Boring question alert

[Ben Toth]

Boring (but important?) question, please: what apps do you like for logging/scanning receipts? I tried Expensify but the scanning is suuuuuper slow. Thanks!

[Jim T.]

I use Quicken Real Estate Edition (yes Quicken) and it has a mobile app that I use to take a picture of the receipt and create a line item (with that pic as an attachment). It takes 5-10 seconds. If it is something I received the receipt through email, it is even easier to attach the image to the line item.  

I then take the receipt (if I have a physical one) and put it in a file for the year. At the end of the year, I seal that file in a manila envelope and start a new one. I don't really know why I save the paper at all, but I do.  

The line item in Quicken has a type, such as repair, insurance payment, etc. It also allows me to write a short comment if I choose.   I use a tag to identify which property. At the end of the year, this all imports into TurboTax without change. (depreciated items I have to enter manually into Turbotax)

So I spend seconds each purchase and no time at the end of the year. I really like having an image of the receipt  right there in Quicken. Everything in one place.  And I can check the accounting during the year. This helps me toward the end of the year to decide which year to incur an expense, as an example.  Also, everything is accessible from my phone.  

All my computer files are regularly backed-up offsite. My house can burn down and I would be back in action immediately after I had Quicken installed on a new machine. Paper sucks, really

There was some turbulence in Quicken a year or two ago. I was going to move to a google-docs spreadsheet and write my own image capture in order to attach it to the line item. Quicken ended up spinning off from Intuit and ramped up the development dollars so I put aside my effort.