I've been keeping all my receipts in a shoebox for years, but it's getting out of hand. I need to file them properly for tax purposes and warranty claims. Should I organize by month, category, or store?
I'd do both month and category - like, separate folders for each month, then within those break it down by business expenses, medical stuff, warranties, whatever applies to you.
That way when tax time rolls around you can grab the whole month folder, but if you need to track down a specific warranty claim you're not digging through everything.
Some people scan everything with their phone first so they have a backup, which I'm skeptical of at first but it actually saves space and you can search by date or store name on your computer. Just make sure you're keeping receipts for at least three years since the IRS can audit back that far.
I'd lean toward organizing by category first (groceries, medical, auto, home improvement, etc.) then by month within those folders - that way when tax time rolls around you can grab just the business stuff without wading through everything, and warranty claims are easy to find since you're already thinking "where's that receipt from the hardware store" not "what month was that." The shoebox method would drive me up the wall after a few years, so good call getting ahead of it now.
What's worked best for me is keeping a master spreadsheet on my computer while filing the physical copies by category only - business meals, medical, home repairs, that stuff. Then when tax season hits or I need a warranty claim, I just search the spreadsheet for the date range and grab the right folder without hunting through twelve different month files! The spreadsheet takes maybe thirty seconds per receipt to log (date, amount, category, what it was for) and it's saved me tons of time compared to flipping through chronological piles. Physical filing by category alone keeps things simple and your receipts stay in one logical place instead of scattered across months.
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