Joyfully Prudent

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December 31, 2012 by: JoyfullyPrudent

Monday’s MST: Keeping Track of Receipts and Using Them to Budget!!!

AN ENVELOPE SYSTEM THAT KEEPS YOUR BUDGET ORGANIZED!

Finally, I actually have a system for keeping track of all those stupid receipts and using them to help me budget!  And it doesn’t involve one of those fancy “Home Management Binders.”  I had to share this system with you guys and hopefully this helps you budget better…it has me!

What You Need:
An envelope, preferably a longer one!  Yep, that’s it!!!

I used to despise receipts because they just cluttered up my purse or our house.  I finally found use for them and have budgeted better than before with this system.

Before I explain this simple system, you must know that I document each transaction in our budget book.  So, in a nutshell, I would buy something, get a receipt for it, go home and write it in our budget book next to the area it belonged.  As simple as that sounds, there are a million things that occur between those commas. and if you’re like me, you just stuff the receipt in the shopping bag or your purse, which means you lose it, throw it away, or spend hours searching for it so you can return something. 

Not only do you eliminate this, but you can use them to help you budget!

Here’s how it works:
1. Get your envelope and write the month/year on it. 

I like to coordinate the color with the month…yep, I’m a dork!

2. Stick it inside your wallet.

The longer, skinnier ones work better, but this is all we have right now.

3. Every time you make a transaction, put that receipt ON TOP of the envelope since you have not documented it on your budget yet.  Do this with every receipt you get until you have time to document them. 


4. Once you have your budget book, collect all the receipts ON TOP of your envelope and document them where they should go (i.e. Toys R Us purchase of $42, I would write next to “Beckham” in our budget).  This would be a good time to check your budget with your online statement and make sure all your purchases are accounted for.

Remember, this is how we document our expenses.  So I would write the amounts on the receipts next to the category they belong to.  Click here to read more about our budget. 

 5. Once you’ve documented the purchases, put them INSIDE the envelope.  I try to place newest receipts in the back, so it’s old-new from front to back.  This helps when I need to find one.

6. Repeat steps 3-5 until the end of the month.

7. File away so you always have those receipts in case you need them later.  Before you file, you can go through them and throw away the ones you know you don’t need anymore (groceries and such).  That’s what I do. 

The reason this works for me:
–I know what I have documented and what I have not (receipts on top of envelope vs. inside).
–I have all my receipts in one place in case I need to pull them out for any reason (i.e. return).  I actually did this a lot this month, so it was useful for me.
–Keeps my receipts much more organized and the way I budget organized too.

I can’t say his enough…To budget effectively, you must be in your budget book often (or wherever you keep track of your spending…and no, your online statement isn’t it).  By often, I mean, as much as you spend.  If you spend daily, be in that book daily!   

A budget is:
1. A list of categories you spend (electricity, groceries, car, etc…)
2. How much you plan on spending, based on your income, in that category
3. How much you are spending that month in that category (every transaction)
4. How much you spent that month in that category
5. How much you went over or under.

Example:

           (Category)                (How much you are spending)          (Plan On) (Spent)  (Over/Under) 
Groceries             68.92   56.90    34.18   4.50    Etc….            $300        340            -40
 
This is what a line in our budget looks like.  If I’m not documenting what I’m spending than I have no way of knowing if I’m within budget.  The receipt system helps me with that.
 
I hope this might help you with keeping track of your receipts and your budget.  If you try it, let me know how it works for you!

And we’re off to spend…I mean save!

 



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Comments

  1. 1

    Kelli Smith says

    January 2, 2013 at 5:06 pm

    We are starting this!!! I'll let you know how it works!! We have our budget, but never remember to write purchases down, then get behind, frustrated, etc… I think this easy envelope system will work (versus the DR wallet I have!- that's too hard to keep up with all those different envelopes!) Thanks friend-enjoy reading your blog-full of wisdom!

    Reply
  2. 2

    Chrissy says

    January 11, 2013 at 10:42 pm

    I really need to start a budget, these are some great tips! I have so many of them and can't use them because they are Christmas themed! I have a new Pinterst Power linky party and would love to have you share this and any other projects you have!

    http://www.thetaylor-house.com/2013/01/10/pinterest-power-party-1.html

    Chrissy
    http://www.thetaylor-house.com

    Reply
    • 3

      joyfullyprudent says

      January 17, 2013 at 5:22 am

      Thanks Chrissy! I would love to share. Headed to your link now.

      Reply
  3. 4

    Living on Love and Cents says

    January 18, 2013 at 2:08 am

    I love this! We learned this at a Dave Ramsey class. Thanks for linking up at the pinterest party today! I am pinning this now and I just followed you on pinterest! http://www.pinterest.com/hbrummett I hope you'll stop back by next Thursday! Have a wonderful day. So glad to find your site! -Heather

    Reply

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