Travel expenses, the simple way

Nothing generates expenses like a trip: taxis, train tickets, coffees, tips, a dinner for four. Five days later you have forty small receipts and no memory of half of them.

Before you go

Create a tag for the trip, something like berlin-may. You will attach it to every expense, and at the end it gives you the whole trip as one slice, whatever the categories.

While you are away

• Photograph each receipt as you get it. Not at the hotel in the evening; at the counter.
• Capture even without a signal. Offline captures wait on your device and are sent when you are back online.
• Add a note for anyone else involved. "Dinner with Maria and the Oslo team" is the difference between a clear report and a mystery.
• Let the currency be what it is. Record the amount in the currency on the receipt; the conversion into yours happens at the rate of that day.

On the way home

Give yourself ten minutes on the train or in the departure lounge:

1. Open the trip tag and look at the list.
2. Check anything the AI was unsure about, which is highlighted for you.
3. Look for what is missing: a taxi with no receipt, a meal you remember but cannot see.
4. Add a quick note for any gap, so the story is complete.

The report

Filter by the tag and export a PDF. It carries a summary, the itemized list and the receipts at the back, which is usually all that the person approving it wants to see.

Do it the same week and the whole thing takes less time than reading this.