The MakeMeThinner Support Forum

[sidrah]

Silly question, but it occurred to me twice this morning while running some errands.

All you guys who travel for part of your work and spent time in hotels or away from home, do you get a meal allowance that gets paid back if you turn the receipts in? I do if I go somewhere for school conferences. Granted, the per diem is crap, but still...'


So, an hour later, here is my question/thought: Can you guys keep approximate track of the meals per day and average it out so that you could submit that and have a Dr. sign off on it saying that that is your meal for the day and you might be entitled to $ reimbursement. I mean, how much are they saving on you if you are an all supplement person. One L & G is not max per day allowance....


Just a thought

[dede4wd]

Me personally, I get a flat per diem (daily food allowance) and don't have to turn in receipts...any less I spend per day than what I'm allotted is just a little bonus...Basically, I'm MAKING MONEY by doing MF!

[Diana]

You're right, Sidrah, it's about 1/3 of what most districts allow on per diems.

I used to have to deal with district level budget stuff, and most school districts are not nearly so trusting with their per diem as private companies. It also depends on the funding source under which you attended the conference and the original travel agreement you signed before going (blahblahblah).

Here's my suggestion for conferences, etc., for which you are required to submit receipts: Keep a log of what you consumed after leaving the house and before returning home (or your official end-of-service time) and note the price per item, then make a copy of the invoice that shows that you actually ordered the stuff. You may be required to submit the actual invoice; in that case, keep the copy you just made for your own records. You'll probably have to attach some sort of explanation that the price on the invoice reflects 7 packets and you only consumed X many. You'll have to check to see if a doctor's signature would make any difference in your district (my initial gut reaction as a former district level administrator is that it won't).

In the end, the packets will probably add up to $10-15 max (don't forget crackers, soy crisps, fast soups), but that's better than a kick in the pants! All you can do it try; the worst they can say is no. What are they saving? Not even the cost of one text book, usually. (And some districts don't allow per deims anymore, just like airline meals.)

Good luck! Keep shakin'!

[Sarya]

I have a very low allowance on food. I'm only allowed to claim breakfast and dinner. What we typically do is go to the grocery store in the morning for "breakfast" and then out to a restaurant for dinner. Now that I'm on MF I suspect that what I would do is pick up all of my water for the day in the morning as my "breakfast" and then have a really nice L&G in the evening. I only get like $30 or something, but at least it insures that I can get pretty much anything I want for dinner. (I usually get steak when I'm on a business trip because my trips tend to involve a lot of manual labor in our datacenter) I wouldn't try to claim my MF meals because I know a: they would just say no, and b: I drink enough bottled water that I'll still be using up my daily allowance.

--S