Be honest with me – how stressful are your finances as a blogger? Are you super organised with everything in place, or is it more or a last minute thing, or something you keep in your head? If it’s the latter and you hate doing your tax return then you may benefit from a blogging finance spreadsheet!
I’ve been self-employed (alongside my full-time career) since I turned 16 and have been doing my own finances ever since. I used to find it really stressful – I’m bad with numbers, and tend to leave things to the last minute. I’d be rubbish at keeping records of earnings over the year, so when it came to doing my tax return I’d have no idea what I was doing. Which is bad, considering it’s mandatory for us self-employed people and must be done correctly.
I eventually started tracking my income and expenses using Excel which made it so much easier. Tax returns are so easy for me now! They’re still dull, but I have all the information I need to hand which makes it much less time-consuming. Plus I always know how I’m doing financially, rather than discovering it all at the end of the year.
To help any other bloggers out there that need to get their finances organised I’ve devised the Blogging Income & Expenses Tracker. This is what I use for my own blog, and it makes it so simple! The spreadsheet does all the work for you, meaning all you have to do is make a note of what you earn and what you spend. You don’t even need Excel experience to use it – it couldn’t be simpler!
Update your income and expenses each month
The spreadsheet contains a different sheet for each month of the year. These sheets are designed to track your blogging income, from gifted, sponsored, and other sources, plus your expenses for each month. This is where you do most of your inputting, and then you can see your figures on the main Totals sheet.
It’s really easy – all you need to do is type in the type of income in the correct column (e.g. “eBook sales” or “book review”) and then include the income or gifted worth next to it. If one of the columns isn’t relevant then you can hide it so it only shows the things you need. As well as helping you add up totals quicker, these sheets make it really easy to see exactly what types of income you are receiving for your blog during each month.
View your gross and net income at the click of a button
Your gross income and expenses are all you need for your tax return, but it’s also useful to know your net income so you can see whether you are making a profit. The Blogging Income & Expenses Tracker works out both for you! This is automatically updated whenever you add anything to any of the monthly tracker sheets.
The tracker only looks at monetary income for this, too. You can see how much you’re earning from gifted income, but this isn’t included in your totals as you can’t spend it. You can also see exactly how much you’re spending on your blog each month, which can give you an idea of where you might need to make savings. If you’d prefer gifted income to be included, however, then I can make this happen! Just let me know once you’ve purchased and I’ll send you an updated version.
Track your monthly progress with a visual chart
The Totals sheet above also allows you to track your financial goals for each month. All you have to do is input an amount and then the spreadsheet will compare it with your actual income. You can see this through three methods – a difference between the two, a percentage achieved, and this handy graph below.
The graph gives a more visual way of understanding your finances. If you’re like me then it really helps to have something you can see immediately. There are two elements – a bar chart which shows your income, and a line chart which compares your financial goals. It’s a great way to understand your progress straight away, and you can use it to refine your business strategy.
Get extra support with the PDF guide
Still nervous about using a spreadsheet for your finances? Don’t worry, because purchase of the tracker includes a full PDF guide on how to use it. It takes you through each sheet step-by-step so you know exactly what to do.
If you run into issues whilst using it, or you still aren’t completely sure then I’m also happy to help completely free of charge! All you need to do is email me and I’m happy to help with any questions or amendments that you need made.
Blogging Finance Spreadsheet Purchase Links
You can buy my Blogging Income & Expenses Tracker from both of my stores for just £4.99! I offer my products across both Gumroad and Etsy so you can purchase from whichever one suits you best. Use code “trackyourfinances” to get it 50% off but hurry – there are only a few codes left!
Blogging Income & Expenses Tracker on Gumroad
Blogging Income & Expenses Tracker on Etsy
If you purchase then remember that I’m here to support for free, so please let me know if you need any amendments made or functions explaining. If you have any questions about the tracker prior to purchasing then please also get in touch. I’m happy to explain more about how it works, or ensure that it will fit your needs!
How do you track your finances and tax return as a blogger? Are you organised or do you leave it to the last minute? Do you use your own blogging finance spreadsheet? Comment below! You might also be interested in my printables collection for foodie organisation:
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Want some other great ways to make your blogging process more efficient? Check out the following articles for advice and tips:
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4 Ways To Manage Your Home Business Admin
7 Home Working Tips To Maximise Efficiency
I use an Excel sheet to record my expenses and income too – although mine is super simple as I don’t earn or spend that much on my blog – yet, haha! Love the look of yours though, especially that graph! Lisa x
Same here to be honest – I’m still very much on the journey towards blog income! I love anything visual though so graphs are really helpful in understanding what all those numbers mean for me.
Thank you! I think it’s useful even if blogging is a monetised hobby (which is really is for me at the moment). It’s also motivating to earn more if you can see how you’re doing!
This is such a helpful post. I definitely need to start doing this myself.
Thank you – if you do decide to try it out then you know where to come now 🙂
I’ve been using an excel sheet but these sound so much easier to use LOL Thanks for sharing, I definitely need to change how I track my income and expenses.
No worries, they should take all the stress out of it!
I LOVE using excel! It’s so easy when you get it all set up to auto calculate things – I use it for tracking everything you can image. I mean, why not? right?
This looks like a great way for people to track their income/expenses, especially for those who aren’t used to doing so already.
Honestly I’m a bit of a geek when it comes to Excel – I use it for everything! If I can turn something into a graph then I will, haha.
These look like amazing resources Hannah. I have a pretty basic system for tracking my finances – the main thing is my incomings + products for tax purposes. But I always keep track of ALL incomings and definitely use a colour coding system!
Such good resources Hannah!! I try my best to track my finances but this is going to help so much!
Rosie
Thank you! If you decide to purchase one I’m more than happy to help with any queries or amendments, too 🙂
This is so clever! I’m useless with stuff like this so I love how you’ve made it so easy for us all. I don’t really make any money from blogging but this is such a good way of keeping on top of your finances, it’s going to really help a lot of people!
Definitely! It’s also a good way to track the things that you’ve spent, even down to your internet and electricity usage (which of course you can claim a percentage back on your tax expenses)