Reimbursements, continued
Posted on January 18, 2006 10 Comments
Following up on my previous post, I paid off my credit card bills to zero this month. It’s not good to keep a balance on a charge card, and I just couldn’t bear to have my credit affected by work-related expenses. So the good news is that I’m in the clear for credit.
The bad news is that I now only have $250 in my checking account (plus another $74 check that I received today) until my next paycheck. I’ve asked to receive the remainder of my reimbursement from our accountant no later than 1/28. At that point, I’ll have to dip into my savings to pay my rent and other bills and therefore may loose some interest in my savings.
Once I receive all my reimbursements, I’ll be back on track. But it’s going to be a juggling process between now and then. It’s enough to make your head spin!
I’m trying to look up some strategies on how to handle the subject, but in the meantime, here are a few that I’ve developed recently and one from a reader:
Tip One: Work your closing dates (from reader Steve). “I used to get around this issue by having 3 credit cards. I would space out their statement dates as follows: 1st of the month, 10th of the month and 20th of the month. Whenver I would travel I would use the card where the statement date just passed, meaning that it would be 30 days before I see that bill. This worked out well as my company was on a 3-week reimbursement cycle. It takes some discipline and some good accounting skills to keep track of it, but it allowed me to float their money longer until they paid me back.”
Tip Two: Track your reimbursements carefully – start a system. I often have 5 or 6 reimbursement forms waiting for payment at once. As they begin to trickle in, I used to get very confused about what had been paid and what had not. I now keep a “Unpaid Expenses” folder on my office desk, front and center, with all the outstanding reports and receipts inside. I note the date each form was submitted to finance. When a check comes in, I mark the form as “paid” and remove it from the folder. This way, I always know what’s been paid and what awaits payment. It’s also easy to find documentation of all receipts if there’s a question.
Tip Three: Be squeaky. If you don’t know where your latest reimbursement check is, ask, ask and ask again. The squeaky wheel gets fixed, they say.
Tip Four: Maintain your personal budget. While dealing with reimbursement forms, my checking account has a tendency to bob up and down – sometimes it’s low as $250 while others it’s high as $7,000. Each month, I know how much I generally should have in my account at any given time without the additional expenses. So, for instance, when I get down to $250 and I still have bills and rent to pay, I know something’s amiss. The quicker you realize a problem, the easier it is to fix it.
Have any other tips for a checking account in flux? Leave a comment!
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10 Responses to “Reimbursements, continued”
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January 18th, 2006 @ 6:19 pm
Can your company give you a corporate charge card? We use American Express, and even though we’re responsible for paying the bill (so we’re still dependent on those reimbursements), at least the card doesn’t affect our personal credit rating.
January 19th, 2006 @ 2:10 am
There is a grace period on American Express. No late fee will be charged within a certain period of time. It will also NOT ruin your credit. You can give them a call to find out what the policy is on that.
January 19th, 2006 @ 2:10 am
There is a grace period on American Express. No late fee will be charged within a certain period of time. It will also NOT ruin your credit. You can give them a call to find out what the policy is on that.
January 19th, 2006 @ 3:09 am
I’ll second the fact that there’s a grace period on AmEx cards. I used to have one that my father “signed” me up for. The availability of a solid grace period was one of the reasons he chose that particular card.
January 19th, 2006 @ 3:33 pm
You could also look for a credit card with a longer grace period. I once had a Diner’s Club card with a 60 day grace period for the exact reasons you mention.
Also, the squeaky wheels around here “get the grease”. =)
January 20th, 2006 @ 3:06 pm
I am not positive about this, but I heard somewhere a while ago that you can ask your credit card to change the date the payment is due. So you could, in theory, have all your cards due on the same date of the month, making it easier to track
January 21st, 2006 @ 4:19 pm
You could start receiving a residual income that grows exponentualy in your spare time.That is what I did to pull out of the rut I was in.Now I am storeing My wealth in Silver,which has nearly doubled in the past year,and will probably do so again this year.While the US $ dollar has lost 30% of it’s value in the same time.
January 24th, 2006 @ 1:36 pm
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January 26th, 2006 @ 5:54 pm
This may seem really obvious, and I didn’t read through ALL the comments from your reimbursement posts, but what about using an emergency fund to cover the times between reimbursements? It would still require a lot of record keeping (and discipline), because you’d need to remember how much you took out of the E fund so you can pay yourself back when you get reimbursed. But it will reduce those scary oh-my-god-rent’s-due moments.
February 11th, 2006 @ 4:10 pm
How come no posting lately? You usually are a reliably frequent poster and I miss your comments!