ideas for storing receipts

ideas for storing receipts

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I have a client which I have agreed to do some book keeping for. He has hundreds of small (as in size of paper) receipts, eg B&Q, petrol etc.
Can anyone suggest an efficient way to keep these.
I have come up with stapling them on a piece of larger paper, because of the size of the receipts, only using one hole (not very secure), putting them in an envelope.
What does everyone else do to ensure that they are filed and recorded correctly.
Rachel Jones

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By jamesashburton
13th Aug 2008 17:44

Outlook
Iestyn - My email system asks for receipts. I never give them.

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By jamesashburton
07th Aug 2008 17:24

Mrs Beeton
Ah Neil, you've clearly been reading "Mrs Beeton's Receipt Book" - yes indeed what we now call a recipe was (and is more correctly) called a receipt.

Both recipe and receipt were originally terms for a doctor's prescription for medicine, often abbreviated to the upper case R with a slash through the right descending base leg, or Rx. Both recipe and receipt are terms meaning a formula or set of directions.

The word recipe comes from the Latin imperative of recipere, meaning to take or receive and récipé from the Middle French. Receipt, from the same Latin root, developed from a borrowing of Anglo-French and Continental Old French, and is found in English as far back as 1392.

Ah, well. Back to work....

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By neileg
07th Aug 2008 16:01

Nichola
Receipt is an archaic term for the concept we now call recipe. So maybe it's a cultural echo rather that a sign of excessive stress!

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By User deleted
07th Aug 2008 15:22

Receipts
Not the most ideal, but it is the most efficient for me to date:
Sort receipts by date and type of expense. List in Excel, calculate the total for each expense. Print out sheet and fold in two - drop the receipts listed on the sheet inside it and staple the edges. This way I don't have to touch the receipts again and it is REALLY easy to list them in excel, as I use the following format: date, description and amount.
Afterwards I just enter the totals in my accounting software.

Works for both VAT and non-VAT registered clients. Only for VAT accounting, I make sure all the receipts on the same sheet are of the same type, preferably the same supplier, therefore I just calculate the VAT on the total.

I do find it quicker to list in excel and use the total, than enter them one by one in the accounting software.

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By User deleted
01st Aug 2008 11:27

As an aside
Every time I navigate past this query I read "recipes" instead of receipts.

Apart from the fact that I clearly need a holiday I do have problems storing and refinding good recipes too.

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By AnonymousUser
31st Jul 2008 10:49

Worst part of the job
I can't stand receipts, they do my head in.

I usually envelope them up by month or category, after writing the reference number on them. Alternatively I'll staple them to an A4, depending on the volume.

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By lesley.barnes
31st Jul 2008 10:18

Paper Fasteners
One of my clients uses these
http://www.viking-direct.co.uk/a%2Fbusiness%2FNiceday-Paper-Fasteners-Box-Of-50/_975428_Q28_p.htm

They work like a ring binder but are cheaper, keep the receipts together and you done have the bulk of storing the ring binder. If the receipt isn't long enough to put through two loops they just use the top one and it still seems to hold.

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By User deleted
31st Jul 2008 08:51

Paste and staple onto A4 sheet
I tend to paste small receipts onto an A4 sheet of paper, adding staples at the edges in case the glue fails in future years.

The glue used is a "Pritt" stick or similar.

I don't use staples alone as the staplers I use don't reach the centre of an A4 sheet of paper without folding it.

The completed A4 sheet is then slipped into an A4 poly pocket file or simply hole punched and put in a lever arch file.

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By User deleted
30th Jul 2008 17:03

Storaging receipts
My preference is to put one hole-punch hole in the top left hand corner and use a treasury tag whilst numbering each receipt as required. I just find it convenient to go from one receipt to the next in this way rather than turning the pages.

Hope this helps

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By AnonymousUser
30th Jul 2008 15:57

Staple on paper
I staple on A4 paper, as you do, and then number each receipt. It's worked well for me for years where volumes are not large but I'd be interested in other suggestions.

I would warn against using invisible tape to tape to paper. This crreates a bit less bulk than stapling but one client did this for me and the ink, including amounts, disappeared on many of the receipts, far more effectively than leaving them in the sun.

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