Receipts can help you save money!

Receipts can equal either clutter or savings. It's all in how well you are able to keep them organized. How can someone save money with receipts? I've learned a lot over the last few years and would love to share my thoughts and ideas with you. Some of these I've learned on my own, others I've learned through reading others' blogs.

Returns

You may not view saving your receipts in case you need to return an item as saving money, but I definitely do. Because I have young children, I don't get to leisurely shop anymore. Now, I tend to find what I think will work, make the purchase, and then return the item(s) if it / they don't work out.

Some stores can do receipt look-ups for you, which is wonderful. You bring the item back to you, and they'll find the receipt for you if the purchase was made in the past 3 months or so. I still recommend bringing in the receipt for returns, though, simply because it can make the return process go a little quicker.

One more reason to save your receipts, is that some stores will accept returns without a receipt, but you can only get in-store credit for your return. In most instances, this works just fine for me. Sometimes, though, you can only get the return valued at what the item is currently selling for. This may mean losing money on the item. As far as in store credit goes, you then have to be sure to save the card the credit was put on, otherwise you're out that money.

Price Adjustments

Price adjustments are a wonderful thing! Some stores will allow you to bring your receipt back in and get money back if an item you purchased goes on sale within a set amount of time. One blogger, Money Saving Methods, suggests keeping receipts in your car so you'll always have it if you're out and an item you'd purchased went on sale. If you already have a lot of stuff in your vehicle, you may want to consider only keeping the few receipts for larger items with you.

Some stores will give you an item for free if it rings up wrong. (They'll nearly all adjust the price of an item if it rings up wrong.) I try to remember to check my receipt before I leave a store. I've gotten free meat because of it ringing up wrong. Yea for receipts!

Medical Receipts

There are so many reasons to hang on to medical receipts. Depending on how detailed they are, they can help you remember what medicines you were given and when in addition to when you were seen for whatever reason.

You may be able to deduct some medical expenses on your taxes. You will need to keep your receipts to back up your claims.

In our house, we save our medical receipts so we can reimburse ourselves for our medical expenses out of our medical savings account. Like with taxes, it's very important to save receipts to be able to back up your claims.

We save our medical receipts in their own file separate from our other receipts. This allows us to find them easily when we need to refer to them.

Rebates

I love, love, love rebates!!! (Can you tell?) Many manufacturers have rebate programs. Manufacturers love them because rebates get you to buy their products, and because many consumers forget to request their rebate. I'm one of those consumers who fills out every rebate offer available to me. With that said, I typically don't fill out the money back guarantee ones, though, unless I truly disliked the product. I just feel that's the honest thing to do.

I suggest making a file for your rebates. As soon as I get home from purchasing a rebate item, I look over what is needed for that particular rebate. If UPCs are required, I try to cut them off immediately so they won't get thrown away accidentally. I also like to attach the receipt to the rebate form with a paperclip so the paperwork won't get lost. Once I've gathered everything I'll need for the rebate, I make copies of everything to keep in my rebate file for my own record. I try to get my rebate forms mailed that same day, or the next one at the latest so I won't miss out of this valuable money back. I will remove the rebate copies from my rebate file and file them with the rest of my receipts once I receive my rebate.

One rebate-type program I like to use is The Caregivers Marketplace. If you purchase items on their list, you can apply for money back. You may want to keep a separate file for this group because you cannot receive your money back unless you send in your original receipts. In the past, I would get money back when I bought Huggies diapers for my little guy. They've changed the eligible items a little, and Huggies items aren't included anymore. I did receive an email, though, saying that they're working on a program for those of us with young children. Yippee! You won't get rich off of the money back, but every little bit adds up. Add these savings to sales plus coupons, and you can save a lot of money! Actually, work it right and you can sometimes "get paid" to take an item.

One note on rebates... Make sure you aren't spending money on items you don't truly want or need just because you can get some money back on the rebate. Otherwise, have fun seeing how far you can stretch your buck by being organized!

Today's task: continue to keep up with organizing those receipts, make files for rebates and medical receipts, look into how your receipts can make or save you money