If you follow this simple step by step guide, in just four easy steps. you will be more organized than you have ever been. In fact you will be more organized than 90% of the owner-operators on the road. You'll save yourself thousands of dollars and many hours of headaches and frustration at tax time.

Step 1:

Get a 21 or 26-pocket expanding folder. You can pick these up at most office supply stores. Be sure to get 21 or 26 pockets, many of these folders are 12-pocket so look carefully.

Step 2:

Label the tabs of your folder with the expense categories listed below. These match the expense categories in ProfitGauges, and also match the way you should be categorizing your expenses on your Federal Tax Return.

• Accounting
• Communication
• Fees
• Fuel
• Insurance
• Interest
• Loading/Unloading
• Maintenance
• Office
• Physicals
• Rent/Lease
• Scales
• Supplies
• Tax/License
• Tolls/Parking
• Travel
• Truck Payment
• Trailer Payment
• Uniforms
• Wages

Step 3:

Now your receipts have a home, whenever you get a receipt, simply put it in the slot for that expense category.

Here are some tips on handling the receipts:

• Don't keep more than one copy.
• Keep the best copy, white is better than colored, then throw away the rest.
• If you are not going to be scanning your receipts, make copies of of any receipts on thermal paper.
• You can easily store an entire year of receipts and settlements in just one of these expanding folders, as long as you are only keeping what is necessary.
• If you run out of room you are keeping too much.

Step 4:

Create a form that lists each month with a line to write the beginning and ending odometer readings and stick it in the front slot of your folder.

Then set a reminder on your phone, computer, calendar, or whatever you use to stay organized, to write down the truck odometer reading on the first and last day of every month. These are the numbers you will use to enter into ProfitGauges to calculate your Cost Per Mile.

If you did nothing but these four steps all year, you would still be more organized than 90% of the owner-operators on the road.