Is it necessary to save every receipt once the expense has been recorded in the budget expenses? I have grocery store receipts coming out my ears! -Julie
Is it necessary? No.
Or at least, let’s hope not, seeing as I currently don’t have a single grocery receipt saved!
I personally disdain clutter–especially paper clutter–so I would likely go crazy if I tried to save all my shopping receipts. Truth be told, I only save my grocery shopping receipts until I have time to post about my shopping trips and then I throw them out immediately. The only time I will hang onto a receipt is if I have a rebate or if there’s a possibility I might be returning the item.
We keep detailed tracking of our bills and other expenses which change somewhat each month (my husband track these in Quicken), but for the items we pay for with cash using our envelope system, believe it or not, we don’t keep detailed track of each of these expenses. Yes, that might seem shocking to some of you who like to account for every penny!
We have found, however, that it works great for us to just put a specified amount of cash in our envelopes for each of our different spending categories for the month. When the money in the envelope is gone, it’s gone. We’ve used the envelope system almost all of our married life, so we’ve gotten pretty accustomed to being able to divvy up the money so it lasts the whole month.
If you want to have detailed reports of all your purchases each month, this system wouldn’t likely work for you. Bt works for us right now–and best of all, it’s very simple!
Do you save your receipts? Why or why not? What’s your system for tracking your expenses? I’d love to hear!
photo credit: Functoruser
I ABSOLUTELY DO SAVE MY RECEIPTS. Why? Because your state sales taxes can be written off on your federal tax return. And, when couponing, we pay far more sales tax than most. Why? Because we receive so much for FREE. When we intend to pay $45 at the store, and we save $200, we are paying sales tax on $200, not $45. In South Carolina, we even have to pay sales tax on groceries. I keep my receipts, add the sales tax at the end of every week, log it and then file away the reciepts in an envelope. We have received hundreds-thousands more back on our taxes simply by itemizing! I hope this helps!
I save my receipts in a monthly envelope, with receipts from the same store paperclipped. I’m glad I did last month! I got a great deal on Glade Candles at Vons with VonsClub + coupons. I bought 8 for .50 each and decorated some of them with scrapbooking paper for Valentine’s gifts for teachers and friends.
This week I found a link to a rebate! I went to my January receipt envelope, found my Vons receipts for the Glade and submitted for $10 in rebates! Now I’ve made $6!
I have a question about the envelope system. Do you take cash out all at once for the whole month? My husband doed not want all that cash lying around.
I don’t usually save my receipts once I input the information into the computer but I just found out that P&G will give $100 coupon booklet if you send them your receipts showing that you’ve spent $50 on P&G products. I’m going to save my receipts to get this coupon booklet. Check out the details for this offer at my blog: http://thebuzz4moms.blogspot.com/2010/02/recieve-100-of-p-coupons.html
Yes, I do. I recently wrote a Sunday Savings Tip post on this very topic! I always keep receipts for these purposes: price adjustments, rebates, warranties, tax purposes, & the event of a disaster or burglary.
I don’t save my receipts either. I don’t like clutter at all either. I do love the envelope method! I started using that method when I was 14. It makes you realize where your money is going, and you don’t spend anymore when it’s gone. I use an electronic version of the envelopes now, but it is a great system.
I save receipts for 1 year ~ mainly for rebate purposes, but also for items that may break & I need a receipt to get a replacement item or a refund.
I hate paper clutter too, so I bought a small, compact, plastic 4×7 bill/coupon file at Dollar Tree. It’s small enough to fit in my desk drawer & doesn’t take up much space at all. It has dividers, so I sort the receipts by month, which makes finding a particular receipt a little easier.
In Texas, at least for the past few years, you can deduct sales tax on your income tax. So I save EVERY receipt for EVERYTHING. There is a chart that you can use to estimate your write-off, but I have been able to beat the chart by several hundreds of dollars every year, by adding up the sales tax from every receipt. That’s a several-hundred-dollar MORE tax deduction for my family. So, yes, I save every receipt.
My whole family saves our receipts BECAUSE when you file your federal income tax records, the gov basically says “you’ve spent X much last year and we’re going to tax you on that; but you paid a sales tax on what you spent, so we won’t tax what you paid in said sales tax”. The gov then gives you a sales taxs credit of so much per person (depending on where you live, what the average cost of living in that area is and how many people you claim) assuming a general amount UNLESS you can PROVE that you spent MORE than the federal average by adding up all the sales tax on every recepit you have. This can come in quite handy to couponers as we can sometimes walk out of a store for a negative balance only really having paid sales tax. (Because sometimes if a coupon says something like X item is free, we may pay the sales tax on said free item, unless a cashier errors of course.)
I understand that its a lot of receipts to keep up with, but we have a box where all receipts go as soon as they come in the house and the good thing about this program is that since i’ve started couponing not only do we claim way less in income spent, but we get a huge tax credit baised on the amount we’ve spent on sales tax – almost to the point where it all evens out.
I only save the receipts that I may have a possible return (clothing stores, Target), or the receipts that I had to use my debit card for. We only take out half of our cash for the month at a time, so if my husband has to run to the grocery store after work and get a few items but does not have cash with him he will use our debit card. I then, subtract that out from the amount of cash that will be taken out for the second half of the month.
This has been quite a transition for us, because we used to be “those people” who paid for everything with a debit/credit card, and tried to pay off everything at the end of the month. GASP!!! I know major Dave Ramsey no, no. However, that was before we knew who Dave Ramsey was, and thought that we were smarter than the system.
Since this past summer we have been getting real with our finances and have moved to a cash only system (not as easy and fun as it sounds). We still find our selves running over the occasional speed bump, however, it is nice not to have to save all of our receipts with the cash only system like we used to when we used all credit cards.
I keep large appliance, furniture, antique and decorating item receipts in a spiral book I have that has a graph page (to draw you furniture arrangement) and pocket for each room of the house. I have an electronic and a computer file folder for receipts, warranties and such. I also have a folder for jewelry and collectables that I keep receipts as well as lists with descriptions of the items and any appraisals. I have another folder in the box of “to be filed” things where I keep receipts for gifts, clothing, misc stuff as well as plants. HD, WM, & Lowes will refund your purchase cost on bad, dead plants up to a year. There is another folder for business expenses. I do not keep gas, grocery or restaurant items for more than a week or until I have everything entered into Quicken (and I do track cash purchases on Quicken).
DH wants me to save ALL receipts and use this electronic system called NeatReceipts where you scan the receipt into your computer and it stores an electronic copy. Computer clutter. It is supposed to be compatible with Quicken now, but it seems like more work and thankfully I use a MAC now and it is not compatible!
Although it is not necessary (for tax purposes) I save my receipts! Like others, I find them useful to check prices on things I have bought to compare to flyers with “deals”. Also, it comes in handy for rebates that cover long periods of time. I can go back through and see if I bought the item(s) and can submit for a rebate. We use Quicken for the family budget but I use an Excel spreadsheet to track “discretionary” spending such as groceries, clothing and our childrens’ education expense. I keep all of these receipts in business sized envelopes by month. Makes it easy when I need to return things… I just go to the month and find the receipt!
I always keep my receipts to manage my money.
I just toss mine! I hate clutter and papers lying around, so in the trash they go! We use cash and the envelope system for almost everything we buy now, so no need to keep up with amounts!
It is a good idea to keep all receipts for a year. Some states allow for claiming sales tax on the income tax return. I have a tin that sits on a shelf in the laundry room and put all my receipts there. If I need to return something, I just have to dig through the pile. At the end of the year one of the kids adds up all the sales tax from all the reciepts and we enter it on the tax form.
I only keep receipts until I post my deals online. Then I toss them. But there have been a few times when I’ve realized that I would have qualified for a rebate if I would have kept my receipts. The additional clutter isn’t worth it for me though.
not usually. we’re on an almost all-cash budget. i don’t save receipts if i spend cash, unless it’s something pricey that i think i might return.
I know this isn’t totally related but since you sort of brought up the budget & money envelopes – just curious: have you ever written or read any good posts on how to budget when you live on a commission only income?? The majority of our marriage has been such, but apparently I STILL stink at it:)
I keep all of my receipts. I find that a month’s worth usually fit in a standard sized envelope. I’ve made over $30 in the last 2 months on No Beer Purchase Required rebates. Gotta love Budweiser funding all my meat purchases! I recently found one for seafood that will pay from a 2lb bag of shrimp I bought several weeks ago. Certainly won’t make me rich, but will “pay back” the purhcase price of items I’d buy anyway. Well worth a shoebox’s worth of “clutter in my opinion”.
Yes, I’ve started saving grocery receipts. I put all my receipts in an envelope labeled by month. Lately we’ve had a couple produce items get moldy within less than 2 days of buying them, and we’ve been able to bring them back to the store with the receipt for a refund. I also like being able to compare prices on grocery items.
I have recently begun saving ALL of my receipts. I got tired of missing out on rebates because I had thrown away my receipts before I knew about the rebate.
I save big ticket ones (like for the tv, dishwasher, etc for proof of purchase and for warranties, etc they are stapled to the instruction books and files away) I also save grocery receipts for our flexible spending account for health stuff and for rebates (right now I have a ton of them to clean out of my purse! I also save the receipts for ANY tools that dh purchases for use at work and for things for business expenses. I also save ones for things we buy for the house (paint, windows, anything like that) to use against the profit when we sell. I also keep the receipts that are from stores until I double check them against my debit card balance just o be sure it was done correctly after that they are shredded. I shred everything that that come sin with a name or address on it too (no matter what it is!)
I completely agree about chucking out receipts. Because we use a cash system and we track how much goes into each part of the budget, there is absolutely no need for us to be nitpicky and keep each receipt or a super-detailed account of what we spent. I love that about using cash!
The only receipts we now keep are for items we may want to return, that have a warranty, or that we can deduct as business expenses for our home businesses. That’s it!
I have wondered about this because I just started cutting coupons in October. Usually, I just throw it away unless it has a rebate item on it. We also have used the envelope system all of our married life, 8 years (and I did it in HS/college). I have been keeping CVS receipts since I started going there because I wanted to be able to see what types of things I was getting there and the prices, since that is new to me.
I save my receipts on my computer. I enter them into quicken with the sales tax split from the other items. I then attach a scanned copy of the receipt on my computer. It reduced my tax by $130. Not what I call small change. It is a federal deduction so anyone can do it whether you have state income tax withheld or not and itemize.
@Loraine,
After I scan the receipts I do shred them. If a rebate comes up I already have a copy of the receipt and they will usually comes up. A years worth of receipts will fill an 8X8X24 inch box for me. Too much square footage for me.
I save them until my purse is just TOO FULL of them and then go through and throw most of them away. I keep grocery receipts for a couple of weeks — our Meijer and Kroger will give me the coupon back on an item I forgot to use it on for a couple of weeks after the purchase! I also keep my drugstore receipts for a bit because I don’t always immediately use what I buy and may have to return it. It seems every time I throw one away, I need it within a few days. Time and time again. Sheesh! 🙂
i throw away receipts after i know i’m not going to return anything on it, so most grocery receipts are thrown away right away or at least within 1 month at most.
did you know: receipt paper is full of BPA. it is the most common source of BPA.
I keep most of my receipts in a file folder, putting the newest on top. You need a receipt for any return and I have found that quality is so low on many items that paint chips off, the item starts coming apart , etc. I can go back and find the receipt to return it. When the pile seems to thick in the file I just throw half away.
Most receipts get tossed directly in the trash. I’ll save them for major purchases or anything that I fear might break or need to be exchanged for a different size, etc. We use a debit card to pay for everything and then use Wesabe.com to track all our expenditures for the month.
Here is a way to do the envelope system so that you can track every penny as well. As soon as you are done in the store/ check the receipt for possible errors record on the back of the envelope the amount spent slip the receipt in the envelope and at the end of the month when the money is gone the receipts and note show what it went for. I do this at the customer service desk quickly on my way out the door. There is often plenty of space either their or at the door their are normally seats/ I use these as well. I use to do it after I put the groceries in the car / but if you find a mistake on the receipt and have children already in their car seats this approach is tougher. Checking the receipt for errors is best before you leave the store as I have found almost every shopping trip has an error and it is almost always in the stores favor. These errors are often in the $5.00 to $7.00 range add this up over 52 shopping trips per year!
If you leave the store how likely are you to remember to get that error corrected the next week. Keeping receipts 6 mo to one year is best.
I usually carefully check the computer screen while they are ringing stuff up. This saves me the trouble of even having to stop by the customer service desk as I get things taken care of immediately if they ring up incorrectly. This works well for me and I usually only have a few visits to the customer service desk per year as a result!
@Crystal,
Here in Michigan, if they make a mistake while ringing up your grocery items, you will get your money back, plus a bonus (up to $5) equal to 10 times the difference between the correct and incorrect price. However, this only works if you do it at customer service after your purchase…you will not get the extra money if you tell them about the mistake while checking out! For us, it is much better to just look at the receipt after checkout and go to customer service!
Wow! I wish we had that kind of deal here! I’d be making quite a bit of money from grocery shopping. 😉
Whether you save your receipts or not depends on why you are doing it. If you are just talking about food, there are times when it is nice to have a receipt. But, I have found that the money I could save isn’t worth the time and paper clutter. I enjoy saving money, but it needs to be kept in balance. It is so easy to let coupons and saving money take over your life, but if they are kept in balance they can bless your life by giving you extra money to spend on what you want or save for the future.
I sometimes wonder what would happen if I bought an item that was later re-called (like peanut butter or tomatoes or the latest salmonella-infected item). Would it be critical if I had the grocery receipt? Would I need it? And why would I need it? Thankfully, I let go of my fears (and my receipts) and opt for a more peaceful and clutter-less approach. If something bad happens, we’ll deal. The receipt is not going to save my life at that point, but common sense just might.
Like Crystal, I only save my receipts until I write about my savings or if I might take an item back. I despise clutter and throwing away receipts is a fast, easy way to get rid of clutter!
I save all ours for a year and then shred them. But I confess I’ve hardly ever needed a receipt past a month or two! I’ve actually never thought about it before, just thought that’s what you do. 🙂 Guess I’ll have to put some thought into it now.
I save ’em all – in quarterly folders. Sort for business expenses at the end of the year. One whole day time suck, but it works.
We save all receipts – in a different kind of envelope system. A new envelope goes on the side of the fridge each month, and we put all of our receipts/paid bills in it. At the end of the month it is sealed, labeled, and stored away. It works great when you need to refer back to a receipt for something (or just to admire all the savings!).
I have a clip on the side of the fridge with the most recent receipts. I keep the ones that I get “deals” on so I can blog about them and enter them into my savings spreadsheet. I usually keep receipts for major things for a while. Once the clip starts getting too full, I go through them and throw away ones that are no longer needed or have been too long for me to return anything. (This is usually once every 2-3 months)
I save mine for a month. I figure after a month, if I’ve not needed them by then I’m not going to. Plus, this way I can take my Target receipt back tonight and get price adjusted for some items I bought last week that went on sale this week! 🙂
I only save them until I can log them into my budget ledger and my Excel file of “Savings” (some stores will tell you how much money you save on one trip, so for those, the number goes to the “Savings” file and the budget ledger). We keep a physical ledger book for our budget because once, my husband reformatted his computer and I had forgotten that our budget information needed back up! Pooof… all the info disappeared (thankfully, I had a ledger then too… so we kept up the paper and pen thing).
If I buy bigger items like clothes/cookware/thing we don’t eat, and I think I might need to return them, then I save the receipt. I try clothes on as soon as they arrive in the mail or I bring them home, so I can go straight back and return if they don’t fit 🙂
Sales tax deduction: I am a tax preparer and I will give you the short version here: it is not worth your valuable time to keep up with grocery receipts for a sales tax deduction. Use the IRS allwed estimate. If you want to know why you can read my explaination.
You can take the sales tax deduction 1) if you itemize and 2) if you live in a state without state income tax. The IRS allows you to take an estimate based on what the average family would spend at your income level. They allow an additional deduction if you purchased a “major” item like a car.
Since the goal of many of Crystal’s readers is a frugal and simple lifestyle, many of us probably spend far less than average for our income level.
I have had a few clients that kept up with their sales tax expenditures all year long. Only one person came out ahead of the estimate, and it only saved him $10 of tax liability.
Is keeping up with a year’s worth of grocery receipts to save $10? There are many more valuable things to do with your time!
I keep all my receipts for a few months. I have a plastic file box that I keep them in, along with copies of rebates I’ve sent, rebate forms that I might use, etc. I help keep the food pantry at our church stocked, and while I keep the receipts for those items that I give right after purchaing(for tax purposes) in a seperate spot, there are times that I go through my stockpiles and pull out bags of things that I’m not using….then I go through my receipts and am able to find quite a few more for deducting. I have also found rebates that I could use receipts of things that I’d already purchased that way.
Also — a few weeks ago we exchanged our coffee maker at Kohls because it wasn’t working properly — without a box or a receipt! They were happy to exchange it. I’m sure they just damaged it out.
@Camille,
Kohls is really great with returns if you have a receipt. You could have purchased an item two years ago and if something goes wrong with it, you can take it back. They will take anything back without a receipt too, however since they clearance out items regularly, you would have to take a store credit and the lowest selling price. Always keep your Kohls receipt to get what you paid for an item, should something need to be returned. I think they have the best return policy of any store. Walmart has more restrictions than Kohls. I worked at Kohls for 1.5 years before I started my career, so I know first hand.
I find it is always beneficial to save receipts for awhile, for rebates or if something might need to be returned.
As far as a tax deduction goes — you can save all your receipts and tally up the actual amount of sales tax you spent. Or you can use the table in the IRS instruction booklet for the 1040 and they just give you an amount you can deduct based on your income. Anyone who itemizes can do that. For us, that’s MUCH easier than keeping all our receipts and adding up all that sales tax! Of course, if you buy a large item (or a number of them), the actual sales tax may be higher.
I keep receipts until the charge clears with my bank (I use a debit card, not cash). Once the amounts are reconciled, out it goes. Unless there’s a big ticket item/purchase that I may need a receipt for. For instance the auto dvd system or tax prep software. Then I tape the receipt to the box, so I ALWAYS know where to find it. Instead of some pile of paper on my desk surface.
If a receipt is part of a rebate, then of course I save it until the rebate is redeemed. I keep electronic copies of the rebate submittals to avoid paper overload.
We use the envelope system – but each month, as we take money out of an envelope, we put the receipt that accounts for where we spent the money into the same envelope the money came out of. That way if we ever wonder where the money went (like say we thought we would have $100 left in groceries, but suddenly realize we only have $75), we can just check the receipts in the envelope and see where the money went. At the end of the month, we discard the receipts, and start over for the new month! Works well for us – minimizes clutter, but also allows us to have something of a record through the month.
Nope, after I enter the info into my weekly grocery post, I get rid of my receipts! I pay cash for my groceries, so there’s no reconciling that needs to be done.
Also, where I live, we don’t pay tax on groceries, which means keeping them around for sales tax purposes is also pointless.
I love to get rid of paper clutter! lol
My husband and I are of two completely different minds on this subject. He thinks every receipt should be saved until he can verify that our credit card has not double charged us. In the 15 years I’ve had a credit card that hasn’t happened to me once, and I’ve explained to him that even if it did happen, it could be easily reconciled with the credit card company WITHOUT a receipt. If he saved them in a folder I would have no issue with it. Instead, they are scattered about on any available surface (bathroom counter, kitchen, top of the dryer). Anywhere that he empties his pockets. Drives me crazy! I would rather be overcharged for an item once very 15 years than deal with the clutter.
That said, we do save all receipts for home improvement stores because my husband makes those purchases and about half the time the item will go on sale the next week somewhere else (he’s not the sales hound I am) and it will need to be returned. We also save receipts for Walmart and Sam’s Club because they have very liberal return policies and if something is defective, even a year later, they are happy to accept the return. This recently saved us a huge headache when our mattress started sagging badly after just one year, and saved us from dealing with the manufacturer’s warranty.
I save mine for a little while for rebates and just to make sure I don’t need to return anything.
The new rebate for P&G just came out. Spend $50 in P&G products and you can get $100 coupon book. If you go to http://www.thankyoumom.com the link is in the top right corner.
I save all receipts. If your total sales tax paid exceeds the amount set by the government for filing taxes, then you can use your amount. I’ve done this 2 years now, and both times it was a benefit to take the actual tax paid as opposed to the number set by the IRS. If you’ve made a significant purchase during the year, such as car or large appliance it makes sense to save them. If you buy very few big ticket items, you may be okay in taking the straight number from IRS. This is the case in Texas, not sure every state has the same rule, or if the rule will be extended for future tax years.
Personally, I save all of my receipts and have found that time and time again, it has come in VERY handy that I have done so. (example: last year I found out about the caregiversmarketplace giving money back on diapers and other such things. Well, I didn’t find out about it until like April but…. because I had kept all of my receipts from the previous months, I could go back and get reinburst for all of the diapers I had bought. I made like $15 doing that.)
And, to keep down clutter, I put all of my receipts into large manilla envelopes and separate them by month. Then I write on the outside of the envelope the purchases I’ve made (especially if it is a big item). Then, if I need to find a receipt, I just look at the outside of the envelope and see if it is in there. (it really cuts down on the time spent looking for certain receipts.) I usually keep about 2 years worth of envelopes in my file cabinet at one time.
Hope this helps someone!
@Melissa, Me, too! So often I won’t find out about a rebate until after I’ve already purchased an item (or I need to return, exchange, or get a price adjustment on something, or find a receipt for my tax returns). I found several additional items for Caregivers and I did the Coors rebate with Pepsi products purchased in December. There’s no clutter involved for me. I have a shoe-box sized filer with dividers for each month. As soon I come home, I put all the day’s receipts in the appropriate month. At the beginning of the month, I shred the previous year’s receipts and start anew. I can’t tell you how many time I refer back to receipts–even grocery store receipts–and it drives me absolutely crazy when I can’t find one. Many times, it’s because I used that receipt for a rebate! I even scan my receipts and rebate forms and save them on my computer so I have proof of submission for every rebate I do. You’d be surprised how many rebates never arrive, but I’ve never had trouble getting reimbursed.
I save receipts in case of rebates. There’s no clutter because I separate them into envelopes, one designated for each month. I’ve been doing this for years.
I hate the paper clutter, but I’m always nervous that I’ll need the receipt for something the day after I throw it out. 🙂 So I keep most “bigger” purchase receipts (weekly grocery trips, gas, family dining out, clothing, gifts, etc.) and throw out the little ones (snacks, hubby’s lunches, drinks, any most anything under $10).
I really need to adopt the “not saving receipts” system. I currently have a purse full.
I try and keep all of mine, but probably should come up with a system of WHEN I throw them out.
One of my latest reasons to keep my grocery receipts, is based on a few recent experiences where the grocery items I purchased were bad (i.e. milk, and cheese) and I tried to take the item back to the grocery store….without a receipt, and they would not exhange the item for me!
In the past Wal-Mart used to refund you the entire amount you paid and 10% more, if there was something wrong with their store brand (GV). Now, they won’t even EXHANGE a block of cheese, that is their store brand that hasn’t been opened and has a large area of mold on it! Frustrating!
@Lynn,
Lynn: I understand your frustration withW-Mart. I have had several experiences there where they leave out-dated food on the shelves etc. I ran into this recently with moldy mini bagels. Though they did take them back with a receipt.
I also got tired of the clutter of saving those huge grocery receipts (thouse coupon deductions take a lot of space!). So, for grocery receipts I also only save them long enough to enter into my spreadsheet.
For other purchases- like a new wall clock, or cookware- I save them in a special plastic accordian folder that I have labeled.
I do save any receipt with a Flexible Spending Account (health) item. I do a flexible spending account with my job and can use them for reimbursement.
yes, save your grocery receipts for rebates. I use a shoebox. Also be sure to save any big ticket items receipts or anything you may have to return, like a possible wrong size or wrong item.
I save mine too, for a few months. Especially receipts where I have purchased meat or seafood-there seems to have been a lot of rebates for beer using those items. I keep them in a shoe box in the closet, so they are out of the way and I don’t have to look at them.
I currently am saving my receipts – haven’t used Quicken yet, but strongly thinking about it now.
Couponing was a new thing for me as of last year and now that I have it down, I am really excited to see what my OOP and Savings are for this year. (Had no idea it would be so exciting to save with coupons, I did not expect such fantastic results when we began so we didn’t keep track of it last year).
Oh, and we are now on the envelope system too – wow, what a difference, I have cut my weekly bill down from $100 to a big $40 a week! Yeah!
I always save my receipts at least until I reconcile them online with the bank. You would be amazed how many times (especially at restaurants, etc., where they enter in the charge amounts manually) the receipts don’t match what the bank shows! I’ve never had a problem getting my bank to honor my receipt if there was a dispute.
I also save all my Target receipts for a month or so, in case we need to return something or they drop the price. I also usually keep clothing receipts until I know I won’t need to return the item.
Major purchases, items with warranties, etc. I keep for a long time, and I keep all health-care related receipts and file them with tax info.
I live in California, and I didn’t know that sales tax is a tax-deduction. I might be keeping all of my receipts now! Is that all sales tax? On anything? Wow.
For a while last year, when I started couponing and figuring out which stores had the best deals, I saved all my grocery receipts to compare them. Then I made a Google docs spreadsheet and did price comparisons for each category, so I could figure out what my threshold prices are to beat.
@kristen, You can claim sales tax or state income tax… I go with which ever is higher. Considering I purchased $25,000+ of stuff at CVS, Wags, etc. last year, my sales tax was about $2,000 and my state income tax was only $949 so I got to use the $2,000 for the deduction. Woo!
@Gina S., I have a friend who does the same I have wanted to do this as well but wasnt sure how it worked.
@Gina S., I had been thinking the same thing…that we couponers purchase wayyy more $$$ worth of stuff, even though we pay little to nothing for it, thus our sales tax bills are probably higher than the average joe. I’ve just started saving receipts myself this year, so I can’t wait to see what sort of tax deduction I can rack up!
I don’t keep grocery receipts, but we keep receipts from any other purchases for a set amount of time before we throw them. 🙂
I have started keeping mine also for the same reason others have listed….sometimes rebates say for items for a certain date range. I was recently able to do the Coors rebate using receipts showing paper plates, napkins, & deli items. And I didnt have to purchase any beer to get the rebate! (which we dont drink)
yes, in tennessee as well you can get a tax deduction if you save your receipts. We save them just for future reference. I put them all in a shoebox with a label of the year and I too can’t stand clutter. I declutter my house often and put all the clutter up on ebay.
I thought that was why we had 20 filing cabinets! 😉
Just kidding.
I hate paper clutter. We still have all our bills and reciepts for this house and CC. I do not save all my walmart, RA, WG, Albertsons, or SB reciepts though.
Wait, I take it back, I’m saving RA and WG until I can get myself organized enought to write in my notebook the savings. Not computer savvy enough to download and use any computer programs.
When I was in highschool I had a job of helping an elderly lady clean her home. Her house was floor to ceiling of boxes of papers. Newspapers, bills, junk mail, reciepts, etc. She kept everything so she could shred it so she wouldnt have any identity theft issues.
Fastforward 4 years. After all that shredding and everything, she still had a stolen identity that she had to deal with.
But all that cleaning and going through made me swear of boxes of papers.
Yes, but only for a few months, and then I recycle them. I am glad I do save them, since the new P and G coupon booklet just came out, and you need $50 worth of P and G products purchased in order to get it with this rebate, that began February 1st! I just found out about it yesterday. If I had tossed/recycled my receipt from Kroger last week, I would have missed out on Almost $15 dollars toward my rebate!
I retain certain receipts for the following:
Tax deductions- medical purchases or purchases for my church
Big Items- anything that may have to be returned (i.e., food processor, lamp, etc.)
Other- anything I am using for a blog post, gifts I purchase for someone
YES!! We save every receipt that has a record of the sales tax that we paid because Sales tax is a TAX DEDUCTION!! At least in California. It brought our tax return up significantly this year!
I’m with you — as long as I stay within my budget I’m okay with not keeping exact track if it means I can get rid of some paper.
I meant to say anything but groceries….we all do spwend $ on that and it’s great when we can receive cash back for doing just that!
for your readers who still use credit card and pay them off every cycle it is worth it to check out mint.com which tracks your purchases by category and even send you email reminders to let you know if you are over, under budget for the month. this will to work if you pay cash and use the envelope system obviously (unless you enter all of your info in manually after your purchases).
No way, I’m with you! I have enough other paper clutter! Of course, I keep the occasional receipt for the same reasons you do. Every GREAT once in awhile I’ll wish I’d saved a receipt but that rarely happens.
I recommend keeping all your receipts.Just recently I came across a rebate that you did not have to purchase anything to receive cash back….all you had to do was send your receipts in, dated between such & such dates, then you would receive up to 20% or max $15.00 back of what you spent …….I keep mine in a binder until I see there is no use for them (could be 6 months, could be a year).
I had enough receipts that I sent one rebate to my mother in law 🙂
Good Luck!
My husband has saved every receipt for 36 years( yes, grocery, Target etc) – in envelopes- we have boxes in our storage room. In his case, it is unclear why but I can’t get him to stop. We are older and a lady I know who is 90 said “oh, honey, forget about it- he’ll die and you can get rid of them or you’ll die and you won’t care.
I DO save my receipts (for about 3 months) because I frequently submit for rebates and you just never know if you will find one to go along with something you have already purchased.
@Brandy, I agree completely! I recently found a rebate that included items I bought for hosting family at Christmas. Because I still had that receipt, I was able to send in for $10 for items I had bought anyway. Since most rebates have specific start dates, you wouldn’t need to save anything longer than a couple of months.
I save my receipts just in case an item goes on sale for cheaper that I bought it for -stores will reimburse you the difference.
Especially pricey item just in case they break down.