Does anyone know of any good spreadsheets for POA accounting?

I am just getting into receipt tracking myself. Does anyone use a debit card associated to the patient's bank account to avoid having to write reimbursement checks? is there a downside? I plan to keep the receipts, but the bank statements will be the official record.

Like MaryKathleen, I kept my receipts in date order with the latest date on top. You my keep some semblance of order.

I never used a spreadsheet. Okay so I purchased something my late mom needed and she reimbursed me asap and I added a checkmark to the receipt. My brother had control of her 3 online banking accounts and I asked to be a second "looker" on the accounts because even with siblings, strange things can happen and actually DID!

Geewiz, I am doing EXACTLY as you did. But, one brother told mom I was wasting her money. I write three checks a month normally. Her home is still having to be maintained so, it is water (has been disconnected now), electric & NH. I had the phone shut off the first month she was in the NH. I have EVERY receipt in a file along with all her checking statements. I did have to write a check for a couple of doctors for co-pay and one to cover her property taxes this year but, her checks are the carbon copy type. I show the POA the checking statements every 6 months. Nothing is wasted. I have the accordion files for her items. I just got a new one for this year since last years is pretty full.

My situation was fairly simple. I paid my Mom's bills out of her checking account initially. So the phone bill was paid to the phone company, etc. When I had miscellaneous purchases, I paid for, I kept the receipt, noted it for Mom and reimbursed myself monthly. At each reimbursement, I emailed a copy of the list of items purchased, the total and the fact that I was writing a check to myself. I kept all of those original receipts in a file that I turned over to the executor at my Mom's passing. This worked in my family but we have a good relationship across all sibs. BUT I think that doing this from the start, gave them confidence that I was doing everything above board. And those receipts were there for anyone to look at. Good luck and very smart to keep track from day one.

I'm not speaking from experience (yet), but I helped my mom with her finances using Quicken. I'd suggest a separate credit card(s) for their expenses and don't use it for yours (commingling). Same with checking account. Separate accounts also mean you don't have to keep copies + notes of what was yours. Toss your own CC receipts away and only keep what is on their cards.

In Quicken, you can set up the categories you want - medical (Dr, Rx), home care expenses, whatever. You can split expense categories. For example, you go to Walgreens + get a Rx and also buy shampoo, etc. The credit card charge will be downloaded as one amount, but you can split the amounts into different categories (Rx = 10.00, shampoo or misc = 7.67 and so on).

Then each month you can create a report that itemizes from those checking and credit card accounts. Transactions can be downloaded from each credit card + bank. (I had very little data entry, except for the categorization)

Mom loved it when it was tax time and she was able to go through the report and complete her taxes. She knew what she has spent for everything during the year.

I started the Quicken process a few years before she really needed help. And I had a mother who was very open with information so it was very easy every month as well as at the end. TIP - if you have parents who struggle to get tax info together, offer to set things up in Quicken. When tax time comes, you'll be amazed at how easy it would be. And you'd have an eye into their finances + accounts if they get into trouble.

If you do Quicken for yourself, you can keep a totally separate file OR simply add their accounts to the same file. The reports you set up can use only their accounts for the monthly reports.

This is a very small thing but it helped me. I tape every receipt to a piece of paper in chronological order. If the receipts are small I might put two or three on one page. I used to have the bad habit of throwing all of them in a box or something. Not good.

I use Quicken for Mom's checking account. It already has the date, check number/type, payee, category, payment amount, deposit, balance, and memo/notes that you can fill in. Come tax time or anytime you need to do an accounting there are several different types of reports to choose from, such as a category summary, that make it easy to see what money was spent on. If her credit card is used for something I just make a copy of her statement.

I use a simple EXCEL spreadsheet recording purchases for my dad and noting reimbursements for things I have to buy on the Internet. I only ever use one credit card for the Internet and that happens to be mine so collecting verifying information is critical. Concurrently I have a file folder which collects, in the same order as the spreadsheet, the pieces of paper the IRS or anyone else would need to see to verify what's on the spreadsheet. This is kept in reverse chronological order. If I need to categorize the purchases I use the spreadsheet. For the spreadsheet I use horizontally the date of purchase, the vendor, the amount, and the category (e.g., chux, incontinence pants, soaps and other specialized cleaning supplies, gloves, dental, doctor expenses and the like.) Then I fill in vertically. I can link this spreadsheet to one I use to file taxes. Also, add to your file a letter from the doctor detailing the medical rationale for each of the supply or expense categories you have. EXCEL allows me to create subsequent subcategories and do calculations on those. It's done what I need and it comes with the computer package I had to buy anyway. Hope that sparks some thoughts.

I had an eldercare contract for 2 years which was very simple. It was basically a very simple timesheet, and I wrote myself checks from mom's Chase checking account. I was never required to actually account for every second of my day with mom, who lived with me (no mention of car mileage to run her to the doc, etc). My lawyer said he'd never been challenged on any eldercare contract. I have kept receipts for mom's expenses, which were few outside of her meds and some clothes (I usually paid for her food). So are we talking challenges by Medicaid? We haven't applied for Medicaid at this point, and she is in memory care now.

Mine has withstood a check or two but no legal checks so I am loathe to share on those grounds but if anyone wants it I can let them have it as long as they understand it is a record nothing more

And just for the record ANY account package is only as good as the people using it!!! Smiles

I literally made one myself - simply because I could then drop my online statements into them and bingo all is done

Wow, there is a lot of good stuff on the AARP website. Couldn't find a spreadsheet but thank you, I'll bookmark this.

I have not seen one but I would look on AARP website. I have several books and can look for one. Will advise if I find anything more. Maybe those of us in this position could share such a form if created individually (but would probably need to acknowledge as self-created and not legally supported unless actually approved by a trust & estates or eldercare lawyer). Great question!!