Steward: Expense Tracking

Wow, how exciting: a blog post about accounting.  Eww.

If you're still reading (thanks), hear me out. 

I was recommended early on in business and ministry to begin to tracking my milage and expenses for tax deduction.  One coworker of mine said that one year his tax bill ended up being a tax refund because of his tracking of expenses.

Sales guys know this stuff.  Ministry guys should know this stuff.  Musicians: using your gear for ministry?  It's deductible.  Do you volunteer at church?  It's a lower rater per-mile, but there's a deduction for that, too.  Keep track, and Uncle Sam doesn't get mo' money than he deserves.

So, now, how to track it all?  For the last years I've used a printed out excel sheet that I found, and kept track there.  That worked...about 25% of the time I wrote down my milage.

Then I found an app.  I had never (seriously) never bought an app after having an iPhone for 9 months.  I'm a bit of a cheapo when it comes to that.  What did I find?  BizXpenseTracker.  Cost: $6.99

As this would be the first real app purchase I made, I researched.  BizX does a ton of stuff.  I got lost in the amount of stuff it can do.  Eventually, if I'm a world traveler (with wife + 4 kids...) I'll be set.  The real reason I finally clicked "install" was the simple layout of the mile tracker.  I created a new log, and began tracking.  The first trip I tracked covered the app's cost x2 - and I'm probably at about 90% of tracking.  How's that!?  Simple, I always have my phone, and it's so simple to add trips I regularly take in the app.

So, go get good-steward-y.

I am doing this because I feel like it's important to steward the provision that my Father, God, has given me and my family.  This is especially convicting to me as I am in full time ministry, supported by faithful family and friends (and new friends I made along the way!).  Thanks to creativity, there are new technological advances that fit in my pocket that make this ENFP able to be a little more organized than the 1950's ENFP....