Enter Xpenser.com.  Xpenser isn’t different because it does what none of the others does.  It’s different because it’s online, accessible, easy to use, works as advertised, and above all FREE.  (It is among those services that plan to introduce a ‘premium’ account but keep the ‘basic’ account free).  So far they’ve kept their promise.  As far as it goes, the ‘basic’ free package does everything I need it to do.

One of the best features of Xpenser is how accessable it is.  You can enter expenses in a wide variety of ways.  You can email them, tweet them, send them via IM, call them in by voice, and a host of other ways.  The format is simple here’s an example of submitting an expense via eMail.

All you do is send an email to e@xpenser.com (e for expense) with the subject line “lunch $35 with Jack client”. The format is simple “type amount notes” and it’s the same no matter what method you used to send them in.  Of course you can also go directly to the website log in and use the simple entry screen.

Great and useful features.

Xpenser saves your receipts.  You can scan them or send then as a picture from your cellphone.  If you’re at your favorite bookstore and buy a book you can quickly zap a picture of the receipt with your cell phone and email it to Xpenser.  The email address is all that changes.  You send the picture to r@Xpenser.com (‘r’ is for receipt).  The subject line would be “book $13.99 A Little Book of Joy, Harrison”

Xpenser tracks your mileage.  This is main reason I began using Xpenser.  In my previous congregation I spent lots of time behind the wheel.  Tracking mileage was a little chore that I couldn’t quite get the hang of.  Xpenser solved that for me.  When I finished my trip, all I had to do was text the mileage into Xpenser.  I didn’t even have to calculate out the amount.  All you do is put the word “mileage” (this is called a keyword) into the ‘notes’ position and Xpenser automatically convert the miles to dollars and drops the miles into the ‘notes’ field. (i.e. “mileage 132 miles hospital visit“)  It’s a simple set up to set the mileage rate on a setup screen.  There are other keywords that do magic things to expenses too, like currency conversion, time tracking, and filing expenses to a specific report.

Xpenser remembers.  Xpenser has all the great features you’d expect from a great online tool.  You can tag expenses to keep track of how much you are spending on books (Usually a dangerous thing to think about for me!).  Every report has a status, ‘submitted’, ‘paid’, ‘rejected’ etc. so you can keep track of what’s been paid and not paid.  And many more…

Overall this is a great online service.  Easy to use, feature rich (and growing) and above all accessible from anywhere you are.  Check it out at Xpenser.com.

Pr. Jonathan C. Watt

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