3 Great Reasons to Keep Your Receipts

I am such a fan of hanging on to my receipts for clothing and household goods that I keep my receipts organized in a small file folder arranged alphabetically by retailer. I can think of 3 great reasons to hang onto your receipts.

• The obvious reason for keeping receipts is in case you decide to return the item and you need a receipt to get your money back. If you don't have a receipt showing exactly what you paid you might get a refund or store credit for the current selling price which may be less than what you paid for it.
• Sometimes the items you buy get left at the store. This has happened to me more than once at the grocery store. In one situation the cashier didn't bag an item and in another situation the cashier left a small bag of items at the register instead of putting it in my shopping cart. In both situations I returned to the grocery store and was able to collect my items from the customer service desk. In the case of bag of items left at the store I didn't remember all the items I had bought, but because I had my receipt I was able to retrieve all of the items I had paid for.
• Receipts can be an effective budgeting tool. If you wonder where your money goes every month you can collect your receipts for all of your bills at the end of the month and identify exactly where your money is going and exactly which areas you could spend less so you have more money to put in the bank.