How to organize bills and receipts?

Question

I have a problem of disorganizing the bills and warranty cards, receipts of bills payed. In fact, I consider them as trivial at one moment, when I need it for a warranty upon the damage of my product, I don't find these piece of papers or cards, I feel deeply remorse.

It happened many a times, and is continuing. I want to stop this, and so I am asking this question. Where can I put these bills, warranty cards, receipts in an organized manner?

An example: I have purchased an air cooler a year ago. At that moment I had the warranty card. On the week of that purchase, I can see the warranty card somewhere around the shelves everyday. Now, its been more than a year, Air cooler has got some problem, I am looking for warranty card, sadly it isn't available now.

How can I preserve these bills in a well organized manner and keep track of all the purchases, bills, warranty cards etc. What are the effective ways in which I can do this?

Answer 1

I dedicated a file folder that grew into a shoebox and then a drawer. Now I scan everything the moment I open it and keep the shoebox for those items that require an original. I also download manuals from the manufacturer's site so I have everything stored together in the same virtual set of Finances folders.

I use a budgeting program that tracks all my purchases and that has greatly improved my overall financial organization/situation.

Whatever you decide to do, you've taken the most important step by recognizing the problem.