Others say...

"Sometimes it's not worth being stingy; use the proper oil"
This is a just a quick review to let you know about Fellowes (and other shredder branded oils) versus your standard kitchen vegetable oil.

Remember that vegetable oils go rancid quickly; they're meant for eating and not industrial lubrication on a regular basis. The use vegetable oil trick is actually intended for people who use their shredders OFTEN, not OCCASIONALLY. I have a giant bottle of canola oil at the office for the big shredder, I use the branded oil at home. The amount of shredding most offices do is enough to warrant using vegetable oil since more than likely by the end of of a typical maintenance cycle, the oil is long gone from the blades and feeding mechanism.

Do not use olive oil, corn oil, cottonseed, peanut, palm, or ANY vegetable oil with an odor. Unless you want your shredder smelling like food, stay away from any vegetable oil with a distinct odor. Canola oil is the best substitute for branded oil. Also look for lower grade canola cooking oil, the ones you often find in thrift stores or 99 cent stores. It should look more "watery" than viscous.

If you think Fellowes is taking you for a ride in selling shredder oil, think again. It's like someone mixing food coloring and water to make "ink" for their printer. Sure the price is way more than it should be, but that also doesn't make the home alternative absolutely correct all the time. Use the Fellowes oil if you shred papers ocasionally and pretty much find yourself oiling once in two weeks. One 12 ounce bottle should last you QUITE a long time. If you're in a heavy office or shredding daily, then go for the canola oil alternative. The last thing you want is to have sticky, smelly blades that have rancid vegetable oils on them.

Fellowes oil has no odor and is quite "watery". If I could buy this stuff cheap in the gallons, I would for all my shredders. Vegetable oils have the caveats I mentioned above, but they DO work if you're in a pinch or trying to save some money.

As a side note, always use shredder bags when possible. They save you from dealing with the "dust" that shredders create. And yes, you can use generic 4-11 gallon trash bags instead of "shredder" bags! That's ok.

"Probably more of a 3.5..."
Fellowes 32057 Powershred P-57Cs Shredder
This shredder is good enough for the home/small office. Make sure to buy the lubricant though. I used it for a few days w/ out the lube and it was struggling after about 4 pages. Worked much better post-lubrication. The pieces of paper were a bit longer than I was hoping for but it does meet my information security concerns.

"lubricant for fellowes shredder"
a good idea. never used before. hoping this will keep shredder from ceasing to shred.

"Lubricant for shredders."
Lubricant is necessary for proper operation of shredder and lengthy service. It is recommended by shredder manufacturer.

"Fellows Powershred Lube: Good Stuff"
Fellowes Powershred Lubricant works very well. Once I used it I noticed the blades cut much better.