Reciepts what to keep what to toss

[DORITOSGIRL]

Do I really need to keep all the grocery reciepts? We grocery shop once a week. and sometimes need to purchase milk again a few days later ( our fridge is on the smaller size).
Just wondering what I need to keep and what I can throw away.. and what the best way to organize it all.

[Inspired by Reggio]

I am anal and I keep ALL my receipts that could possibly be considered a 'shared' expenses between business and personal use ... I have heard too many stories about providers who have been audited and only had receipts for the business and than no way to 'prove' that the expenses were not for family as well and since we work from home this is especially important for us .... so with my groceries if I am writing off $7000 worth for 'business expenses' I want to make sure that I have at least 'double' that for my family in additional receipts ... so last year my TOTAL grocery receipts were just over $20,000 plus I kept any of our 'eating out' receipts to show that in addition to that we spent additional X on feeding the family ... and we are a family of 2.5 two adults and a stepson whose eating here part time.

As for organization ... I keep all my receipts in envelopes labeled with the 'expense' they relate to ... grocery expenses, toys and equipment, office, advertizing / marketing, field trips and outings ... etc.

Basically the only reciepts I do not keep are those for our clothes and family entertainment and family gifts and stuff like that ... cause we have to keep all our vehicle receipts again to show that what I am writing off as business expenses does not included my 'spouses' vehicle and so forth

[DORITOSGIRL]

Thank you.
We are basically the same two adults and my one year old and my two teenage step kids when they bother to show up.
I do not spend nearly as much as you on groceries.. With the daycare kids ( 2) I average about $ 600 a month including cleaning and personal hygiene.
I buy on sale and batch cook and LOVE my crockpot which helps keep costs down.
I like the idea of keeping restaurant receipts. We have breakfast out every Sunday and usually something takeout dinner once every two weeks or so.

[Littledragon]

we do the same as reggio. we keep everything - all grocery receipts, toys, gas...

The only thing we don't include is family entertainment. And we organize it just the same - in envelopes labelled accordingly. We will eventually be getting the computer program where you just scan the receipt and it electronically files it for you...

[treeholm]

I keep mine filed by date, only because some receipts are "mixed" (both groceries and toys etc.). I also photocopy each receipt because I was warned in a Revenue Canada HST course that receipts often fade after only a year or two, and Revenue Canada can ask for receipts up to 7 years! (Actually longer, if they suspect fraud). If your receipts have faded they won't be allowed. Lots of cash register printers have terrible ink for this, so they recommended they all be photocopied and stapled to the copy.

[Inspired by Reggio]

Oh good point Treeholm ... admittedly something I do not do cause we never did that in centre care so it never dawned on me they would not accept a faded receipt .... I have so many receipts and the thought of all those trees being wasted on the what if I get audited worry would make me sad .... one of these days I want to invest in one of those Neat receipt scanners and make them all digital copies so this might just push that further up in my priority to budget for!

http://www.neat.com/

[treeholm]

That looks like a very cool gadget Reggio!

[treeholm]

I just noticed that you can order the Neat Scanner for PC on costco.ca. If anyone uses it, I'd love to hear how it works. Costo doesn't have the one for Mac on their website though.

[Inspired by Reggio]

I know eh ~ I have a scanner on my printer but this one comes with an actual 'program' specifically importing them to it ... I wonder if they ever do demos for it at Costco cause I would love to see it in action first before buying one!

[Toregone]

I bought a new printer that has a scanner and fully intended to scan all my reciepts and organize them on the computer.... well 5 months later and I dont even know how the scanner actually works. I've never even tried lol.

[playfelt]

Have heard mixed reviews of neat receipts. It is on my list of things to seriously consider too. I belong to several US chat groups and many on there use it. The original version had issues but it sounds like the program has been adapted now to better fit with what we need. The old version didn't allow scanning something and then putting part in several places but apparantly now you can split bills up like that.

I started scanning receipts monthly except for grocery ones but never kept it up. Not sure if it was worth it or not. It sort of just seemed like wasting paper and ink. On the other hand in the event of an audit I woud be glad to have it. By doing it monthly you can fill a page with the receipts. I also folded or overlapped blank areas and that saved space. I had to do it for my daughter's diapers when she got the Easter Seals grant (for special needs kids that are still diapered) and had to prove what I spent on a yearlly basis as they could ask and did about every 3 years. As mentioned above my intentions are always good but that is as far as it gets. I do have to do HST submissions for my felt business every three months so at least I do keep the books up for both felt and daycare every 3 months as many receipts are shared. Yes if someone tries it out let us know - big thing is how easy is it to split and file a receipt into several places.