household & financial paperwork

How do you manage/organize your household or financial paperwork?

I was taught to tick and tie every receipt to my credit card statement or checkbook. So now I have almost everything in paper, and I haven't filed anything in 2 years and the paper is piling up.

If you do everything electronically, how do you verify that the amount charged at a restaurant (with tips) is the same that you entered on the receipt? That's usually the place I find the most discrepancies.

Have you ever found that you've needed that paper years later? Like a receipt for a large item that you needed to show proof of later for a warranty? Or bills that you needed to see trends? I get most of my bills online but not all have that option so I still get some paper.

household & financial paperwork

I never verify a restaurant has charged me the correct amount. I don't use that many checks, but even when I did I never once balanced my checkbook. I pretty much know what I spend, advantages of not having much money, lol, but honestly I don't check my CC statements that carefully. Off the top of my head I can't recall ever needing an old receipt and if you charge an item you shouldn't need the receipt. The only time I needed to show statements was when I bought my place. I guess I have been lucky, I never noticed any huge discrepancies.

Re: household & financial paperwork

I don't do that anymore. I pay my bills online and it's all paperless so I don't even get a credit card statement.
I also shred receipts. I have no space for all this and to be honest you don't need it- it's all online.

I only keep a receipt until I am sure I won't need to return the item. Once the time is used, and the tags are off, the receipt is trashed.

Message edited 3/24/2021 8:39:17 PM.

Re: household & financial paperwork

household & financial paperwork

I am relatively paperless. When I lived with a roommate before I moved in with DH - she had so much paper it drove me insane.

If I want to reconcile something - I download the statement into Excel.

I try to get electronic receipts (I do a lot of online shopping so they are saved that way) and only save the receipts for large warrantied items (and they even have an electronic record in many cases).

household & financial paperwork

I dont do anything like that. Everything is online now and If I need a statement they go back years...

household & financial paperwork

Tbh I never check the restaurant receipts vs the tips

I do save the receipts for things like appliances or certain electronics with the warranty and receipts together. That's the only thing I keep

Message edited 3/24/2021 9:50:23 PM.

Re: household & financial paperwork

Re: household & financial paperwork

My DH scans all of our receipts to keep a record of them. He stores the info on our computer and on an external hard drive.

Re: household & financial paperwork

Re: household & financial paperwork

I don't save my receipts, except for bigger household items.

I literally check my credit card every other day. I know every charge. But i'm a numbers gal.

We always tip in cash.

household & financial paperwork

I do not save any receipts except for large ticket items (usually over $250). Everything else is done electronically. Clothes receipts will be kept until the clothes are tried on and then they are trashed.

Re: household & financial paperwork

Re: household & financial paperwork

I tip in cash. At the end of the month I look over my statement to make sure it looks okay. As for receipts, I only keep for major purchases. Those I put into my home binder. It is things like appliances, the roof, the hot water heater, hvac, tv, etc.

Most bills are automated. I do have a filing cabinet. But things that go in there are long term kinds of things, not monthly bills. Things like taxes, I keep for seven years, and then shred the eighth year.

household & financial paperwork

I used to have a filing cabinet but when we moved we got rid of it.
Now I have a large plastic accordion folder with a section for each month of the year. I keep all bills and papers together. Then once a month when I pay bills, I sort through them. Some go in a departure finger for future tax information but otherwise everything goes into the section for the month.

I keep receipts on the side of the refrigerator and go through monthly. I do scan credit card statements when the Chinese in to look for things that aren’t normal or go to the app to check what charges went on.

Message edited 3/29/2021 2:13:01 PM.

Re: household & financial paperwork

I keep as little paperwork as possible and handle all of my bills online and via electronic statements. I only keep receipts for big ticket items, such as appliances, and I put those receipts in the corresponding manuals which are tucked away in a file drawer in my kitchen.

As far as charges on my card, when I sit down to pay my bills on Fridays I do a quick visual check online to make sure everything looks correct and I do balance my checkbook monthly. To keep track of when bills are due or any other financial info I need to have on hand I use the Clever Fox Financial Book so that everything is in one spot. I use Quicken for my checking account/register.

Re: household & financial paperwork

Old school notebook and 99% bills paid online.
I do keep receipts for a bit but ones that are not warranties or that important get trashed.

household & financial paperwork

The only papers we keep are our tax returns for 7 years and receipts from contractors for the house.

Everything else I can get online.

Re: household & financial paperwork

I keep all restaurant receipts and double check them against the online statement. then i shred the receipt.

I keep all big ticket receipts like refrigerators etc in a file cabinet. But i have shredded a lot of stuff to keep it from overflowing.

almost all our bills are online. the ones that arent, i send a check, then scan the bill in to a file on my laptop then shred the bill.

i also scan health insurance docs.

co pay receipts i keep for the current year, they have to get sent to dh's union, so we make copies and mail them. then the following year i shred them.

i really try to shred everything that comes in the paper mail after i scan it in if it's important

household & financial paperwork

Dh checks the bank accounts everyday. We have an idea of what we spend. Never save receipts unless it's for bigger purchases.

Re: household & financial paperwork

Re: household & financial paperwork

We probably keep more paper than is needed, but other than tax & health stuff, we don't keep stuff older than a year.

Receipts go in an envelope for the month, filed in a folder. When that month comes up, we get rid of that month from last year. We do get paper CC statements and save them for a year. We do have a file cabinet.

Message edited 3/30/2021 9:02:33 PM.