How to Save Your Money By Being More Organized with It

I recently had an experience that reminded me how important it is to keep track of your spending week by week, day by day. I admittedly go through good, and not quite as good phases in relation to how thorough I am checking all my receipts and keeping track of our ins & outs. So I thought telling you about what I did may help remind you how important it is to be organized when it comes to your money.

I bought several items from Target (an hour from where we live), to buy the kid’s birthday presents, among other things. I didn't check the receipt at the checkout as I usually would, and didn't even do it at home later on. It was about a week later I was sorting through my handbag and purse that I had a closer look.

I had accidentally been charged twice for my son's present - a building block set worth about $30. If it had cost only a few dollars I probably wouldn't have worried about it due to the distance involved, but a purchase for this amount of money is significant and needed to be followed up on.

I hadn't experienced a situation like this before, as past problems involved areas such as overcharging of an item on sale, for example, which is pretty easy to prove and rectify. Nevertheless, I didn't know how I was supposed to prove I didn't actually buy two sets at the time of purchase. This didn't put me off at least calling Target Customer Service to see if anything could be done. I'm certainly glad I did!

The lady I spoke to was very helpful and said it would fine to come in next time I was in town, show the receipt and they would give me the money back. This is exactly what happened when I was in town a few weeks later.

I'm so glad I didn't put it in the 'too hard basket' and assume that they wouldn't give me my money back. The trick was firstly noticing the discrepancy in the first place by checking my receipts; (albeit a bit late!), taking action immediately by calling directory to get the relevant phone number, and then calling right then and there.

Just a quick tip to add, always make sure when you call the customer service of any business that you get the name of the person you are talking to, and write down the advice they give you. Then take that piece of paper with you, so that you can mention that you have already spoken to such and such from Customer Service and that they said to... It speeds the process up and gives your claim instant credibility. Also, even though a mistake has been made, remember that it certainly isn't the fault of the employee you are speaking to, so be polite as it may help your problem being sorted out even more quickly. It pays to be nice!!

I try to keep a close eye on our weekly budget and also keep a yearly budget with overall expected expenses to compare it to, as the year goes by, to make sure we're on track. I've learnt my lesson not to get slack with checking receipts as I check them to prevent this sort of thing from happening again. If you don't, maybe you should consider it. I guarantee you will be more conscious of how much you spend, and if it's more than you can afford it will help you cut back.