Starting today, you do.

Here’s how to manage receipts for small business, personal or any other purpose faster and more efficiently so you can get back to living your life.

Dump the clutter

First thing’s first – you need to figure out the best way to manage receipts you already have before you can deal with any new receipts coming in.

Whether you have alphabetized receipts stored in filing cabinets, or a big ‘ol pile of paper scattered across your desk, the first step in how to manage receipts is to go paperless.

• Scan each receipt into a digital record using a traditional desktop scanner or the camera on your smartphone.
• Use a service like Shoeboxed to mass-upload all of your receipts for you. Simply dump your receipts into the Shoeboxed Magic Envelope, drop the envelope in the mail, and watch as your account is magically populated with all of your receipts and data.
• Recycle all of that paper and clear the way for a more organized receipt management future.

Set up systems

Clearing the clutter is only half the battle. There’s no point in getting rid of all your receipts only to start collecting new ones. Set up systems to manage what happens to a receipt every time you receive one.

For example, every time you’re handed a receipt you could…

1. Add your name to the vendor’s email list to receive future receipts by email.
2. Snap a photo of the receipt with your smartphone.
3. Recycle the receipt BEFORE getting back in your car or returning home.
4. Log-in to your receipt management software program or app and modify the transaction details as needed.

You could also implement a similar system involving a desktop scanner or mobile receipt scanner. The key is developing simple tasks that you’re likely to do on a regular basis. Create systems that complement your lifestyle and habits, which will make it easier to keep receipts organized.

Choose the right tools

When wondering how to manage receipts, you might feel like you’re drowning in a sea of paper clutter. The right tools, however, can serve as organizational lifeboats to help you manage, organize, and digitize your receipts with top-rated technology and the best receipt scanning apps out there.

If you want to do more than merely scan a receipt, you need technology that lets you work with the scanned data. What’s more, you need robust tools that connect the information on your receipt with your accounting software, invoicing software, and other financial applications.

In addition to Shoeboxed, there are a number of receipt-scanning apps that digitize data and have integrations with Quickbooks, Evernote, Outright, Wave, Scansnap, and more. Choose a receipt scanning tool that integrates with your accounting software to make receipt management even more powerful.

When you mass-dump paper clutter, set up systems to prevent future clutter, and use tools to make the most of receipt scanning technology, you can easily manage receipts without losing your mind.

There’s more to being clutter-free than the requisite sweeping and mopping. A truly clean house can only be achieved when you establish easy-to-follow systems that prevent the buildup of clutter and keep your home free of both dirt and distractions.

Here’s a proven 3-step system for preventing clutter before it starts and creating the kind of peaceful, organized house you’ve been dreaming about:

Step one: Assign homes within your home

The first step to decluttering is to assign every object in your home its own home.

This means that everything – from a pair of scissors to an old stack of photos – has a home where it “lives” and where it’s meant to be.

Items without homes quickly turn into random clutter that makes your house look disorganized. Invest in organizing bins, toss what you don’t need, and feel free to make use of a good old-fashioned label gun when creating homes for everything you own.

Step two: Digitize your documents

The second answer to the question of how to keep a clean house is to digitize your paper documents.

Paper is a huge culprit in keeping homes cluttered and disorganized. Bills pile up, stacks of receipts line the kitchen table, and before you know it, your home looks more like a disorganized office than an inviting place to relax.

Use a service like Shoeboxed to quickly and easily scan your paper documents. Simply snap a photo of each document with your smartphone, or drop piles of paper into Shoeboxed’s Magic Envelope.

The company will digitize all of your paper documents into data within a secure account without you having to do any heavy lifting.

What’s more, the digital versions of your documents are legally binding, allowing you to scan and then recycle 90% of the paper in your house – even bank statements and tax records!

Step three: Create ongoing systems

Assigning homes within your home and digitizing your paper documents will clear out any remaining clutter and give you the truly clean home you’ve been looking for.

But how do you prevent clutter from coming back?

You need to create ongoing systems that make it easy for you and your family to keep the house clean.

Look at the items that most frequently clutter up your living room, dining room, office, or bedroom. Then, create specific systems that dictate where the item should be at all times, whether it’s being used or not.

For instance, you could create systems for how to handle paper receipts every time you get one. You might scan them to your Shoeboxed account, file them in a specific folder, or recycle them.

Another system that works well for keeping a clean house is to establish specific “drop zones” for items like shoes, purses, and coats.

It’s practically impossible to learn how to keep a clean house if your cleaning efforts stop with the mop and broom.

Dig deeper to create systems of organization that prevent clutter, make papers go “poof!”, and give you the kind of organized home you’ve been longing for.

Creating a completely paperless workspace is a lot easier than you think.

What’s more, going paperless will save you money, help you stay organized, and increase your focus and productivity.

Here’s how to go paperless in just 3 easy steps:

Step One: Take Inventory

The first step to going paperless at home or at work is taking inventory of the paper clutter you’ve already accumulated.

Whether you have file cabinets that are bursting to the brim, or just a messy desk, your first job is to decide what needs to be kept and what can be recycled.

Sort all of your papers, files, receipts, and business cards into two piles: one for recycling and one for paperless processing.

Once you’re clear on what you need to keep, it’s time to move on to Step Two.

Step Two: Clear the Clutter

In Step One, you created a pile (or garbage bag-full) of documents that were important enough to keep.

But when you go paperless, the truth is that you won’t really “keep” any of your paper documents – at least not in hard copy form.

It’s possible to securely store important documents by converting them to digital documents instead. This will save you space while ensuring that your documents are never lost or damaged. When thinking about how to go paperless, digital documents are the answer!

You have many options for clearing paper clutter by digitizing your documents.

You can….

• scan everything and save it on your computer
• use a receipt scanning service
• snap photos of your documents with your smartphone

Whether you decide to use a service or do it yourself, make sure the documents you scan are organized, stored, and backed up in a secure cloud-based system like iCloud or Google Drive.

Once your paper documents have been scanned, organized, and stored, feel free to recycle everything and further reduce the burden of paper clutter.

Finally, keep in mind that the IRS accepts digital versions of receipts and other documents for tax purposes. Unless it’s an original birth certificate, a deed to a home, or a car title, almost all paper documents can and should be digitized.

Step Three: Create Paperless Systems

In Steps One and Two, you cleared paper clutter from your workspace or home.

But how to go paperless permanently and make sure the clutter doesn’t start to creep back into your life?

The answer lies in creating paperless systems.

Take a look at the systems you currently have in place (i.e. the systems that created the clutter in the first place).

What happens when you get a receipt, print a document, or receive mail?

Chances are you’ve been filing hard copies in a filing cabinet, stuffing receipts in envelopes, or simply tossing paper on your desk.

In order to prevent paper clutter permanently, create rules that you follow every time you find yourself holding a piece of paper.

For example…

• Snap a photo of a receipt as soon as you get it, then toss it before leaving the purchase location
• Set aside one hour on Fridays to scan all the business cards and bills you received that week
• Spend 15 minutes at the end of every workday digitizing the day’s documents

Also, don’t forget to reach out to all of your vendors and contractors and request digital statements instead of paper statements.

When considering going paperless, it’s crucial to dump the clutter you already have. But it’s even more important to keep clutter at bay by eliminating paper each and every day!

If you are still using the “folder system” to manage bills, you really are missing out on the wonders of modern technology. The benefits of using a digital filing system to replace your current monthly bill organizer are endless.

Even though you might consider yourself as organized as they come, paper has one universal quality—it gets lost. Losing your grocery list is one thing, but losing an important bill will not only cost you late fees and a higher interest rate, but it could even lead to legal issues with the company who isn’t getting paid.

To avoid these things, I suggest moving to a digital filing system. Going digital will allow you to keep all of your bills and other expenses in a common place which is great because they will never get lost. Additionally, most digital filing services save your information in the cloud which means you can access your paper documents’ information anytime, anywhere, and from any computer or smartphone. These services are relatively cheap and the best part is the transition from your old filing system is a breeze.

Doing away with monthly bill organizers will also decrease the paper clutter you will have to put up with around your home and office. Instead of letting bills pile up, an electronic system will allow you to quickly digitize your documents and get them off of your desk and out of sight. Most digital filing systems will allow you to scan bills into your computer yourself or, if you don’t have a scanner, you can send them to services like Shoeboxed.com who will digitize them for you and extract all of the important information.

Choosing to go digital is also better than using a monthly bill organizer because you can actually cut down on the number of bills that get sent to your home. Most companies nowadays offer electronic billing options which means you never even have to open an envelope. E-bills, as they’re called, will be sent to your email address and then all you have to do is save the bill to your digital filing system or forward it to the filing system service you are using. Bottom line: no more paper clutter, no more lost bills and a complete and searchable database of your billing history.

I should also note that making your expenses digital is extremely useful for importing financial data into accounting and bookkeeping services like Quickbooks, Wave and Turbo Tax.

If you use a digital filing system that you would like to share with other readers, please let us know about it in the comments section below!