Travel expenses log - how to record miles and kilometres on trips

I just spoke to a book keeper who told me how to log travel expenses.

Log Book
You buy a travel log book from a stationers, which will be available on line if it's pouring with rain and you want it delivered overnight, though possibly cheaper if you have a loyalty card. (Does Rymans in the UK have one ? I thought they were more expensive but I think my colleague has a loyalty card which gives about 10 per cent off. You might also try W H Smith.) You might get free delivery from Viking or Staples or Amazon if you make up an order of a minimum amount and/or belong to a premium scheme).

Mileage Record
Each time you take a journey, for example, to buy stuff for your business office or rental property, note down the mileage at the start and end of the outward journey. Remember to note the return journey.

Setting Trip counter
This means knowing how to set your trip mileage - not doctoring the total mileage or your car! The first time you do this, or when collecting the car from the garage salesman, ask to be shown how it's done. Or sit down with the car handbook and stick a post-it on the page. Or photograph it in your phone.

Oops - I forgot
It's tempting to forget at the destination. You rush into the shop before it closes. You don't want to run up higher parking charges by delaying. You forget.

So you would think that afterwards you could just mark your setting out point. Note your reach home point and halve it.

Then copy that number any time you forget, or do a one way trip. When you get home (to your home, home office, or office) run out and check the final mileage.

Phone Records
If you are in a great hurry, and remember to do it but don't have time, it might be quicker just to photograph the mileage with your handphone. Then note the miles or kilometers in the logbook later. The picture has the date as well as the photo of the mileage.

Outward and Return Journeys May Differ
You would think each half of the round trip would be the same. So if you forget to note the return the first time you could simply take the number of the end of the outward journey and add the same number of miles. Just find the mileage from the AA route.

You might also note the numbers and find they differ and wonder if you have made a mistake. (Or if you are paranoid, you night wonder how to explain that to the boss and tax man.

However, with one way systems in and out of the car park and around the city it might be different. The same goes for long journeys with all those slip roads to enter motorways.

It saves time and thought if you ensure you log every time. So on your first, second / next journey to the same destination make sure you keep a log!

Where is the log book? You need to have a place for everything and everything in its place. The log book could be kept in the car.

What if the car is stolen or in an accident? You might wish to take a photo with your mobile of every log or every page.

You probably want to list on the columns:
Date ; start mileage; end mileage' total; cost at 35p per mile (or the current allowance for petrol and war and tear to your car according to the date of the tax return and the country); reason for journey (generic information for tax office but maybe in bracket another detail to be sure you have not forgotten any journey) such as

Buying stationery (for office)
Buying furniture for property (note which number house or flat if you have several, eg flat 1 New York/London; House 216 Spain/Mexico)
Meeting agent/tenant/plumber
Delivering keys/duplicate keys to
Delivering furniture to rental property
Delivering furniture/desk to office
Attending training course to learn
Teaching training course to staff
Teaching training course for income
Visit factory/warehouse (Homebase, City Branch) to source/research bathroom fittings (small white out of stock)

Accounting For Multiple Similar Journeys
The first time I did this I could not work out six months later why I had visited the same place twice to make one purchase of taps or matching lamp shades. When I saw the item was out of stock (even though I had phoned in advance, but could not have the item reserved) I could see why I had made two trips.

Logging is extra work, time, but saves you time at the end of the year. If the tax office ever queries your figures, you have the evidence and can answer quickly and confidently.

Yearly, Monthly or Weekly Records
The book keeper says if you keep all your records in mostly sections, that is easier. I know people who have to make claims on a weekly basis from their employer. This also means you have less work to do and are less likely to forget.

Xero
You might want to load up your records to an inbox on Xero (a record keeping system online), then later move the records into the relevant category / column needed by the tax office.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Recording your travels in a blog book

On Facebook I was sent an update on a New Year sale or reduction in prices for making a blog book turning all my travel blog pieces into a book. I did this once previously with my Facebook pages.

Facebook Edited Travel Book
When I did the Facebook page, I discovered somebody had sent me (they claimed forwarded by a hacker or troll) a rude cartoon which was totally inappropriate. I had completely forgotten about it. When I saw it in the book, I was very upset. I thought of covering the page with a piece of white paper. But a day later I cut it out completely.

I then went back into Facebook. I wrote an appeal to everybody to ask how to delete an old picture message and found out how to do it.

I now also know how to edit my own posts in Facebook as I write them. You simply click on the tiny almost invisible symbol of a hormonal pen on the top right. Up comes a choice of words Edit or Delete. If you forget to click on this, you keep typing your edit and nothing happens. Eventually I learned what was going wrong.

Obviously many people know this. Other don't, because many posts appear with spelling and grammar errors. Some are because the writer does not know how to edit. Others are when you click send but haven't had the time to read back what you wrote and check for errors.

On Facebook you can now have a general page, for faces of family and friends, plus amusing pictures and jokes and funny videos of beautiful places from the internet.

You can also have a dedicated page for travel books or a travel business. If it starts free, later you will probably be asked for money (which is OK if having a business page for an idea or a start up or a hobby and being business like is eventually earning you money). If the system remains two tier, with the basic system free, only the more complicated system for businesses costing money, that is fine for a non profit making venture.

Travel Book on Blogger
Now I'm going to tell you what I discovered when I tried to turn my blog on here into a book. Firstly it is prohibitively expensive. Only worth it as a one off book for your records, not something you can sell.

The high price is cause by all the coloured pictures. you could produce a cheaper book just with text to make it shorter and lack and white. You could turn photos into black and white and use Lulu dot com.

Do you want to make a book about your travels? Here's how to do it cheaper and neater.

You might run a travel blog to advertise your business or books. You might do it to keep an ongoing record for yourself and your family. You can make your collected posts into a book. Why? To promote a business, for a record, in case the site collapse or goes out of business, as a gift to the family.

Self-publishing Collected Posts
The blurb book people collect all your posts. They can either separate each one onto a new page or run them consecutively.

Self-publishing through Lulu or Another Printer
You would find that quicker, if you are not adept at computer software, to copy and save each post into one document on a daily basis, then publish at the end of the year.

Expenses and Tax
If you were using it as a tax loss or expense for promotion or to keep for records to consult, then the cost would not matter.

Cost of Book Record
When I consider how much you might spend on a dress for a woman to go to a PR event, even a travel bag or suitcase, tick proof socks, UV protective clothing, a tent, a camera, the airfare, the cost of the book as a record of one trip or all the trips is no out of proportion to those other expenses. But it is one more expense for each trip or each year.

Editing Posts
When I went through the blurb book it was an interesting exercise. I found I had re-used photos, both mine and other people's (eg Wikipedia) for follow up posts not he same subject. For example, a picture of Elvis on all my posts on Elvis. This took up a lot of space in the book and looked as if it were a mistake or unnecessary repetition. I now realise that although if you click onto a picture on a post it should be large, when you are making a book you may have to reduce the repeated pictures to postage stamp size.

It will now take me a day or two to go back and delete duplicated photos. That will have the advantage that my book is cheaper, less bulky, less heavy, and looks more professional.

Editing Time Needed
It's worthwhile starting to look at the system even if it is too expensive for your current budget. Then next time an offer comes up you are ready to go. I received the sale ends tonight message (written in Americanese).  Sale is 'about to wrap' - it took me two days to work out that meant finish. So I have now missed the deadline.

However, I shall revise my posts and keep in mind the picture size and picture novelty rather than reputation for the book when creating new posts. The offers come around on a regular basis. But you have to be able to choose the date if you want an exact year, instead of up to now. So printing your blurb book every year on December 31st or Jan 1st means you get the exact year (and don't have to wait). Of course you could adjust the date of the posts you want them to print (I think this is an option).

So you could run a book for the tax year, the school or college year, a religious year, a Chinese year, any other calendar year, a year in your new home, first year of your child's life, first year of marriage, first year of retirement, first year of your business, or your student gap year travels, or first year of your blog. Happy travel writing, travel trips, photos, saving into books!

http://www.blog2print.com/print-my-blog-book/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, researcher, author and speaker. (Books on Amazon and Lulu.com )