Practical guides on running your money, home, and small business with simple spreadsheets — from the team behind 250+ ready-made tools.
The short answer is 25–30% of your net income — here's how to land on your exact percentage and never get surprised in April.
Self-EmployedEvery dollar of legitimate business expense you deduct is a dollar you don't pay tax on. Here's the full self-employed expenses list — and how to actually capture them.
Self-EmployedThe system that turns tax season from a lost weekend into a 10-minute export — track expenses as you go, sorted by category.
Small BusinessA free template you can download without handing over an email, plus the categories, formulas and dashboard behind it.
Etsy SellersForget hacks — these are the seven mechanical fixes that decide whether Etsy shows your listing at all.
Small BusinessMiles are one of the biggest deductions solo businesses lose. Here's what a defensible log looks like and how to make keeping one effortless.
Home & CleaningDitch the marathon weekend clean. A frequency-based schedule keeps every room maintained in small, predictable doses.
Wedding PlanningThe guest list touches everything — budget, venue, catering, seating. One well-built spreadsheet keeps it all straight.
Freelance & Self-EmployedA professional invoice is how you actually get paid. Here's exactly what to put on one, how to number and track them, and how to chase the late ones.
Small BusinessYour expense categories already exist — they are the lines on IRS Schedule C. Here is the full map, line number by line number, with a worked month and the four buckets people get wrong.
Freelance & Self-EmployedThe 2026 payment dates, the safe-harbour rule that caps what you have to send, and a full 1040-ES worked on $72,000 of profit — where the answer comes out at 22.3%, not the 30% everyone repeats.
Trades & ContractorsTwo contractors quote the same job. One makes money and one does not, and the difference is almost never the rate - it is what they counted as cost. Here is the whole build-up, worked three times on real trade numbers.
Small BusinessYou can be profitable on paper and still bounce a payment. Cash flow is the timing of money in and out — here's how to see it coming.
Wedding PlanningSet your number, split it the way real weddings actually spend, and track every deposit and balance — so the final total holds no surprises.
Home & FamilyGive every dollar a job, track only the categories that move the needle, and see what's left to spend at a glance.
Etsy SellersA pricing formula that accounts for the fees most sellers forget — so every sale actually makes money.
Etsy SellersFree, repeatable keyword research using Etsy's own search — so all 13 tags point at phrases people really type.
Trades & ContractorsWhat every estimate must include, how to price it so you profit, and the terms that stop scope creep before it starts.
Health & WellnessA simple grid, a visible streak, and a design built around consistency instead of perfection.
Small BusinessThe exact tabs, columns and three formulas that turn a blank sheet into a profit tracker you'll actually keep — no accounting software required.
Small BusinessTwelve specific small-business jobs, scored one by one: four go to Sheets, four to Excel, four are a tie. Plus the real five-year cost and the row limit nobody checks.
Small BusinessA P&L is Revenue − Expenses over a period, computed rather than typed. Here are the exact rows, the month-aware formulas, and a real quarter worked end to end from a free template's own ledger.
TradesTwo contractors quote the same panel upgrade at $4,000 and one of them loses money. The difference is not the rate — it is what they counted as cost. Here is the arithmetic, worked all the way through.
TradesThe published range is wide because it hides three different businesses: a solo operator with a truck, a franchise with a dispatcher, and someone who never priced their drive time. Here is the number, what is behind it, and how to work out your own.
TradesThe honest answer isn't a single number — it's a formula. Here's how to build an HVAC hourly rate that actually covers overhead and pays you a profit, not just wages.
Freelance & Self-EmployedMost free invoice templates are a picture of an invoice — you still type every total by hand. Here is how to build one where the maths, the due date and the paid/overdue status all calculate themselves.
Home & CleaningCompetitor prices tell you what the market tolerates, not what you need. Here's the backwards calculation from your target income to an hourly rate — including the unbillable hours nobody quotes for.
Home & CleaningPer hour, per room, per square foot, or flat rate? Here's how to price a house clean so you cover supplies, drive time, and profit — with a formula you can run in seconds.
TradesGross margin, net margin, markup — they're not the same, and confusing them is why contractors work hard and keep little. Here's the target and how to get there.
TradesOn the job you priced correctly, flat-rate and hourly pay the same. The difference is who carries the overrun — and that decides which jobs should be quoted which way.
Small BusinessAnyone can total a column. Reading a P&L means knowing which three numbers to look at, in what order, and what each one is telling you to go fix.
Small BusinessMost spreadsheet CRMs fail for the same reason: they track contacts instead of the next action. Here is the layout that survives contact with a real week.
Every system in these guides exists as a ready-made tracker with a free phone-friendly version.
Browse the catalog →Simple Monthly Budget and our Small Business Bookkeeping template (Google Sheets & Excel) — no signup, no wall, just the files. If you also want the occasional short note on pricing, bookkeeping and the money side of a small business, the list is here. No spam — unsubscribe anytime.