My desk is cluttered with cash register receipts that Ive removed from my pocket over the past few days.

I have the best intentions; really, I plan to sort some out for tax time, and others I scan for mistakes.

There are two kinds of mistakes:

(1) The ones I made in buying these goods at all, errors of judgment; and

(2) Computational errors that the businesses made, in charging me too much.

I find billing errors more often than you might think.

Because I eat out a lot, most of the errors I encounter are at restaurants. Ill be charged for an item that the server forgot to serve.

But sometimes, the price for an item is just plain wrong.

For example, having a meal in downtown Los Angeles, I ordered a glass of wine after asking how much the cabernets cost. The server said $8 and $10, respectively, which is pricey, in any case.

I ordered the $8 glass, recognizing the name to be a good one.

When the check arrived, I was charged $10.

Here I was in a fairly elegant restaurant, and two bucks isnt very much, but I was overcharged, so I asked the server about it. She checked with the bar, saw her error, and made the correction.

Although you might feel a bit conspicuous, take a moment to add up the check, mentally.

Youll be surprised at how many mistakes you catch, and how much money you save!