97% of the time I will take a copy of my receipt. Cafes, bars, ATMS and of course stores. My parents have always done this and they often state that it’s good to check your receipts against your bank statements… just in case.
My mum taught me to always take a receipt from the ATM, just in case the machine happened to not give you the right amount of money. I’ve also taken on her preference of packing away receipts into my wallet rather than letting the shop attendant fold it up, all pretty like, with the clothes and tissue paper as they like to do. From memory it was something to do with if you were to get robbed then you’d have proof of what was taken? She’s lived in a few interesting cities so I just took her word for it that this is good practice.
I keep my receipts in a gift bag in chronological order each year from June to June (Australia’s financial year) and I hold on to two years worth at a time. I find this system easy to maintain. I keep an eye on receipts building up in my wallet and when there are enough I move them over to that year’s gift bag, I make sure that the new bunch is added to the back (a handy *star* helps me to mark which side of the bag is the front) and off I go.
Due to the chronological order, if I happen to need a receipt I just have to have a vague date in mind as guidance to sift through the receipts. It’s an option to implement a dividing system but I don’t mind strolling down memory lane, appreciating all that my money has done for me and the good times represented by many of the receipts (a great meal out with a friend, a massage or a pedicure).
An added bonus of this system is that I exercise my consumer rights when I need to. If an item fails to live up to standards, within a reasonable time frame, I can go back to my receipts and approach the store about rectifying the issue with confidence (though, you can use your bank statement as proof too). Because sometimes it’s the difference between having a receipt and feeling like this…
and that makes keeping records worthwhile.
