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I've been going mad over the weekend putting all my expenses into various Excel spreadsheets, and so on. My goal this year is to get financially organized. I want to be able to track every month what I spend and how I spend it. I need to track my personal expenses and my business expenses.
I'm getting ready to move from California to the east coast. I want to have a budget in place so that I know exactly what I have to make each money.
Should I be tracking everything in Quicken instead? With Quicken, I can see at a glance what I spent each month. It might be easier then these Excel spreadsheets.
Does anyone have a good system that works for them?
I've been going mad over the weekend putting all my expenses into various Excel spreadsheets, and so on. My goal this year is to get financially organized. I want to be able to track every month what I spend and how I spend it. I need to track my personal expenses and my business expenses.
I'm getting ready to move from California to the east coast. I want to have a budget in place so that I know exactly what I have to make each money.
Should I be tracking everything in Quicken instead? With Quicken, I can see at a glance what I spent each month. It might be easier then these Excel spreadsheets.
Does anyone have a good system that works for them?
Thanks,
Greenie
Not knowing how elaborate your personal expenses are, I would venture to say Exel works for basic stuff. If, however, your personal expense are more complex, Quicken might be a better fit. The point is keep things as simple as possible.
I've been going mad over the weekend putting all my expenses into various Excel spreadsheets, and so on. My goal this year is to get financially organized. I want to be able to track every month what I spend and how I spend it. I need to track my personal expenses and my business expenses.
I'm getting ready to move from California to the east coast. I want to have a budget in place so that I know exactly what I have to make each money.
Should I be tracking everything in Quicken instead? With Quicken, I can see at a glance what I spent each month. It might be easier then these Excel spreadsheets.
Does anyone have a good system that works for them?
Thanks,
Greenie
I'm like you, pledging this year to get all of the finances in place and "accurate" accounting down to the penny.
First thing I did.. made two seperate bank accounts.. One personal, one business (even though I'm a DBA and file taxes on total income, not keeping them seperate).
Second thing, I have begun to start cutting checks for everything. I use an online bank where they dont even charge to pay bills by check so there is no cost (i.e. postage) in making payments, but I have a very accurate log as to who I paid, when they got paid and how much
Third thing, which I'm in the process of doing, getting a "real" accountant. Someone that I can atually turn over records to the best of my ability, and letting them deal with everything.
As I told my accountant teacher in school.. I dont plan to ever have enough money to need to know accounting.. when I do.. I'll hire an accountant..
I'm like you, pledging this year to get all of the finances in place and "accurate" accounting down to the penny.
First thing I did.. made two seperate bank accounts.. One personal, one business (even though I'm a DBA and file taxes on total income, not keeping them seperate).
Second thing, I have begun to start cutting checks for everything. I use an online bank where they dont even charge to pay bills by check so there is no cost (i.e. postage) in making payments, but I have a very accurate log as to who I paid, when they got paid and how much
Third thing, which I'm in the process of doing, getting a "real" accountant. Someone that I can atually turn over records to the best of my ability, and letting them deal with everything.
As I told my accountant teacher in school.. I dont plan to ever have enough money to need to know accounting.. when I do.. I'll hire an accountant..
Same story here. I filed a DBA and opened a separate account for business. I also got a separate credit card for my business.
I do have friends who hire a bookkeeper to come in once a week and track all the expenses. Not a bad idea, but for now, I need to track everything myself. I'm writing down every penny I spend. If I spend $1.75 on coffee at Peet's, I come home and put it into my Excel spreadsheet for "Daily Expenses." I'm hoping that the more I do it, eventually I'll develop a system, and I don't have to think about it anymore.
I started all this after last year, which was a disaster for me. I put off everything to the last minute, and then when it came time to file taxes, I was a stressed out mess. I promised myself it would never, ever happen again. By the end of this year, I want to know exactly where I stand.
Oh, by the way, have you tried using EPTS? Now as soon as I get a paycheck, I take out 20% and send it to the IRS automatically online using EPTS. Then I take out another 10% and transfer it into a savings account in another bank. From the 10% savings. Eventually, I will use that Savings account to set up automatic monthly payments to a Roth IRA, a Health Savings Account, and possibly a SEP-IRA. I'm getting there slowly !!!
Same story here. I filed a DBA and opened a separate account for business. I also got a separate credit card for my business.
I do have friends who hire a bookkeeper to come in once a week and track all the expenses. Not a bad idea, but for now, I need to track everything myself. I'm writing down every penny I spend. If I spend $1.75 on coffee at Peet's, I come home and put it into my Excel spreadsheet for "Daily Expenses." I'm hoping that the more I do it, eventually I'll develop a system, and I don't have to think about it anymore.
I started all this after last year, which was a disaster for me. I put off everything to the last minute, and then when it came time to file taxes, I was a stressed out mess. I promised myself it would never, ever happen again. By the end of this year, I want to know exactly where I stand.
Oh, by the way, have you tried using EPTS? Now as soon as I get a paycheck, I take out 20% and send it to the IRS automatically online using EPTS. Then I take out another 10% and transfer it into a savings account in another bank. From the 10% savings. Eventually, I will use that Savings account to set up automatic monthly payments to a Roth IRA, a Health Savings Account, and possibly a SEP-IRA. I'm getting there slowly !!!
Greenie
What type of business do you have? It would dictate the type of software you should probably use. Example, if your buying selling stuff, it would mean the accounting system should lean towards inventory control, if its labor intensive, it should lean towards a system that will allow you to track hours..
I've been going mad over the weekend putting all my expenses into various Excel spreadsheets, and so on. My goal this year is to get financially organized. I want to be able to track every month what I spend and how I spend it. I need to track my personal expenses and my business expenses.
I'm getting ready to move from California to the east coast. I want to have a budget in place so that I know exactly what I have to make each money.
Should I be tracking everything in Quicken instead? With Quicken, I can see at a glance what I spent each month. It might be easier then these Excel spreadsheets.
Does anyone have a good system that works for them?
Thanks,
Greenie
not to worry. quicken deluxe and turbotax will do you. a powerful duo, batman and robin
stephen s
san diego ca
I use separate cards for biz and personal. You can suck the data straight from the online statements and put them into excel (most also do quicken / qbooks, etc.) From that I have about 10 catagories that closely match the IRS expense headings and do that maybe twice a year. Then just sort by catagory, add blank rows and sum the sections. Maybe two hours, twice a year.
I use the CC's as buffers to the bank accounts. I had Bank of UnAmerica try to grab some money from transactions a few years and really had to put them in headlock and bust them more than they were trying to bust me. So it can be a real pain to let the bank (and checks) have the first claim on money.
If a CC screws around or lets a vendor make a bad charge, the CC's do not really have any leverage, as their money is a month behind in coming from me. I will pay them what they are actually due and terminate them.
So I keep several open accounts, focus the spending through one at a time to create high limits, fully pay it off, and then "park" it. Gives me plenty of reserve credit and none of risk of a bank line of credit.
With several DBA businesses and a farm, I've found the best way to keep organized is to obtain credit cards for each entity as well as for my personal expenses.
I use Quicken to keep track of each payment made to the CC's, and notate the CC statement each month for what I spent ... Invoice #'s, Statement #'s, fuel, parts, raw goods, travel/motel/restaurant, etc.
I can note the origin of income received into each checking account on the Quicken, and make a single check payment per month per CC.
The advantage of using the CC system is that I can take advantage of percentage discounts they offer (5% off on my fuel) or get flyer miles for my dollars spent on needed supplies. Also, I don't have to jump through a lot of hoops to get an open account established with many small suppliers; they'll take my CC and ship immediately because they get paid immediately. Yes, some larger suppliers will offer me 2%net10 if I want to pay by check, so that sometimes works out ... you have to look at the individual suppliers. Overall, I'm ahead by writing only a limited number of checks per month, getting discounts, and flying miles on dollars I'd spend anyway to run my businesses.
The CC statements let me prove to my accountant my travel/road miles and overnight stays, client entertainment expenses, etc. The documentation is wonderful to have each year.
I use separate cards for biz and personal. You can suck the data straight from the online statements and put them into excel (most also do quicken / qbooks, etc.) From that I have about 10 catagories that closely match the IRS expense headings and do that maybe twice a year. Then just sort by catagory, add blank rows and sum the sections. Maybe two hours, twice a year.
I use the CC's as buffers to the bank accounts. I had Bank of UnAmerica try to grab some money from transactions a few years and really had to put them in headlock and bust them more than they were trying to bust me. So it can be a real pain to let the bank (and checks) have the first claim on money.
If a CC screws around or lets a vendor make a bad charge, the CC's do not really have any leverage, as their money is a month behind in coming from me. I will pay them what they are actually due and terminate them.
So I keep several open accounts, focus the spending through one at a time to create high limits, fully pay it off, and then "park" it. Gives me plenty of reserve credit and none of risk of a bank line of credit.
Philip (or anybody):
What categories do you use? For personal and business?
I found an Excel template online that is very simple, which I'm going to try and use for "Daily Expenses." If anyone wants a copy, please PM me your email address and I'll send it to you.
A cheaper way to do it that works just as well (but not at all high tech) is to get an envelope for each category of thing you spend money on for every month, and just get receipts for everything and keep the receipts in the envelopes. Just keep a separate piece of paper to record the total of your utilities each month. At the end of each month total the receipts and write the totals on the envelopes.
This method is a lot quicker also. It saves you from having to TYPE EVERY SINGLE PURCHASE into a computer program. All you do is plunk it into an envelope and at the end of the month, total the receipts and write the total on the envelope. Or you could jot down each thing before you even put it in the envelope (on the outside) and then at the end of the month, you don't even need to take the receipts out and decipher them, just total the list of purchases you wrote on the envelope. If you are ever audited, you have the ACTUAL receipts. Nobody can deny you made the purchase.
Then just total all the categories, and that is what you spent for the month. (Of course you need to also scan your checkbook register and credit card statements to get a full picture and not let anything go unaccounted for.
So for example, one might be " Groceries- October 07" or "Auto-October 07" which might include repairs and gas and tolls.
Other catagories might be "entertainment that can include eating out and coffee out etc" "Medical" "gifts" "clothes" "pets" (if you have any)
As a self employed person I usually figure a percentage of my auto expenses are deductible because 80% of the time I am in my car, it is for business. Usually the mileage deduction you get from the IRS is better than what you spend on your car, but I would still organize it that same way, in case it starts being more advantageous to deduct actual expenses.
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