Used to track everything in a notebook, now I'm all about a simple spreadsheet

For my first year freelancing, I wrote every client payment and expense in a paper notebook... it was a mess come tax time. Last month, I made a free Google Sheet with columns for date, client, amount, and category. Just adding numbers for April, I saw I made $2,800 but spent $620 on software and ads. The difference was instant clarity... I could actually see where my money was going each week. Has anyone else switched from manual to digital tracking and found it easier to spot spending patterns?

4 comments

4 Comments

alice_allen51mo ago

Honestly my notebook looked like a toddler's grocery list.

bailey.jennifer1mo ago

I switched to a bullet journal style and it helped a lot. I just write the date and then a list of what I actually did or need to do, no fancy drawings. It's messy but I can actually read it later, which is the main thing.

quinn1615d ago

My buddy Karl tried that same bullet journal approach last year. He spent like an hour just getting the first page to look nice, drew this little calendar doodle, then never opened it again. Now it just sits on his desk collecting coffee rings, mocking him every time he walks past.

troyknight1mo ago

Haha, "looked like a toddler's grocery list" is pretty much my notebook's vibe too. I scribbled so fast half the entries were unreadable, like some kind of secret code I was supposed to crack at tax time. Going digital saved me from my own awful handwriting.