I am trying to get better at not wasting money after buying things especially expensive items. Right now my receipts are spread between emails, screenshots, paper slips and random folders so finding them later is a mess.
I wanted to know how you guys handle this. Do you use notes apps, reminders, spreadsheets, email search or just memory?
Also, have you ever missed a return date or warranty because you forgot where the receipt was or didn’t remember the deadline in time?
How do you manage receipts, returns and warranties without forgetting?
byu/fachoali inFrugal
Posted by fachoali
9 Comments
i get you, it’s such a hassle. i just started using a dedicated folder on my phone for receipts and a calendar reminder for deadlines. makes it way easier to keep track of everything without the chaos. gotta stay on top of those returns!
I don’t purchase so much that it’s hard to keep track of.
I have a physical folder for warranty documents.
Keep the original box, toss the receipts in there. Toss the box when warranty is done. Can also be printed out.
Rarely needed it. But it’s a good system. Anything bigger, like washing machine, I put in a house binder.
Returns go right by the front door. Warranties get photographed/scanned with my phone and emailed to myself ( I throw out the paper) with the item and put in a warranty folder. Receipts- I am not the best, but if it is a purchase I am iffy about I try and request an email receipt or take a photo at the register.
I have one drawer that I throw all receipts in, Jan – Dec. Then I throw them in an 8×11 envelope at the beginning of the next year. While I only need to keep receipts for big ticket items for more than a year I don’t really feel like sorting them to just those. So I keep the batch for a few year.
I used to keep receipts for things like refrigerator, computer, TV stapled to the user manuals; but I misplaced those more often than my pile-o-receipts. So I just keep the annual envelopes and will go through them if ever needed.
Not remembering a deadline, yes that can happen. But there are not very often things I am returning, so it has not come up as a problem for me.
IF this was a problem I would put a reminder message in my phone to tell me a week before the last date that I must return this item this week.
If you can keep a physical copy of the receipt and warranty taped/secured to the item, do it.
Holding them with magnets stuck to the door to my garage. It’s not pretty but it works for me, I’m scatterbrained and it keeps them all in one place.
I scan *everything*. But most receipts worth keeping are emailed to me anyway, and the ones I need to keep get kept in folders on my computer. I have a folder with all my auto/car receipts/records, as well as stuff for my appliances and other household things, as well as a medical & dental folder. If I really need to remember a date, I put it on my Google calendar. In the case of warranties, I always register important stuff with the MFR. They will usually send you reminders if you’re warranty is about to expire (but why would you need a reminder? You’re only going to use it if it breaks – hopefully you’re not planning for stuff to break, lol).
Things like grocery store receipts don’t get kept very long at all. There’s really no point unless you’re planning on returning something.
If you don’t have one already, I highly recommend getting some sort of desktop scanner – one that’s way easier to use than your regular printer/scanner/fax device. I have a little Brother Mobile document scanner (DS-540, but there’s a newer model) that sits on my desk that I use ALL the time. It feels really good to scan stuff and throw the paper away. I’ve pretty much eliminated all paper in my house. It’s liberating.
ETA – there are some things in which a physical copy is super helpful, if not necessary, to keep. Such as the user manual and receipt for something like a dishwasher, where the dishwasher has a QR code on it that you need if you change your router or something and you need to re-scan it in order to hook it back up to the network. But I also keep scanned or downloaded digital copies of user manuals for just about everything anyway. A small amount of redundancy is OK and warranted in certain situations. When it comes to physical copies, I keep those where it makes sense (the kitchen appliance docs are on an upper shelf in one of the kitchen cabinets, for example).
I started organizing my receipts by using a dedicated folder on my computer and also scanning paper receipts to save them digitally for my larger-priced items. I found that keeping everything in one place made it a lot easier to track returns and warranties. I also set calendar reminders for any important deadlines, which helped me avoid missing return windows. Between digitizing my receipts and using haven to track warranties and maintenance tasks, I’ve saved a significant amount of time and stress when it comes to keeping everything organized.
I have in fact lost out of covered repairs by forgetting when the actual warranty expired, so I’ve learned my lesson