asking for and what they will do with it, stuff like that. More than anything else, it is just a matter of being aware of your surroundings, what can happen and to be alert.