Recently, I have noticed, when I pay for an item at a store the person accepting my payment asks this question ‘Do you want you receipt?’ I always answer ‘Yes!’ So, yesterday when I was paying for a haircut and the woman asked me that question I asked ‘Does anyone ever say no?’ The cashier told me that most people do not want the receipt. Her answer really surprised me and I indicated that. My question was ‘ how do you track your expenditures without the receipt?’ The cashier told me that she never takes a receipt. She tracks her expenses online. I track my expenses online also but I enter my expenses in a money management system. I don’t wait for it to show up in my bank or credit card account online. I take a pro-active approach by entering the expense as it occurs. The cashier’s point was that a person saves paper by not taking the receipt and it shows up eventually online in the account regardless. I understand her point and I think I could say no to a receipt if I took a moment and recorded the transaction in my smart phone so that I would know how much to enter in my money management program when I returned home. BUT that seems like a lot of work to me. It is easier for me to take the receipt and follow my routine. Additionally, I think taking a receipt prompts me to remember to track my expenses. If you don’t take a receipt how do you remember what you have spent? Do you wait until the end of the month when your statement arrives in your e-mail box to find out if you are staying within your budget? I would love to know what you think about this.
