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Streamlining Your Personal Financial Documents
Every week you introduce more paper into your home, in the form
of newspapers, magazines, flyers, coupons, schoolwork,
correspondence, bills, and other documents. It may or may not be
difficult for you to ensure that reading material and
advertising is discarded when you are finished with it, but when
it comes to financial documents, it can be much more challenging
to determine what you need to keep, and what you can toss. Here
are a few simple guidelines.
Discard credit and debit card receipts and bank slips once the
item has cleared your account, except in the following
circumstances.
a) You will be claiming the expense on your income tax return.
All supporting documentation must be retained for a designated
period of time in case of an audit. You should check with your
local tax authorities if you're not sure what the regulation is
where you live.
b) The item is under warranty, in which case you may be required
to provide proof of purchase in the event of a claim.
c) The item is expensive and unique, and you will require proof
of purchase in case of an insurance claim.
It is important that the receipts be filed under the appropriate
heading (Tax, Warranties, or Insurance) so you don't waste time
looking for what you need when it's time to make a claim or file
your income taxes. These events can be stressful enough, so why
make it even more frustrating for yourself?
If you are holding onto receipts simply as a reference of your
expenses, considering entering the information into a software
program such as Quicken or Microsoft Money. This will not only
free your home of some of the paper, it will allow you to easily
track your income and expenses and to quickly look up any needed
information. These programs will also help you to keep track of
your current account balances and upcoming bills and to create
and track a personal budget.
If you don't want to buy and learn a new software program, you
can enter your information into a spreadsheet or database
program instead. Other options would be to type the information
into a word processor, or to manually enter it into a paper
ledger book, but neither of these will give you the reporting
power of a financial software program.
When discarding the documents you no longer need, it is highly
recommended that they be shredded to avoid the risk of identity
theft. This is especially important when dealing with financial
documents which may include account numbers as well as your name
and address.
Unless you are claiming the expense on your income tax, utility
bills and the like can be discarded after a year, as can bank
and credit statements. Most companies will not make adjustments
if an error is not reported within that time.
By following these simple guidelines, you will reduce the paper
clutter in your home, the amount of space you require for your
filing system, and the stress and frustration of wasting time
searching for the documents you need.
About the author:
Janet Barclay, Organized Assistant, offers a variety of services
for Maximizing Your Time and Space, including Office
Organization and Productivity Packages.
Visit http://www.organizedassistant.com for further information
and to request your free subscription to The Organized Assistant
Resource, a monthly ezine dedicated to Maximizing Your Time and
Space.
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