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Friday, June 11, 2010

How do you organize your receipts?

The reason I ask is because I recently went through mine and I had some in there from 2006. Yeah. It's been a few years since I cleaned the box out (the last time was about a year ago and I think I threw receipts from 2003 - 2005). Some of these receipts were so old that the ink had faded off! Yes! And there were grocery store receipts in there (like I'm going to return my vegetables I bought in '07?)!

My system isn't really too impressive, but I save all receipts in a shoe box in my closet and when I need to take something back, I just fish it out of there. Well, I should back up. FIRST, I put my receipts in my wooden organizer in kitchen (it has 4 spots so I put my receipts in one, check stubs in another, and miscellaneous takes up the other two). I eventually file the check stubs in the filing cabinet downstairs (oh yes people, I have every single check stub ever received since I started working my very first job in 1997! I can't throw them out because I'm almost proud of them, all organized and separated by place of employment in chronological order, might I add).

Anyway, I decided enough was enough. I went through my box of receipts and filled a whole plastic bag with receipts. I kept some old ones for big things (the stove and refrigerator) -- I'm not really sure why because it's not like they're under warranty anymore!? I now only have receipts going back to fall of 2009 and my box can start over again.

Yes, I am and have always been a packrat.

I took a pic of the bag of receipts I'm throwing out but Photobucket was being a royal bitch yesterday so I couldn't get it uploaded. I will get it up on my blog soon because I know you're all dying in suspense!

Okay, so here is 4 years' worth of receipts that I threw out. Yep, that's a full Target bag!
Photobucket

Also, my husband put the garbage out yesterday afternoon despite the fact that garbage had already been picked up (he never knows what day it is but has an approximation of about 2 days in either direction). Today it's raining so now I have wet garbage in front of my house. Awesome.

8 comments:

Shannon said...

I have a file bin under my desk for all the receipts. (Also a pile on my desk, but we won't worry about that.) Basically all the receipts have their own month. So 12 folders.

At the end of the year they get piled and grouped together with a rubber band. Then I take the previous group and go through them. All the larger purchase receipts get saved and the groceries, gas, etc. get thrown away.

This keeps my bundles much smaller and somewhat organized. I can usually find a receipt around here quite quickly too!

Jen said...

I do the shoe box thing too. I will be checking back here. I'm dying to find a new way to organize all of this stuff.
I probably have receipts from four or five years ago!

Anonymous said...

Hey, you think 4 years is lots!!

Sarah said...

LOL, Anon, 3 years is a lot when you save every single damn receipt! I am SUCH a packrat. Wish I wasn't.

Ariel said...

I only save receipts for things that may need to be returned (i.e. electronics, appliances, etc) if they're just grocery receipts I pin it to the cork board and replace it with the next one I get. I also shred them when I don't need them anymore.

Rachel said...

I have this big bin I throw them in, it's called the trash can. It's a really shitty system because when I actually NEED a receipt for something, I cannot find it.

I'm so helpful.

Anonymous said...

Holy moly! I'm horrible. I don't keep receipts for ANYTHING. Or if I do, I keep it in my purse for about 2 weeks then it goes straight to the trash! LOL

Anonymous said...

We kind of do the same, except being very cautious to not recycle any receipts which have our credit card number. Those get ripped up and either tossed in the recycle bin or in the garbage.

We have a drawer in the desk and we use it to store receipts to check against our online charges. Cash receipts usually go the day we buy something.