Keeping Accurate Records
If you’re anything like me, this is your least favorite part of the process. I find record keeping to be tedious and cumbersome, and a task that I always put off as long as possible. However, no matter how much you may hate it, this is a necessary evil. Taking the time to maintain accurate records now will save you a huge headache come tax time – and that’s headache enough on its own! I have found a couple of ways to make the job a little less dreaded, and I’ve found a couple more than I intend to implement in the future.
The first step you need to take is organizing your desk. Even this is a daunting task for some of us!
But this is definitely a Flylady clean sink kind of thing – if you get the desk cleared off and looking good, you’re much more likely to stick with it.
Another thing that helps me stick with it is using pretty supplies to organize with. See that scrolly planner back there? I bought the entire family of supplies when I found them on clearance!
This is actually a tip I learned in a webinar about organization. It was a blogger event and Peter Walsh (from TLC’s Clean Sweep program, and a contributor to Oprah), along with Office Max, recommended this. It made sense to me, and I’m happy to report that indeed it does work. When all of my stuff is pretty and nice to look at, I actually use it! Revolutionary!
So after cleaning my desk off, I left only the essentials that I know I’ll use every day. On the right you’ll see I have another small lightweight shipping scale, as well as a business card holder with ‘Thank You’ cards that get put into every package. In the back I have an Internet address book with frequently used websites, accounts, passwords, and other handy info (so hopefully if I die, someone will come and let you know why I vanished. Yes, I actually think about things like that!) I also keep a self-inking stamp there for Amazon packages, since we are required to label them as such. My desk is still a bit crowded for my liking. I thought I wanted a small desk, but I’ve found that they aren’t as great in practice as they are in pictures!
Another tip I learned from the webinar is to keep personal and professional appointments on the same planner. Previously I’d tried to keep these separate, but found it to be too much to keep up with. As a busy work at home mom, I’m lucky to maintain a planner at all, let alone two! If I write down my kids appointments along with my own work schedule, I’m more likely to stick to it. I use my planner to keep track of doctor’s appointments, after-school activities, conference calls, meetings, and deadlines. I also always keep it on my desk, so it can’t get lost. This makes it easy for me to refer to when on the phone – I can tell at a glance what my commitments are.
I also purchased several notebooks in varying sizes. I use one for shopping lists, one for items I see in store and want to research later, one for items to look for when shopping, and one for daily goals. Of course you could do all of this in the same notebook, but separate ones work out best for me.
Another thing I picked up was 3-ring binders. I filled them with matching folders and use these for organizing my copy of customs forms, postage receipts, and other documents that I need to keep, but only short-term. I try to go through these once a week and purge what I no longer need. I’ve also found these binders to be perfect for storing design patterns I’ve downloaded and printed myself, and for organizing coupon fliers. Again, having everything matchy-matchy and cute keeps me motivated to maintain!
Beside my desk I have a large filing cabinet. I use this to hold my printer, router, modem, etc and have it convenient but not in the way. The top drawer of the filing cabinet holds my business records and shipping labels. Clearly labeled folders for shopping receipts, monthly bills, expense reports, mileage, etc all make it easy to keep track of your business and get ready for the tax season that is fast approaching!
And finally I have a bookcase nearby, which holds the basket of supplies I referenced yesterday. As Cindy said, it’s very helpful to have multiples of frequently used supplies, so I keep extra scissors, tape, labels, etc in this basket. I dump everything together and keep it within arm’s reach so I never have to run around wondering where I left the tape dispenser!
So there’s a basic setup, but what about the actual records? Well frankly, that’s where I fall short! I don’t know why I have such a hard time with the details, but it’s just not my thing. One change I’d like to make this year is using the Easy Auction Tracker spreadsheet to track my inventory. I currently ‘use’ an excel spreadsheet that my husband made for me, and while I’m sure it’s great, it doesn’t upload my inventory from ebay automatically. That’s why I said I ‘use’ it in quotes - I really don’t! I need something automated to make it a little easier for me.
Another improvement I want to make this year is keeping better track of mileage. Did you know that the miles you put on your car as you shop for inventory, purchase supplies, and ship your packages is all tax-deductible? Grab yourself a handy little book like this and keep it in your car. Each time you make a business-related trip, write down the location, purpose, and round-trip mileage. Tally this up at the end of each month, and at the end of the year it’s easy to add the monthly totals and use this for tax purposes. This is a really great, easy, and perfectly legitimate tax deduction, yet I always seem to forget to do it. I will do better this year!
So, for those of you that keep better records than I, what else should I be tracking? Have you found it useful to run comparisons on domestic vs. international sales? Do you have different filing systems for eBay vs. Amazon? Leave a comment and let us know what works for you! Every comment this week earns you an entry for an office organization kit. Remember that webinar I mentioned? The prize package includes items from both Peter Walsh and Office Max, and puts into practice the ‘beautiful gets used’ theory, as well as Walsh’s belief that clear storage makes it faster and easier for you to see what you need.
Lastly, I’m humbling myself here. All week I’ve been reading your comments and compliments on my organization, and I feel like a bit of a hypocrit. Believe me, I am not always organized! My inventory looks great but my desk, not so much. You saw those pretty pictures up there, and it’s true that the top of my workspace does look like that. But what you didn’t see is that the floor looks like this:
Clearly, we all have room for improvement!
*Note – HCTS does not offer legal advice on taxes or tax deductions. Please contact your tax professional for accurate information and guidance for your personal situation.
Facebook comments:
22 Responses to “Keeping Accurate Records”
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Become our friend
Heather's Blog
Melisha's Blog
Project Hope
Thanks for the great ideas Heather!
Well even with the little mess on the floor you are still very good organized.
I told you before; I also keep my desk always clean because that really helps me to stay motivated.
I also have nice looking writingbooks; notebooks and stick-ons.
I have my planner on my wall right beside me where I keep track of all my appointments.
I am not very well organized with the bookkeeping but I do keep track of all my receipts.
At the end of evry month I put my receipts in a new enveloppe; so at the end of the year I have 12 enveloppes with inventory receipts.
I have another enveloppe where I put all my receipts for all materials like ink, paper, enveloppes and stuff like that.
I do keep track of my gas and also car repairs.
Now that I write evrything down; it is really a business we are running here; funny because a lot of people have no idea what all comes with it when selling on Ebay …
I love this week of blogging
Great Post.
On my planner/calendar I also add in when my favorite stores have special sales, then the next year I refer back to it to guess when the big sales will be coming.
I too am looking into using a different tracking method than my Excel spreadsheet. Thanx for reminding me about the Easy Auction Tracker. I MUST take some time to make a decision on this – and soon.
I plan to do a better job of entering my inventory as I purchase it, rather than waiting until it sells and then trying to remember what I paid for it. What a nightmare! Especially if it’s been in my store for 2 years!
Great blog!
Great ideas! I think the “pretty” idea works well because you will WANT to use it. I have a pretty animal printed zippered binder that I use as my Ebay binder. I have a spiral notebook in it which I itemize my inventory by month (for each month I write purchase date, item description and item price) that way at the end of the month I can see how much I spent on inventory for that month or see if I need to stop shopping mid month if I have spent alot. I also have a pretty pocket folder in it that I keep loose papers in. I label envelopes by month and just throw my receipts in them that way they are already seperated for easy referenceand I keep them in one of the pockets inside my binder. I have created a spreadsheet which I keep in my binder where I list item sold price, ebay & pay pal fees, shipping cost, item cost & final profit for each item. It gets tedious sometimes having to fill this in but I log it all in when I go to ship the items. I also keep pens, pencil, caculator etc in my pretty little binder so all I carry it with me anywhere and sometimes take opportunities when I am waiting at an appt to update it. So far this works for me…..
I do keep my binders similar to this although I need to update them more often…:0) Thanks for the push to start my taxes and bookkeeping, the least favorite part!
I am constantly trying to work on a better system for paperwork and record keeping. I use an extra large check/coupon holder to store all my receipts by month. Shipping records I keep in a folder in my file cabinet under my desk.(one for eBay, one Amazon). I have yet to perfect an inventory system, so happy to hear others ideas.
This year I started using http://www.outright.com to track income & expenses. It is great as it calculates est. tax payments for you. Now they have added a mileage tracker and they import ebay & paypal info! You can also find it under eBay applications now.
Great information Heather!
Great work. And sorry you guys aren’t feeling well.
Love the ideas. Just cleaned and washed every surface of my desk yesterday, already feel like a new woman….
Keeping track of inventory-not so much. Definately going to look into easy auction tracker. Right now, I leave the price tags in the pockets. When I list the item I put the following in the notes section on SSB.
When I listed/Where bought/How much total was/how much item was.
I think you are very well organized. I love the shipping supplies basket. I need to get all of that in one little place, so I don’t have to make constant little trips around my house or to my basement to various drawers, shelves, etc.
I do have an excel sheet that my brother made up for me. While I am good at keeping up with it, it would probably be easier to use the one that uploads ebay items automatically. However, change is sometimes hard for me, especially when I have something that seems to work for me.
Thanks for the motivation to clean off my desk this morning. I am going to get right on it.
Keeping track of things is perhaps my biggest challenge.
For me, its not a matter of having the right system, its a matter of DOING IT. I am just fully adverse to tracking anything! As my business is growing, it is becoming more and more (and more!) important that I account for the comings and goings of the money!
What Im doing starting this year is using 1 particular credit card for all inventory and supply buying, with NO personal purchases on that card. In cases where it needs to be one purchase (to take advantage of a coupon, for example), I will need to write this down somewhere (ACK!)
I do not account at the item level, only the over all level of money coming in vs money going out. Id love to see the profit for each individual item, but I simply know I will not keep up with it (even with my Easy Auction Tracker Software)
Great Tips!
I try to keep all my receipts in one of those accordion files (I get them at the $1 spot in target), and organize them by month. That way they are easy to locate!
A quick tip on the milage thing…
I found I go to the same places over and over thoughout the year. So, all I really need to track is the number of times I went to each place. At tax time, Ill use a spreadsheet to total the miles.
For Example:
Home to LVMall, RT = 10 @ 15 miles = 150 miles
Home-Pburg-Easton Loop = 3 @ 64 miles = 192
Home-Qtown-Ttown Loop = 6 @ 42miles = 252
I dont need to make sure I check the milage each time. And, I can get the milage anytime…. just by plotting the course on Mapquest.
This is great information! I am horrible with records so this should kick my butt in gear.
I’m pretty organized about bookkeeping and such.
One calendar system that I LOOOVE is the MomAgenda.
As for mileage, I’m like Cindy. I go to pretty much the same exact places all the time so I “try” to write down where I went on any given day in a little pocket sized calender then add them up and multiply the number of times I went x the mileage. I did real well with this system until the week of my CA diagnosis…. just found my calendar this week…. obviously forgot all about that little task…. ugh!
Oh man, I’m not as organized as I thought I was! I wish I could order up an “organizing fairy”.
Awesome information!!
I totally recommend easyauction tracker spreadsheet. It has been a life saver for me. Plus I do consigment also and it keeps your records super accurate. Saves tons of times.
One thing I do is keep all my receipts by month in one envelope. So at the end of the year I end up with 12 envelopes and each one contains the receipts for that month. For me that is a good way to keep organized. I also have a 3 ring binder with all my reports I generate each month. Total sales, easyauction tracker monthly, plus each invoice I send to my customers. I have them separated it by monthly tabs.
Thanks for the inspiration! I love the pretty will make you organize concept.
I have had 2 Fira IKEA cabinet things on the floor of my office for ever and you have inspired me to make a shipping label / paper / record keeper system out of them. Something like this: http://www.flickr.com/photos/greeneyedmonster/3190133711/
Since I am relatively new to ebay (have had a store since Sept.) it helps to have hint on what to do for next years taxes. This years are quite hopeless I think.
The hardest part for me is to keep track of expenses at GS since this is all cash.
Thanks for the blog, it looks great!
Colleen
On the Today show this morning the Real Simple editor was on and showed this handy little scanner (so buying one of these) and I thought it would be better to just scan some household bills and then shred the paper. I can always just find the scanned copy on the pc. We have a scanner but it is a pain to use so I have forgot about it. Here is the one she showed on the TV. http://tinyurl.com/yzm3d76
I have saved every bill and my dh hates it but it is all in one place so…whatever, we only have to keep records for 7 years too, so shred everything from 2003 and older…you don’t have to have it in case of an audit.
Sorry, it was on the Early Show here:
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=6071310n&tag=mg;earlyshow
I’m like Phyllis, whenever something sells I’m trying to remember where I bought it and how much it was! I have tried putting the tag in the pocket trick, but sometimes they get lost and sometimes the price on the tag isn’t what I actually paid. I REALLY need help in record keeping and am considering the auction tracker. Thanks for doing this!