Thrifty Thursday - Tax Time Made Easy

So you can't save money on itemized deductions if you can't find the receipts. If you're like me, you get swallowed up in piles of paper way too easily. A few years ago I figured out something that works great for our family.

We had an extra card box (you know the kinds they sell every so often at places like Hallmark to organize birthday cards, thank you cards, Christmas cards, etc.). We divided it into the main tax-deductible categories like medical, childcare, work-related expenses.

Throughout the year as we got receipts related to each category, we put them in their respective areas. Then when we sit down to do taxes, we pull out the box and sort through each set of receipts, add them up and staple them together to go in our tax folder for the year.

It has made doing taxes a lot simpler and I know we both have appreciated not trying to track down the receipts at the end of March. Consequently, because finding the receipts is not such a big chore, we are set to claim all possible deductions at the end of the year, which is very nice and puts more money in our pockets.

Happy tax time:)

Thrifty Thursday: Employer Discounts, Watching Receipts

For those of you who work with big companies, it is worth a bit of time to look into what type of discounts they have with other companies. Oftentimes, you don't get a packet saying "take advantage of these discounts," but they do exist.

My husband and I looked into this with his company this week and realized our wireless carrier offers a 19% discount each month on voice plans. For us, that comes to another $20 a month. All we have to do is set up the information with them.

I know his company and health care also offer discounts everywhere from the gym to travel and car rental discounts.

Also, I was reminded of a good lesson this week: ALWAYS CHECK YOUR RECEIPTS. I got home from Wal-Mart and realized the skillet I had bought for nearly $30 had been charged twice on our bill. It was the first thing the cashier rang up and I was still unloading items from my cart. That mistake had increased my bill by 25% so I brought the receipt back and spoke with customer service and was refunded the extra money.

I didn't actually check my receipt for many days though and almost missed out on the opportunity to get it corrected. It was a good reminder for me.

Have a great day!