Tech Geek

Last week I shared a couple of tools for tracking mileage for reimbursement purposes. I ended with a note that maybe they weren't very good for tracking mileage for IRS purposes because they aren't set up to track odometer readings. That's true for Mileage Calculator, but after an e-mail conversation this week with a new friend, I think Xpenser can be used for this purpose pretty easily.

The key to using Xpenser is setting it up correctly and being consistent in how you use it. Once you set up an account, you need to configure it to use the mileage keyword. To do this, sign in, click on the keywords tab, click the button which says Off in the Mileage box to turn on the mileage keyword, and then enter the reimbursement rate provided by your congregation or employer in the window to the right and click the Set button. The odd part about Xpenser's mileage tracking at the moment is that you cannot enter mileage expenses directly into the web interface. You need to use e-mail, IM (Yahoo, MSN/Windows Live, or AOL), SMS text message, direct message on Twitter, or Jott to have it auto-calculate the mileage amount.

To add a mileage record, you send a message beginning with the keyword mileage, followed by the number of miles, the destination or purpose, and then the odometer reading of your vehicle. I would suggest resetting your trip odometer at the beginning of each trip and at the end of the trip, recording the ending odometer reading. From this, you can calculate the beginning reading. You might also want to record two messages for each trip, the first a zero mileage record with the beginning reading, and the second your ending reading. If you're experienced enough with spreadsheets, you could probably create a formula to do this for you. Xpenser supports exporting into CSV (Comma-Separated Value) files, which you can easily import into Excel, OpenOffice.org Calc, or Google Spreadsheets. It will also let you export QIF (Quicken Interchange Format) files if that's what you want.

At the end of each month or two or at the end of the year, create a new report and move the relevant items from the default report over to the new one. Then print this, turn it in to the treasurer, and set the status on that report to submitted. You may find yourself getting reimbursed or tracking more miles than ever before!