It's a Team's Life

Receipts how to keep track of them

When I used checks for everything the check number was how I found receipts, but now I write maybe 20 checks a year so that system no longer works. We have several different accounts that I need to keep track of: business checking, fuel account, credit card, savings, cash, and Bob's shop account. When looking for a receipt it is a lot easier to know which account the money was taken from.

When a receipt is created, lets say we buy fuel I use the odometer as the check number when I enter the receipt in my Quicken file. When I spend cash such as paying a toll or other small item on the receipt I start the year out with C - for cash and then 001 - so C001 and then add on from their. I also write on the receipt what category I used and with tolls it is simply named tolls. I have several categories for the truck, maintenance, truck wash, truck supplies, taxes, and on and on...

When we use the credit card that receipt will be D001, when I use business it is B001, and when Bob purchases a tool from his account it is BC001. Writing the category where the receipt was entered helps me keep track when I scan the receipt into the computer.

Before the receipts are filed away each receipt for the business is scanned into folders that match my Quicken files. The scan also has a naming system so that I can quickly find a receipt in each folder; Maintenance - 0102 TA 015 means that we bought a repair item on January 2nd at TA and the receipt is 015 in my Quicken files.

At the end of the month I take each category of receipts and staple them together and when we go home they are filed in their respective folders. At the end of the year it is very easy for me to come up with totals of everything we have spent in each catagory.

I buy clear plastic boxes for each year of receipts for taxes and file away the folders holding the receipts. The folders keep the receipts in order and easy to find. I label the box with the year of the taxes and store them in our basement.

Example of how I name my scanned receipts

Bob & Linda Caffee
TeamCaffee
Saint Louis MO
Expediters since January 2005
[email protected]

Expediting isn't just trucking, it's a lifestyle;
Expediting isn't just a lifestyle, it's an adventure;
Expediting isn't just an adventure, it's a job;
Expediting isn't just a job, it's a business.