Shredders didn't work so well for Enron, but they can at your house, especially at tax time. (And the shreds do make great packing material.) What to turn into confetti and when:

Always

Papers with your Social Security number, preapproved credit-card applications.

Monthly

ATM and deposit slips, after recording them in your checkbook and reconciling them with your monthly bank statement; credit-card receipts, after checking your statement.

Yearly

Bank and credit-card statements, if you don't itemize deductions; monthly and quarterly brokerage statements, after comparing against year-end summaries; paycheck stubs, after reconciling them with W-2 or 1099 forms.