How Evernote Saved Me $67.99 and 1 Hour Today

Evernote is part of my everyday life in so many little ways. The small savings in time and [often] dollars adds up to huge efficiency in my life. This post is a quick case study of how Evernote plays a part in my daily life.

17 days ago, I purchased a sweater at Banana Republic for $84.88 [tax included].

Today, while shopping again, I noticed Banana Republic was running an "extra 60% off all sale items” promotion. Successfully lured in, I quickly saw that the full price sweater I recently purchased was now on sale and was eligible for the additional discount.

I inquired about if I qualified for a price adjustment. I was told they don’t do price adjustments. But, I could bring in the sweater and they would return the full price sweater and then re-sell it to me at the new, adjusted price. This would mean another trip to the mall at a round-trip cost of about an hour of my time.

I asked: “What if I have the receipt?”
She said: "If you have the receipt, I’ll see what I can do."

I whipped out my phone, opened Evernote, navigated to the notebook where I keep my personal receipts, sorted the notes by Date created [so that the most recent notes were at the top], and quickly scrolled to the Banana Republic receipt I had scanned with my Evernote ScanSnap 17 days earlier.

Within 20 seconded, I presented a crisp, clear, and readable image of my original receipt to the sales girl on my phone.

5 minutes later, I have a refund of $84.88 and re-bought the same sweater for $16.89.

I have $67.99 back in my pocket because I had access to the receipt which I could quickly find, on my phone, thanks to Evernote.

There was no sorting through a stack of paper receipts at my house looking for the one that has my original purchase on it. And, there was no second trip to the mall. I saved hassle, time, and money.

This is just one example of how Evernote plays a practical role in my life. As we get into the new year, have you committed to photographing or scanning your receipts? Are you storing them in Evernote? Are they organized in a way you can quickly retrieve them? Could you save time and money by doing so?

I‘d bank on it.