Receipt Box

As my children grow up and start making their own purchases, I find myself sharing little tips for them to help them get more organized. One of those tips is to save their receipts. You never know when that new shirt will rip 10 days after you bought it or you will discover something has a chip in it. Keeping a receipt is important so that when you go to return or exchange that item, the store won’t hassle you on it.

Receipts can get to be very messy. After all, anything made of paper can be hard to keep track of and can get to be an overwhelming pile. Receipts are so small that if you stash them in places, they can easily get lost.

I have a small cedar box that I keep my receipts in. I got it from a furniture store as a gift when I graduated from high school. It’s perfect to keep receipts in because it looks very nice from the outside and keeps all the “mess” on the inside!

In addition to keeping my receipts in my cedar box, I write on them. I can get lost when I’m going through mounds of “Target” receipts trying to decipher the abbreviations of what I purchased. Was this the green sweater or was this? Even if I have an estimated price in my head it can be tough at times to remember what is what. So I write on the back of the receipts who the item was for, and what it was with a small description. Then when I go through my receipt box every once in awhile, it also helps me quickly know what receipts to throw away and what ones to keep. After all, I’m not going to want to keep a receipt for a pair of shoes that I bought 6 months ago and have worn many times since then. But I will want to keep a receipt for a larger purchase item such as a television or a camera.

Saving receipts has kept me from being stressed out many a time when a purchased item needed to be returned for whatever reason. If you aren’t in the habit of keeping your receipts, you might want to start. Also, find a nice box, empty drawer, or some other “home” for them so that you can keep them all in one spot – never having to rummage around to find one. Make sure you go through them regularly (every few months or twice a year) and start to see this little technique work to make your shopping (and spending) life a little smoother.