When you are traveling, your whole routine gets disrupted – It can be difficult to stay organized. Although many of us associate traveling with taking time off, going on holiday and enjoying ourselves, others are required to travel constantly as part of their jobs.
When you travel as part of your work, you may be required to pay for everything yourself and keep track of your expenses so that you can claim your money from the company at a later date. This can be a headache considering that you are doing your job that has required you to travel, and also have to keep note of everything you spend your money on, not only to ensure that you can receive it back, but also making sure that you do not spend more than you should. In this article, we will advise you of how to be effective in managing your expenses while you’re out traveling, by keeping track of where the money goes and also by ensuring the amount spent remains as low as possible.
Understand Your Company’s Expense Policies
If your job requires you to travel often, whether you work for a company or are self-employed, you will have to submit expenses that are associated with the job that you do. It is crucial that you understand your company’s policies around expenses and reimbursement when you travel. Although this may sound like an obvious tip, not everyone knows exactly what type of expenses the company will cover and what the process of claiming your expenses entails, particularly if this is a new job for you. This is essential if you want to increase your efficiency and ability to manage your expenses while you’re traveling.
Keep All Evidence
You cannot forget that most companies will require evidence to go with the expenses claim submission to prove that you have indeed made that payment and that it was necessary as part of your time away for work. This evidence comes in the form of receipts, itineraries and invoices. Always ensure to keep all of these documents as well as make notes of where you spend the money and how much. This may seem a difficult chore at first, but it will quickly develop into a habit that will significantly improve how efficient you are at managing your expenses.
Put Evidence into Different Categories
We have discussed the importance of keeping your receipts safe. No matter how long you are away for, it is very likely you will have many different receipts for a diverse range of categories. It is a good idea to have different folders or envelopes, where you can keep all your receipts, invoices and any other evidence separate. This will make a significant difference when managing your expenses.
Get an Expenses Tracking App
Keeping track of your expenses is not an easy task when you are away. The experts behind Keeper Tax suggest using a mobile expense tracking software so that all the information is kept safe and in one place. This will make it much easier to manage all expenses and to submit the claim to your employer. Most of these apps even enable you to add the receipts and evidence of expenses so that it is less work for you.
Submit Your Report ASAP
Doing the expense report can be overwhelming, particularly when you are not organized to begin with. For this reason, many people end up losing money due a poorly written expense report or they simply find it easier to lose the money completely rather than submitting an expenses claim at all. This is why it is so necessary that you are organized from day one at managing your expenses, as it will ensure that you can submit this as soon as possible. You do not have to aim to have it done on the same day but at least within 48 hours.
Plan Ahead
One of the most important tips when managing your expenses, is to be organized and to plan ahead as much as you possibly can. This cannot be stressed enough. If you know that you will be away, make sure that you have an app where you can input your expense and keep track of these, ensure that you remember to get evidence with every expense, and that you separate them as we discussed above. The better prepared you are, the more efficient you will be when managing your expenses.
Managing your expenses can be demanding when you are away. When it comes to money, companies often want to ensure that they are not being tricked and that the expense made was essential. Make sure to follow some of the tips above, which will hopefully support you to effectively manage your expenses while you’re out traveling.