You will notice the lack of posts lately, I would like to blame it on these little bastards. Receipts. I hate them, but evidently I have to keep them. You would think that this unshakeable reality would mean that these tiny inconvenient pieces of paper wouldnt fade over time but alas, they do. I have found myself in the unenviable position of being behind on taxes. The constant stress factor alone has driven me to cut the crap and get a bit organized so I dont come across this situation next year.
This is what I have decided and I hope that if you are an unorganized creature like myself, this may encourage you to get organized too.
It all started with this….. a mess… a horrible mess. At least 2 years of receipts all together. Time to get crackin’.
Then I decided to use an envelope system. One set of envelopes per each month of the year and at the end of the year they are all organized for your records.
1. Car related expenses
2. Salon supplies
3. Clothing
4. Travel
5. Food
From this point it makes all of them easier to count. This is especially valuable if you use cash as well as credit cards for your purchases. You can use your bank statements as back up to make sure you havent missed anything. I keep all of these envelopes in a shoe box in my closet. Hopefully no one will ever come knocking on my door asking for them. This is important when you are self employed and if you start off right, you will never have to do what I just did.