Taming the Receipt Beast

Keeping receipts for all your expenses is a necessary evil.

The biggest reason is, just in case you get audited by the IRS (God forbid). They will want to see that you spent your money exactly how you said you did. The only way to do that is to have the receipts as proof. They also want to see the actual receipt. Bank and credit card statements will not be enough.

Your collection will also help your tax preparer better understand how you spend your money so they can find every deduction and credit you qualify for.

They will also help you better understand how you spend your money and categorize your expenses correctly. While you might see an Office Depot charge on your credit card statement, you won’t know exactly what you bought without the receipt. Did you buy office supplies? Did you print flyers to hand out at an event? Did you buy furniture? These could all be categorized differently, guiding you to different choices to cut costs.

While keeping them is critical, it can also be a pain in the behind. Check out different ways to store and organize those little scraps of very important paper.