PastorHacks

Watch your Church Credit Card closely...

Everyone knows that if your card gets stolen, you're only liable up to $50, right?

Surely that must apply to your church card as well?

Not so fast...

One thing that banks generally aren't eager to disclose (and so don't) is that they treat business cards differently. With these the liability can run into the thousands.

That means if you lose your wallet with your church card in it, you could be looking at some pretty hefty liability.

I don't know if there's a hack here, other than- Watch those cards and probably limit the number of church cards you issue.

Anyone ever hit with a big bill due to loss of church card?

Track Mileage on your Pocket PeeCee

Seriously-it's hard to find good, free software for the pocket pc that was made anywhere in the last three years.

Here's the best I could come up with for all you iPac and Axiom users...

More options for tracking mileage

on your phone/handheld...

For the Palm system-
MileageX

For the iPhone:
iPhone Miles

              

             
      

Using Jott to track Mileage

I don't get reimbursed from church for mileage, so I might as well claim it at tax time, right? But writing it down, keeping track of a little journal... what if I'm using the other car today?

So- it took me five minutes to set this up- let's see if I can make it work.
Here's how I plan on tracking mileage using Jott.

I set up a special email account, just for mileage. Put that contact into Jott.
Now, I get into the car and call Jott, say "Mileage" and read off my current mileage. Jott takes it from there, transcribing and sending to my email account a record of my mileage.

I got this idea from this article on using Jott to keep a medical diary.

Seems like you could also do this with expenses as well- set up an account, and when you buy lunch, etc, just Jott it, along with the details (ie "Lunch and cocktails with Al Mohler @ TGIFridays, $34.89")

What other uses for ministry could we come up with- seems like Jott + dedicated email addresses= crazy delicious!

Find the Cheapest Gas

Aye carumba... these gas prices are killing me.
I drive all over town for appointments with folks, and with gas nearing $20 a gallon (or something like that), I'm finding I need to sell a piece of furniture on Craigslist nearly every time I want to grab coffee with someone (half the proceeds go to the gas station, the other to Starbucks)...

So- how do I find the absolute lowest gas prices in my area?

Here's how:

For the PC, MSN Local Gas Prices

For the MAC, Gas Prices Widget

And don't you wish gas was anywhere NEAR $2.49 a gallon???

ExpenseView

Okay- this one is cool and may very well get added to my list of most-used tools.

The big question personally is "Where did all my money go???"

And professionally: How much did I spend on the church card???

It would be nice to know the answers to both questions at a glance, yeah?

Enter ExpenseView.com, a pretty handy little mobile-ready app that helps you keep track of what you are spending. The site allows you to track your expenses and provides you insight on how you’re spending your money. Best of all, it’s FREE. On the site, create categories that you want to track your expenses and income for. Then on the phone, whenever you make a purchase use the gadget to add these transactions towards whatever category you have setup.

Easy- no more scrambling for receipts and trying to remember if that Mochachino you bought was "personal" or "ministry." :)

Check it out