A year-end expense checklist
A little preparation in autumn saves a lot of scrambling in the new year. Ten things to check while there is still time to fix them.
Blog
Notes on tracking expenses, keeping receipts and understanding where your money goes.
How long should you keep receipts?
The honest answer is: it depends on where you live and what the receipt is for. What to ask, what to keep, and why a digital copy is a good start.
Sharing a workspace with a partner or flatmates
Shared money is easier when everyone sees the same numbers, and harder when everyone sees everything. How to share with the right amount of visibility.
When your budget alert goes off: what to do next
An 80% alert is a nudge, a 100% alert is a decision. How to respond to each without guilt or panic.
Better questions to ask your expenses
Asking in plain language only helps if your question is one your data can answer. A few that work well, and why.
Spotting duplicate expenses before they cost you
The same lunch entered twice, or the same receipt uploaded from two phones: duplicates inflate totals and quietly distort budgets.
How AI reads a receipt, and where it still gets it wrong
Reading a receipt is easy for a person and surprisingly fiddly for software. What the AI is good at, where it hesitates, and why you still get the final say.
Travel expenses, the simple way
A trip generates dozens of small expenses in a few days. A tag, a habit and ten minutes on the way home are all it takes.
Spending policies for a small team that don't feel like red tape
A good policy is a handrail, not a gate. A few clear limits, written down and checked automatically, make most awkward conversations unnecessary.
Capturing expenses when there is no signal
Planes, trains, basements and remote conference halls: the places you spend money are not always the places with a connection. How offline capture works, and what to expect.
Expense reports your accountant will thank you for
What accountants want from you at year end is not more data. It is consistent data, with the paper behind it.
Keeping business and personal spending apart
The cleanest books come from a clean habit. When you cannot keep the money apart, here is the next best thing.