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| | The **The Business Consortium** Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Organization Tuesday: Receipts Redux, Managing from From No-Tech to High Tech | Views: 512 | | Dec 03, 2008 2:51 am | | Organization Tuesday: Receipts Redux, Managing from From No-Tech to High Tech | # | 
Julie Bestry | |
All happy families
resemble one another, but each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.
~Leo Tolstoy, Anna
Karenina
A
friend read my post from last
week and commented that he hates dealing with receipts and
wishes
his expense reports and everything thing to do with receipts would just
go away. He laughed at my geeky love for all things detailed and
intoned in a voice much
squeakier than my own
"Hi, my name is Julie and I love to balance my checkbook and file
receipts."
It made me think of that Tolstoy quote. Could it be
that people who have disorganized receipts, or find dealing with
receipts at all to be so annoying, are generally disorganized all the
same
way, whereas people who carefully organize their receipts have a
variety of ways of doing so? Or might it be the reverse?
It starts the same for all of us:
we make a transaction in the store (or online), trading cash or credit
for some
goods or services, at the end of which we receive a receipt. At this
point the two categories of humanity diverge.
For those of us
who embrace organizing and the minutia of financial transactions, we
carefully check
the receipt for accuracy, note the exchange policy
printed on the return, annoy
the customers behind us with how slowly we
are moving out of their way and then tuck the receipt neatly
in the
appropriate compartment of our wallets. Upon returning home, we put
away
our items immediately and place our receipts in a pre-set location, at
which point
we will diligently determine
how long, for what purpose, and in what
manner the receipts should be stored. Eek!
We sound like drones. But
organized, efficient drones.
Then, there's the rest of the
world. The individually unique and creative receipt-receivers have
lives far too varied and interesting to stop to think about pesky
receipts. Instead of considering the receipt as a valuable commodity,
something that benefits the holders in terms of tangible proof for tax
deductions, rebates, repairs, returns or exchanges, or the accuracy of
a charge, the receipt recipients gives receipts all the
love, care and
attention one gives used chewing gum wrapped in tissue. They let the
salespeople stick the receipts in their shopping bags without ever
perusing them, or they crumple
the receipts in their palms as they stuff their gloved hands deep into
their coat pockets, or they push the wrinkled receipts to the bottom of
their purses to mingle with others of their kind. Eventually, receipts
likely find themselves in piles on the microwave, atop the dresser
drawers, or on a side table.
Yes, Mr. Tolstoy, these folks may
lead dizzying lives of excitement that distracts them from the very
minutia that professional organizers love so dearly, but they are
startlingly similar in
their approach to receipt clutter: grab,
crumple, stuff, lose, bemoan!
So, let's look at the four main ways you
can organize your receipts to suit your purposes.
No-Tech, No Expense--If
you lead the simple life...
If
you don't have to create expense reports, are unlikely to have
tax-deductible receipts and you aren't tracking your expenses to create
or maintain a budget, the most common reasons to keep your receipts
(even temporarily) are to make sure your bank account or credit card
was charged accurately and in case you later wish to repair, exchange
or return your purchase. In most cases, your receipts will
outlive
their utility within 30-60 days, depending on how long your statements
take to arrive (assuming you're not checking accounts online) and the
individual stores' return policies.
If this is your situation, make your life as simple as possible:
- Empty
your pockets, bags, purses and wallets each evening to make sure you
have all of your receipts. Set
an alarm on your cell phone or computer
to remind you to do this nightly until it becomes a habit.
- Toss
out receipts for
cash experiences
(like fast food meals) and non-returnable tangible items--unless you
are tracking all expenses for budget purposes.
(We'll talk about budgets and spending plans some other day.)
- Gather
the
day's receipts and put them on top of yesterday's receipts in the
basket or clip you've designated for this purpose, preferably at or
near your bill-paying center. (If you're persnickety like me,
put the receipts in
reverse chronological order by timestamp, too.)
- After the
close of each month, put
the receipts in a #10 envelope, write
the month and year on the envelope and keep the envelope handy until
you've checked your bank and credit card statements against the
receipts for accuracy. Keep the envelopes in a manila
folder in the
FINANCIAL section of your family files.
- Consider keeping
big-ticket (furniture, electronics) receipts in a separate file.
No-tech, Minimal Expense--If
you prefer a little more style or panache...
Keep
your receipts someplace a bit more charming. First, follow steps 1-3
under the no-expense method above, but stow your receipts in a
container designed for the purpose, anything from a Receipt
Keeper Shopping Wallet to a small poly
accordion-file receipt-holder, the kind often used
for coupons.
High-Tech, High Touch--If
you need to carefully organize and analyze...
If
you don't just save receipts, but need them for budgeting, business and
expense-tracking purposes, you'll want to step things up a notch.
High-tech organizing of receipts is dependent upon scanner hardware and
scanning software.
You may
have seen mention of the NeatReceipts
software/hardware combo in magazines or online, and if you've traveled
through
many of our nation's airports in the past few years, you may even have
seen a live demonstration of how the hand-held scanner works.
Neat
Receipts® is only about the size of a three-hole punch, so it won't
take up much the valuable real estate on your desktop and can even fit
in your suitcase. It may be small, but for do-it-yourselfers,
particularly households that don't want to invest in a huge, bulky
scanner or professionals who need something flexible for use on the
road, Neat Receipts® has some cool features.
Basically, the
little scanner and associated software allows you to scan each bill or
receipt (and even business cards) and then by the same magic that
CardScan
figures out which words on a business card belong in which
field of a contact management program (how does it DO that?), Neat
Receipts® not only scans but develops whole little categorized
databases and reports. But the information doesn't need to just sit
there. Once you scan and organize your statements and expenses, you can
then export the information to your spreadsheets (like Excel or
Google's free version), TurboTax, Quicken and QuickBooks. It's even
accepted by the IRS! And, for people like me, it's especially
intriguing because it's a hardware/software combo that's Mac-compatible.
So,
Neat Receipts® is great if you like learning new software (though it
seem easier than most, perhaps on par with learning iTunes). But what
if you don't want to deal with hardware or software, and like my friend
mentioned at the start of this post, you just want it all to go
awayyyyyyy?
High-Tech,
Low-to-Moderate-to-High Touch--You want cool software
options, but know you won't read the manual...
There's
a cutely-named option that's getting a lot of buzz lately. So much
buzz, bloggers have called it "Netflix for receipts". For
now, though, I'm intrigued enough to consider Shoeboxed,
and urge you to see if it's a good
solution for you.
Shoeboxed itself is free and doesn't require
you to download any software. It lets scan in your paper receipts or
take digital photos and upload them, or, and this is a really cool
feature, lets you set up an email address with them such that the
receipts for online purchases go directly to your account! The online
Shoeboxed account then organizes your receipts into "shoeboxes" (like
folders, but more whimsical) to sub-categorize your purchases. Thus
far, it's a lot like Neat Receipts® except for specific functions of
the software and the fact that your account being online lets you
access it even when you're away from your own computer.
But if
you're looking for the hands-off approach, peer into
Shoeboxed.com's
receipt mail-in program options. Unlike the free do-it-yourself mode,
this program has a monthly charge (three, actually,
depending on how many receipts and/or business cards you'd like them to
scan for you, ranging from about $10-$50/month), but it's for those
who really don't want to deal with this stuff on their own. It's also
probably not for the light user, or the family who saves receipts for
casual just-in-case use. But if
you're a solopreneur or an on-the-road
professional, it seems like quite the
time-saver. Once you sign
up for an account, it works like this:
- Gather up all your receipts.
- Stuff them in a pre-paid envelope (again, along the lines
used by Netflix).
- Shoeboxed scans and processes all your receipts and mails
them back to you (in case you want to stuff a pillow with them).
- You
get access to all of your categorized receipt/expense information in
your account, online, ready for you to manipulate and sort as you
prefer.
- Someone else does all the work and you don't have to sort,
collate or date any of the information.
No paper cuts. It's not for everyone, and it's certainly not
for
someone with as many control issues as I have, but it's a mighty cool
idea. Shoeboxed certainly isn't the only game in
town. Pixily,
for example, is enjoying its own flush of attention. Pixily
is more expansive, scanning oodles more than just receipts and business
cards, with five levels of plans from free to $60/month. Considering how many people out there hate scanning as well as dealing with their receipts, I imagine Shoeboxed and Pixily will have a lot more competitors by this time next year.
Whew. Over two weeks, that's a lot to absorb regarding
receipts. Any questions?
--
Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
Visit http://www.juliebestry.com to save time and money, reduce stress and increase your productivity Private Reply to Julie Bestry | | Dec 03, 2008 4:28 pm | | re: Organization Tuesday: Receipts Redux, Managing from From No-Tech to High Tech | # | 
The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World | |
Great Information. Great Article. Thanks for Sharing.
Richard "The Eagle" Motivator
Live and Act Like a Champion Today!!
http://www.eagleenterprisesusa.com/
http://abhp-network.ryze.com Private Reply to The Eagle: Motivating Champions Around The World | | Dec 03, 2008 8:49 pm | | re: re: Organization Tuesday: Receipts Redux, Managing from From No-Tech to High Tech | # |
Julie Bestry | | Thanks, Richard. I know this is a busy time of year for people, so even if people find the time to read, they may not make the time to comment. I really, REALLY appreciate you reading & letting me know. Have a great day!
--
Julie Bestry, Certified Professional Organizer®
Best Results Organizing
"Don't apologize. Organize!"
organize@juliebestry.com
Visit http://www.juliebestry.com to save time and money, reduce stress and increase your productivity Private Reply to Julie Bestry | | |
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