Welcome to Week 9 of the Summer Shred Challenge where we’ll be organizing receipts.
If you are just discovering the challenge, feel free to begin with this week’s paper declutter assignment and complete new challenge assignments through week 13. You can then backtrack and tackle the assignments that you’ve missed (see bottom of post for the complete list of challenge posts & assignments).
So this week, we turn our attention to those receipts. You know what I’m talking about…they can be found shoved in purses, overflowing from drawers, and sprinkled all over the flat surfaces of our home.
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Those of you who began participating in the Challenge in Week 1 are paper processing experts at this point, and know full well that all incoming receipts should be placed in your inbox when they enter your home.
I choose to include a “Receipts” folder within my action file, where all receipts in the Inbox get filed for future processing during my weekly paper administration appointment.
When it comes to organizing receipts, start by gaining clarity regarding WHY you are keeping receipts in the first place. Typically, there are 5 reasons to keep a receipt:
{Keep for the long-term}
1. Tax purposes (to document both personal and business expenses)
2. Proof of purchase for “big ticket” items
{Keep for the short-term}
3. Potential returns
4. Budgeting and tracking your spending
5. Expense reimbursement
If you have receipts that are not being kept for any of these purposes, by all means DUMP THEM. For those that remain, let’s explore options for organizing/storing each category of “Keepers”.
1. ORGANIZING RECEIPTS: Taxes
Freedom Filer users have a built-in method for organizing all tax-related documents. If you use this ready-made filing system, you file your current and last year’s tax documents (including expense receipts) in the light-blue portion of your system. Past year’s tax documents are located in the dark blue (Archive) portion of the Freedom Filer system.
Not a Freedom Filer user? No worries. Use an accordion folder to organize your tax-related receipts for each year (file by month within the folder).
If you are serious about going “paper-less”, consider investing in a document scanner such as NeatDesk.
NeatDesk is a high-speed desktop scanner and digital filing system that will quickly turn all the paper on your desk into organized digital files.
NeatDesk utilizes the patented Neat software to identify and extract key information from your paper files, then automatically organizes it in the easy to use database. You can assign your receipts to various tax categories, and create tax reports with the click of a button.
Not quite ready to make the investment in a NeatDesk, but still want to go the paper-less route? Turn your phone into a portable scanner using an app such as Genius Scan. Genius Scan uses your smartphone camera to create a PDF document of your receipt.
You can then export your documents to a digital file folder located in a variety of cloud-based storage sites, such as Evernote, Dropbox, or your iCloud Drive. Simply create a digital folder for each tax year, and use a consistent, descriptive naming convention for your documents.
2. ORGANIZING RECEIPTS: “Big Ticket Items”
I typically recommend storing receipts for major purchases (that are not tax deductible) along with the warranty paperwork for that item. You may prefer to store the receipt, warranty and manuals together in your manuals binder that you created in Week 7.
Alternatively, you can store warranty and receipts for major purchases together in a file folder within your long-term reference papers, or in your preferred digital file system.
If you are a Freedom Filer user, major purchase receipts are stored in the Permanent (red) section of your filing system under Warranties.
3. ORGANIZING RECEIPTS: Items You May Return
As I mentioned, I have a Receipts folder within my action file, which serves as a temporary holding place for all incoming receipts until my weekly paper processing appointment. I keep receipts for any item I may potentially have to return in this folder until the return period has ended. Once those receipts have “expired”, they get tossed out in as part of that week’s paper processing session.
Another option would be to store this category of receipts in a separate container like a mini expandable file, and keep the file in your car to facilitate returns.
4. ORGANIZING RECEIPTS: Tracking Spending
This category of receipts is truly temporary and should leave your life just as soon as you’ve extracted the data that you need from the receipt and incorporated it into your budgeting tool (spreadsheet, Quicken, etc.). If you engage in online banking, many of these receipts are unnecessary to keep at all. aa
For example, I do not keep any gas or restaurant receipts, since I automatically know how to categorize an expense from Starbucks and Exxon when I see it on my bank statement. Receipts from Target and Kohls are kept, since items purchased at these stores may fall into several different budget categories.
As part of my weekly paper processing session, I enter the data from my receipts into our household budget spreadsheet, then promptly toss the receipts (unless it represents a tax deduction and/or a major purchase).
5. ORGANIZING RECEIPTS: Expense Reimbursement
Perhaps your job involves a routine expense reimbursement process for out-of-pocket expenses that you incur. Many of the organization and storage methods discussed under the Tax Receipts section can be used for this category of receipts as well.
My husband submits receipts for reimbursement to his employer on a weekly basis. We’ve designated a location in his office where these receipts are kept, and we utilize a labeled binder clip to keep work-related expense receipts together and tidy.
He uses a PDF scanner app on his phone to create digital copies of each receipt, which he then sends to the accounting department via email.
Whether you choose to live in the world of paper receipts or digital receipts, it’s important to designate a home where this category of receipts will be consistently stored. It’s equally important to develop a system for regularly submitting these expense reports, and keeping track of what receipts have been reimbursed, and which ones are still outstanding.
If you have not yet read the overview of the challenge, do that first before proceeding to this week’s assignment.
Your Assignment for Week 9 – Organizing Receipts
1. Gather all loose receipts and sort them into one of the 5 categories of receipts outlined in this post
2. Toss any receipts that cannot be categorized into one of these 5 reasons for keeping
3. Decide on a location and/or storage solution for each receipt
4. Explore paper-less options, including document scanners and smartphone PDF scanning apps
I’m excited to hear how the Challenge is going for you so far. Leave a comment and share your successes, roadblocks, etc.
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This post is part of the 13 Week Summer Shred Paper Declutter Challenge
Just discovered the Challenge? I invite you to read the Challenge Overview post first. You can then begin to work your way through the weekly Challenge assignments below:
Week 1: Mail
Week 2: Handy Reference
Week 3: Long-Term Reference
Week 4: School Papers
Week 5: Kids’ Art
Week 6: Memorabilia
Week 7: Manuals & Warranties
Week 8: Catalogs & Magazines
Week 9: Receipts
Week 10: Business Cards
Week 11: Lists & Notes
Week 12: Recipes
Week 13: Coupons
Happy paper decluttering Friends!
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