Okay, I was trying to be all organized and ahead of the game before tax season but then we moved and my new office has a completely different set-up than the old office and I can’t believe we’ve been 8 months and haven’t set up a system for certain things. Like, gulp, receipts. (It’s a sad story that I won’t go into here.)
I will admit that I am a disorganized crazy person when it comes to setting up a new system. I am not dedicated to recording something in Excel as soon as I get home from buying it. This, of course, means that I have mad dashes before deadlines for things like paying income taxes. It also means the occasional sad story based on my own stupidity. (Like checks that I have to have re-issued because they have, gulp, expired.)
Since it is not next year yet I figure I have time to implement SOMETHING that will work for next year.
So what’s your system? I mean exactly. In detail enough for a crazy person like me to follow. Do you hit the office supply store and carefully note on your receipt what you bought and the go home and go right to your office and enter it in Quicken or a spreadsheet? Does the scrap of paper ride along with you in your car for months until its time to have the car detailed and you save it (just barely) from being tossed with all the empty water bottles that have rolled under the seat? Is there a basket on your desk where everything lives untl the last Sunday of the month (unless there’s a full moon) and then you suffer through hours of matching things up and filing them in folders and then ???
I know the basics of organization – everything needs a home. For some reason there are a few things, the most important things, in our new place that still don’t have a home. I don’t know why. It probably says something horrible about my psyche but oh well. I am what I am. And that’s what scares me. The thought that I am not going to be able to change myself into even a fake organized person.
There’s a file folder in my desk drawer into which I try to stuff all receipts for tax purposes (medical, book-related, donations, etc). In the folder is a book I got at Staples that holds receipts (and has lines you can write on, but there’s no way I do that). It has categories like “taxes”, “medical”, “donations”, etc. in it.
From time to time, I sit down, open the file, and sort the receipts into the little pockets.
About 90% of the receipts get there right away. Some, though, end up riding in the car with me or in a wad inside my purse or on top of a dresser, etc. It’s not perfect, but it’s been better than the past system, which was just shoving it into a general pile of unsorted paperwork.
My hubby is a bit anal about all this (rightly so). We enter all credit card receipts into Quicken. He does all the bills from Quicken, so he does SO much more w/it. Once I enter the receipt, it goes into the particilar credit card folder. This is helpful for returns, too.
If it’s book/writing related, the receipt goes into a manilla envelope. For non credit card expenses, I have an excel sheet I use. I try to get these in ASAP. However, all the mileage still needs to be calculated. I have place holders for that right now. These cash receipts also go into the manilla envelope.
Since this is the first real year of doing it, we’ll see what tweeks I have to make for next year, but so far so good.
One file folder in a cubby on the desk holds ALL receipts until I make time to record in EXCEL. When I need a day between projects (a couple times a year) I dedicate a day to sorting the receipts by category and date and then recording them. I do update my calander daily with progress on the book and places I’ve been, like office supply stores etc. So, when I’m actually recording stuff I cross check the check book and the caledar with the recipts.
I hate it. But I do it.
Oh, this is such a problem. Right brained people aren’t born for record keeping!
I have a semi system that I don’t keep up with so well. But I keep invoices and all other records in a 3 ring binder. I have an envelope for miscellaneous receipts and another one for my library due date slips. I keep a log in my car for mileage but mostly I forget to keep track. Still, when tax time comes around, I have all my receipts and library slips to help me reconstruct my mileage history.
At the end of the year I always have to do more work than I hoped for because I didn’t keep a thorough log but at least I have the info to do it with. Then I turn it over to my hubby to do the calculations.
I give all my bank statements, deposit slips, and check stubs to a another trusted family member who loves keeping track of records. He tells me how much I owe the state for tax on books sales. And he prints out my expense sheets so my hubby has those to work with.
If I had to keep track of every expense it wouldn’t get done. Some things are worth paying for!