The shoebox is not a filing system. Neither is a camera roll with 400 unsorted photos. Here is the receipt routine we teach every client, and it runs on tools you already own.
Capture at the counter
The rule is thirty seconds: before you leave the shop, photograph the receipt and upload it to your accounting app or a single shared folder. Waiting until Friday is how receipts go missing.
Name files like a tired stranger
Use one pattern — date, vendor, amount — like 2026-05-02-office-depot-48-20. Six months later you will find anything in seconds without opening a single file.
One home, no exceptions
Paper, email, and app receipts all end up in the same place. A receipt that lives in three inboxes is a receipt you will pay your accountant to hunt down.
Shred with confidence
Once a receipt is captured, backed up, and matched to a transaction, the paper can go. Digital copies are accepted for tax purposes in most cases — confirm with your adviser, then enjoy the empty drawer.
Total weekly effort: about ten minutes. Total March savings: your sanity.
