With the new year well under way now how many of us have promised to do better this year. One area we could all do better at is Finances. So many of us leave the tax return to the last minute. Usually because the thought of trawling through the mountains of receipts is overwhelming. How about this year we are better organised with our finances? We could try to do little and often this year instead?
Create a system
The first helper on the road to having your finances in some order is a system that you populate. Most people will probably look at doing this on a spreadsheet of some sort. However the same process can be undertaken on good old fashioned pen and paper. Essentially you will need to list all the items that you have purchased to make your items. Then list any money that has come in from sales. Try not to over complicate it as in and out is all that the tax office will be interested in.
I have the following columns that I keep track of for my own business. However you can add more or less information depending on what you would like to track in your finances.
Little and often is the Key!
I absolutely hate doing my book work it is such a boring and draining part of business admin. Doing just 10 or 15 minutes every week on a Friday afternoon means that my books are kept updated. Then at the end of the year I do not have to try and populate all of my accounts. Plus the ticking pressure of submitting tax returns accurately and on time is relieved. As the majority of the work has already been undertaken.
The other aspect of keeping your finances in order are to keep receipts for all your transactions. There are some apps available that enable you to easily store this information electronically. However there is a simple method to keeping your receipts organised. Simple paper version is to store all your receipts in a folder. For simplicity of filing I store them in the folder in reverse date order. When a new receipt comes in I can just throw it in the front of the folder without thought. Alternatively you could take a picture of all your receipts. Then store a copy of them in a folder on your computer.
The main advice that I would give for keeping your finances in order is do a little and often. I know I have said that several times during this post. But it really is such a time and morale saver.
Is anything that you do to try and keep on top of your finances throughout the year?
