LaundryLog — Start Here: What It Is and Why I Am Building It

I'm a truck driver. Laundry happens on the road, at truck stops and travel centers, and it costs real money. Those expenses are deductible, but only if you actually track them. By the time I'm back in the cab, the receipt is gone, there is likely NOT a receipt, or the amount is fuzzy, and another small deduction disappears.

LaundryLog solves that by making it fast enough to log the expense while you're still at the machine. Machine type, how many, what it cost, how you paid, where you are — done in under a minute. The result is an accurate record ready for your accountant or tax filing.

What it tracks

Each laundry entry captures machine type (washer, dryer, or supplies), quantity, unit price, payment method (cash, points, card, or app), location, and timestamp. Session and daily totals are calculated automatically.

Why a log matters

Laundromats don't always provide receipts, and coin-operated machines never do. The IRS recognizes this reality — for business expenses where receipts are impractical or unavailable, a detailed contemporaneous log serves as acceptable documentation. That means the log itself is the proof. But it only holds up if it's recorded at the time, not reconstructed later from memory. LaundryLog is designed to be used at the machine, in the moment, so every entry is contemporaneous by nature. If you're ever audited, you have a timestamped, itemized record of every laundry expense for the year — exactly what the IRS accepts in place of receipts.

When payment is by credit card, the card statement becomes corroborating evidence. The log entry and the statement match on date, location, and amount — two independent records telling the same story. That's a strong audit position, and it's one reason LaundryLog captures payment method on every entry.

Where it's going

Stage 1 — Core entry and local storage. Fast logging, session totals, today's entries.
Stage 2 — Reporting. Date range summaries exportable for accounting and tax filing.
Stage 3 — GPS and location lookup. Your personal location history first, then a shared community database of known laundromat locations at truck stops.
Stage 4 — Community location pool. Collectively maintained, anonymized location data that benefits all users.

Licensing and self-hosting

LaundryLog is AGPL licensed and free to use and self-host. I built it for myself. If it's useful to you, use it. If you improve it, those improvements stay open.

For discussion, specs, and development progress, you're already in the right place.