Most independent contractors fall into one of two camps: those who track nothing and discover they're barely profitable at tax time, and those who signed up for QuickBooks, found it overwhelming, and quietly stopped using it.
There's a better path. A straightforward spreadsheet system that takes 15 minutes a week, requires zero accounting knowledge, and gives you everything you need to make smart business decisions.
Open a dedicated business checking account and get a business debit or credit card. Run every single business dollar through it.
This one change makes your bookkeeping 10 times easier. Instead of sorting through a personal bank statement trying to remember what was business and what wasn't, you have one clean record of everything. Most business bank accounts are free. There is no good reason not to do this today.
1. Income — Every payment received, by job, with client name, date, and payment method.
2. Materials & Supplies — Everything bought for a specific job. Track by job to see your true profit per job type.
3. Vehicle & Travel — Track actual costs or mileage at the IRS standard rate. Pick one method and stick to it all year.
4. Labor & Subcontractors — Get a W-9 from anyone you pay more than $600 in a year.
5. Overhead — Insurance, licensing, phone, tools, software, advertising — the costs of being open regardless of job activity.
Set a recurring Friday afternoon appointment — 15 minutes. Protect it like a paying job.
Minutes 1–5: Log all income from the week. Amount, client, payment method, job number.
Minutes 5–12: Log all expenses from your bank account and card. Photograph receipts and save to a Google Drive folder labeled by month.
Minutes 12–15: Quick sanity check — does everything look right? Any missing transactions?
Every Friday you do this is a Friday you don't have to do it at tax time.
Once a month: total income, expenses by category, net profit. Compare to last month.
Once a quarter: Which job types are most profitable? Is overhead creeping up? What's your profit margin vs. last quarter? Are you on track for your quarterly tax payment?
Contractors who review their numbers quarterly catch problems early and make better decisions with real data instead of gut feel.
The Trades Money Kit Income & Expense Tracker is pre-built with all 5 categories, automatic totals, and 60+ rows ready to fill. No setup — just open and start tracking.
Get the Expense Tracker — $47 Bundle