Does this domestic scenario ring a bell with you?
It goes something like this:
"Have you seen the remote?"
"No. Perhaps you're sitting on it."
"Do you not think I've looked under my own backside!?
"I've looked under the couch. Down the sides of the couch. Lifted off the seats. Thrown the cushions across the room and generally turned the living room upside down! I've wasted 10 minutes of my life - where the bloody hell is it!?
"You must have taken it with you somewhere!"
"Stop shouting at me. I promise I've ... oh, wait a minute, it's in here with me - I must have brought it into the kitchen when I made a cup of tea."
Time, frustration, and a marriage closer to the end than the beginning. All over a lost remote control.
If losing the remote - preventing you from watching TV - what must losing receipts and proof of business expenses feel like?
Once out of sight you are unlikely to find them behind the couch.
And without these little slips of paper you cannot claim back expenses.
You are literally pouring money away.
Likely to be more painful than being unable to watch your favourite programmes on TV.
So today's small business tip is: track every business expense.
Put them in the same place ...
Make that place secure and easy to remember the location of ...
Make a note of them in your phone of their existence if that helps you recall what you have ...
Just don't lose them!
Unless of course you can afford to?
But who can in these difficult times?
Best, Lindsey
P.S. It'll make bookkeeping a sight easier too.