Most people don’t think much of the receipts they get after paying up. However, collecting receipts can be a good habit to cultivate in the long run. It can be rather financially rewarding and revealing at the same time.

A good way to keep track of your receipts is to store them according to categories. A few basic categories can look like the following:

1) Food & Drinks
2) Car Maintenance
3) Parking
4) Tolls
5) Traveling
6) Books
7) Entertainment
8) Insurance
9) Petrol

It helps to consolidate the receipts on a monthly basis.

Managing receipts can be a pain-in-the-neck but it can reveal some of your dark spending secrets.

Another obvious benefit of keeping your receipts is that in the case of a complaint on the products or services, you will be attended without further questioning. Even in a country like Malaysia, where consumer rights is almost non-existent, the receipt can sometimes be your only ticket to redemption.

Keeping track of your receipt also allows you to do a reality check on your spending habits. It’s an easier habit to cultivate, as compared to tracking your expenses on a daily basis. Although it’s not 100% accurate since it’s not realistic to get receipts from everything you buy, the receipt you collected by the end of the month should be close to 80% of the actual spending. The trick is to ensure you have receipts for the more expensive items you are buying, or the stuff that you buy on a daily basis.

Receipts (original ones) are also your only defense when the taxman ask about your balance sheet.

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