Weekly Tip: Save Your Receipts
Most people trash their receipts. They add up fast, and before you know it, you have a ton of pieces of paper floating around your purse or lying around your house. However, getting rid of your receipts isn’t always the best idea. Without your receipts, you have no physical record of your transactions. This can be problematic if there are fraudulent charges on your account.
By checking your receipts against your monthly statements, you can ensure that each transaction is correct. Without your receipts, you probably won’t remember how much you spent and where you spent money. It is very easy not to notice identity theft, especially if it is just a small charge. For example, in the beginning of January, many consumers had unauthorized charges of $9.84 on their statements. It’s easy to brush over a charge so small and forget about it. However, your information can easily be compromised. In the case of the $9.84 charges, many consumers had their accounts hacked and personal information taken. So, it’s extremely important to check your receipts against your monthly statement to ensure that all transactions on your bill are valid.
The good news is that you don’t have to keep your receipts forever. The paper trail is endless, and as long as you’ve checked your statement, you can get rid of most of these receipts once you pay the bill. The only exception is when receipts are needed for a warranty or tax filing. You should keep those until the warranty expires or with your tax files.
