At the old job I would just use my generous per diem to cover this. The new job wants receipts for everything!
Went to Washington, DC last week. Weather reports said no rain. Then while I was there the weather said rain for my last day so I stopped into a nearby CVS and bought an inexpensive (about $13.50) umbrella. Since this isn't something I needed to eat or to do my job is there a category for this? (I'll probably just call it lunch with a lost receipt.)
I guess the question is how to expense something that may not really, really be a necessary item or something you buy that would fall under a personal/reuseable category.
By the way, I have accumulated about two dozen inexpensive travel umbrellas. (Maybe I should start bringing one with me all the time?)