I’m actually writing this post as a request for help. I know that saving receipts from purchases is a smart thing to do, but I don’t really have a system for organizing and filing my receipts, and I don’t really know how long you should keep your receipts either. As you can see above, my current system is just a plastic basket that I keep the receipts in, and when it gets too full, I just toss out from the bottom of the pile. I can’t necessarily say that this system is working, but at least all of my receipts are in one place. Does anyone know of a better way to organize receipts? Since it’s now tax time, I thought about all of the things that I have receipts for and whether or not it’s really important to keep. So please, if you have a better way to stay on top of those receipts, let me know… I am always looking for better, smarter, cheaper, faster, and more effective ways to do things. Thanks!
We use a portable hanging file with hanging files. Each file has a label for a different category. Ex: medical, blog, my husband’s business, tax deductible donations, etc. At the end of the year, they’re all right there for quick reference. Then we band them together and put them in storage and replace with new labeled files. We keep these for three years.
For grocery and household receipts, I use an accordian file and keep them filed by month. I only keep them for 2-3 months to use for rebates.
All other receipts we put in a tub similar to yours. It’s really easy to find what you need when you need it.
I keep my receipts in an accordian file by month. Did you know that every bit of sales tax that you spend is a tax deduction if you itemize your expenses? I tabulate my total sales tax spent at the end of that month & write it on an index card I keep with the file. At tax time I have a year long total of all the sales tax I have spent. Every little deduction adds up!