Where do you keep your receipts?

[eirual]

Where do you store your receipts? Do you keep them beyond the month they were used for?

Do you categorize them? If so, what do you do about a mish-mash shop that has several items from various categories?

TIA!

[CarrieMF]

If it is an electronic or appliance that I may need the receipt later for warranty it goes into the file for those type of items.

If it is for tax purposes it goes into the tax file.

Everything else is chucked when I get home, there is no need to keep them.

[Drummer's Wife]

I only keep important ones - like if there is a chance I might return something big (and I almost never return anything).

Otherwise, I toss them, or tell the cashier I don't need one.

DH keeps receipts to get reimbursed from work - but he turns them in pretty much right away.

[astrophe27]

Any major purchase receipts get filed with warranty stuff.

The rest live in my wallet til the end of the month in case I need to return those socks from Target for a bigger size or something. At the end of the month, out they go.

A.

[nolansmummy]

I keep them in the bottom of my purse...
The important ones, like expensive purchases get filed away, but everyday receipts i just throw into my purse. If i need to return something i know that i always have it with me
I clean out my purse every 2-3 months or so, and throw away the paper though, so it doesn't get too out of control.

[sweetjasmine]

I keep the important and/or large purchase receipts. Other receipts I throw away after I get my statement in and balance the checkbook. But I'm going to start keeping grocery receipts, drugstore, petsmart, etc. I'm setting up a new budget and want to keep these handy for awhile. I also want to separate food and nonfood items that get listed altogether on one receipt from the grocery store for a more detailed snapshot of my budget.

[eirual]

People who just throw them out (which is what I've been doing, but want to change that), are you budgetting and still throwing them out or are you just not concerned with where specifically the money's going or something else?

I used to keep all of my receipts in a cigar box which actually worked incredibly well, but that was through my highschool years and I very rarely actually did anything with them aside from keeping some as memorabilia. The box and its contents have since been pitched.

[crunchy_mama]

Keep big item receipts filed. Others go in the box and tossed after about a month. I don't need to keep them for budget purposes Mint coordinates it all. Occasionally I will have to have one to split purchases but that doesn't happen a ton.

[CarrieMF]

People who just throw them out (which is what I've been doing, but want to change that), are you budgetting and still throwing them out or are you just not concerned with where specifically the money's going or something else?

yes I'm budgeting I just don't need the receipts in order to do it.

[kittynurse]

Originally Posted by eirual

People who just throw them out (which is what I've been doing, but want to change that), are you budgetting and still throwing them out or are you just not concerned with where specifically the money's going or something else?

I used to keep all of my receipts in a cigar box which actually worked incredibly well, but that was through my highschool years and I very rarely actually did anything with them aside from keeping some as memorabilia. The box and its contents have since been pitched.

I use MS Money so I don't need to keep them for budget purposes.

I save receipts for anything that might be returned, electronics and any big purchases.

The rest get tossed. If it has my whole Visa number or my address on it, it gets ripped up and goes in the clear. If it doesn't have the whole number on it, it goes in the blue

Martha

[sunnysandiegan]

I keep all receipts until I do finances next, which is usually every Tuesday. At that point:

~ I compare all of the receipts to my bank download and recycle anything that is a single category that I am not tracking (see below for details), such as regular grocery store purchases with ONLY food items (95% of ours);

~ I save the multi category receipts until the end and I break them up in Quicken, then recycle the receipt unless something else below applies;

~ I keep big purchases, warranty related, auto related, HSA related, electronics, home repairs, and any projects I wish to track;

~ Big ticket items go into a file in the filing cabinet (hanging folder is "receipts"; colored folder is "durable goods"), electronics and home repairs, too (same hanging folder; colored folders are labeled "electronics" and "house");

~ Warranty receipts get stapled to the warranty info and go into our "product info" expanding accordion file in the closet...we go through this once a year and purge the items no longer under warranty and/or what we don't own any longer...I give these with the items when I give/sell the item to friends/family (not charity, though);

~ Auto-related receipts sit in a pile for a few weeks (in the tray with our regular incoming finances/paperwork) and eventually I enter the data I am tracking into my Excel spreadsheet and then I recycle the receipt, except the car repairs; I file car repair receipts in "auto" and once a year or so, I handwrite the info into the vehicle maintenance book in each vehicle and recycle those receipts;

~ Any project-related receipts get clipped together for the month (kept in finance tray) and then I deal with those; some I keep for whatever reason, but most are then recycled;

~ HSA-related receipts are filed with taxes for the end of the year...if we have any other tax-related receipts, they also go here (car registration, for example is in taxes NOT auto because we itemize and can deduct part of the bill).

[Carson]

Originally Posted by eirual

People who just throw them out (which is what I've been doing, but want to change that), are you budgetting and still throwing them out or are you just not concerned with where specifically the money's going or something else?

I throw most reciepts and budget.

I pay cash for some categories, so that's obviously budgeted/identified when I spend the envelope. Don't keep receipts for that.

Household stuff we pay for with our CCs, and I categorize it when I pay our CC bill. We don't have a ton of transactions each month, and they're pretty obvious: Pep Boys, or Home Depot, etc... I go to mixed stores (target) so infrequetly I can usually remember how much was groceries vs. household vs. pets or whatever.

The only receipts we keep are for home improvements. We keep all of them in a small shopping bag. We end up with leftover/extra parts that we take back sometimes, or tools/appliances/mechanics we want to have purchase or warranty info on. I go through them once a year or so and toss the ones that are for obviously consumed supplies. Won't be returning the drywall when it's hanging on my wall!

[Belia]

We have a 12-pocket accordian file- one pocket per month. All receipts go in the proper month's pocket. I also file paperwork and statements from the monthly bills/utilities/etc there.

At the beginning of each month I clean out that month's pocket, which will be full of receipts from the previous year. (For example- on August 1, 2009, I cleaned out the "August" pocket which was full of receipts left from August, 2008.) SO I end up keeping receipts for a year.

Exceptions: Cash purchases that were immediately consumed (fast food, for example) get tossed right away. Big purchases like electronics get filed forever with the manual and/or warranty. Car repair receipts get filed in the car file. Receipts for things I buy for work go in a separate envelope for taxes. Everything else gets put in the monthly accordian file.

I am the queen of buying-and-returning, so I go digging for receipts all the time. It works great for us!

[Turquesa]

My wallet. :

In my defense, I balance our accounts weekly, at least. As soon as a check clears AND I know that I'm for sure unlikely to return the purchase, I chuck the receipts.

While I'm balancing, I highlight the date of purchase, the method of payment, and the amount paid. This helps me enter my purchases into Quicken. Receipts that haven't cleared go back in my wallet, in order by date. If applicable, I'll fold over a second stack for purchases that have cleared and that I may need to return. Another stack may be credit card purchases that haven't cleared.

[Jadzia]

I throw all receipts into a shoebox. That way if I need to return something I can usually find it towards the top. When the shoebox gets full, I go through and shred the old receipts, probably every 6 months or so.

[newbymom05]

Originally Posted by Belia

We have a 12-pocket accordian file- one pocket per month. All receipts go in the proper month's pocket. I also file paperwork and statements from the monthly bills/utilities/etc there.

At the beginning of each month I clean out that month's pocket, which will be full of receipts from the previous year. (For example- on August 1, 2009, I cleaned out the "August" pocket which was full of receipts left from August, 2008.) SO I end up keeping receipts for a year.

Exceptions: Cash purchases that were immediately consumed (fast food, for example) get tossed right away. Big purchases like electronics get filed forever with the manual and/or warranty. Car repair receipts get filed in the car file. Receipts for things I buy for work go in a separate envelope for taxes. Everything else gets put in the monthly accordian file.

I am the queen of buying-and-returning, so I go digging for receipts all the time. It works great for us!

This is exactly what we do.

[samandhenrysmom]

I keep mine in my wallet until I enter the expense on Pear Budget (I record every penny). Then I put them in my tax boxes. When I do the taxes I throw away receipts that are not needed.

[Tofu the Geek]

On my computer. I have a NeatReceipts scanner and software and every receipt gets scanned. Any receipts that could require warranty (electronics, appliances, etc.) or are a possible return get put away in a small, alphabetized accordion folder. Any other receipt gets shredded. Everything is paid with CC in our house, so I need all the receipts to compare to the CC statement at end of month.

The small folder I only have to go through yearly because it's so small and doesn't have much in it. And really, we shop a LOT in our house so the amount of receipts we have is really crazy. NeatReceipts has saved me.

[Staceyy]

I recently read of a woman who stores her tax receipts in empty tissue boxes. I just started doing the same.

[MeghansDad]

Important warranties with receipts go into our safe deposit box. I know it may sound extreme but we know right where they are if we need them.

Home Tax deductable receipts go into a zipped deposit bag i got at the the bank. I just hand it over to our tax guy at the end of the year. Easy. Those bags also are great for the cash only budget people too.