Organizing Receipts - 4 Easy Ways to Stay on Top

1. Keep the same routine. Whether you put them in a Ziploc bag in the glove compartment and retrieve them every week or put them in your wallet, always follow the same routine.

2. Schedule a regular time to input your receipts. Whether it’s weekly or monthly or if your accountant inputs your receipts, make sure that it’s done on a regular basis. If you get behind, it’s more likely that it’ll get put off longer.

3. Keep a filing system that makes sense to you. Some options are: chronological, alphabetical or even a combination of the two. If it's easier, label some hanging folders with a few main topics, like purchases, tax remittances, and bank statements. After a month or so, depending on how full it gets, empty the folders and refile papers into specific files that are further back or in another cabinet. This will free up space for your more immediate documents as well as keep the current documents close at hand, when you will need them most.

4. Make photocopies of all receipts. Thermal paper receipts must be photocopied as soon as possible because the ink on these receipts will completely wear off within a few months.

Copyright 2006. Kitt MacLean. Article may be reprinted so long as the Bio is included. Please inform the author of the use.