Friday, November 09, 2007

Great tip for organizing receipts

Here's a great tip from a participant at one of my recent presentations:

Use a 3-ring binder to separate receipts by store name, in alphabetical order.

I'm a big fan of the binder system for filing and the above tip is a great idea for receipts that end up crumpled in your wallet or purse, or scattered throughout the house.

Grab an empty 3-ring binder, use clear sheet protectors or pocket index dividers, then take 5 minutes to sort and file your loose receipts. Do what you can in 5 minutes, then stop.

Continue sorting and adding your receipts, 5 minutes at a time, whenever you have some time over the next few days / weeks.

Going forward, as soon as you come back from a store, supermarket, doctor's office, etc., take the receipt and file it in your binder.

Some additional tips:

1. I like to put the most recent receipt in front. Some might like to put the oldest receipt on top. Choose whatever way works for you.

2. As often as you can, try to go through and toss old receipts if it's beyond the return/exchange time period, or if you won't need the receipt for business expenses or tax purposes.

3. Hold on to receipts for new appliances, equipment etc. for as long as you own the item.

Feel free to share what works for you with receipts!

Helping you to Sort Things Out, one step at a time!

Regards,
Eva, http://www.Sort-Things-Out.com