Bookkeeping for your creative biz may cost you money up front, but it will save you time & money in the long run.

Bookkeeping using software

Bookkeeping using software, will cost you money- but it is going to SAVE you a LOT of time in the long run!

Unlike spreadsheets, which we talked about last week, bookkeeping software costs money.  Money is something that many handmade or creative business owners lack, especially when they are just starting out.

Bookkeeping software will cost you money up front but will save you timeBUT, time is money – so let’s look at some costs

First, let’s look at time – let’s say that you spend:

  • an hour each week keeping your bookkeeping up to date in spreadsheets – that’s 52 hours per year
  • once a month you spend an extra hour reconciling everything – that’s another 12 hours
  • each year you spend another 2 days making sure everything really balanced out – that’s another 16 hours

That’s a total of 80 hours – and I’m being conservative here, most of us will spend at least 100 hours per year doing our books in spreadsheets.

Now, let’s look at money – suppose you’ve decided your fair hourly wage is $10.00 per hour (and again I’m probably being conservative again.)

You’ve just spent $800.00 of your time doing bookkeeping! 

HOLY CRAP!  That’s a lot of time (that you could have spent being creative) and money (that you’ve lost).

Let’s look at the cost of bookkeeping software

Below is a simple pricing table comparing six popular versions of QuickBooks Online and QuickBooks Desktop:

Compare the price of 6 popular versions of QuickBooks

Some things to take into consideration when viewing this comparison:

  • QuickBooks Online versions are priced as a monthly recurring fee that you must pay each month for as long as you want to use the software.  Essentially you are RENTING the software and accessing it via a browser.
  • With QuickBooks desktop, you pay the fee one time every 3 years (longer if you do not want or need access to bank or credit card fees).  The software is installed locally on your computer and you own it.
  • Pricing is based on normal retail prices.  Intuit constantly runs specials – many offering a lower price for the first few months or first year, AFTER that you will be paying the full retail price.
  • If you are interested in current specials, please contact me.  Many times I can get you better pricing than what is available directly from Intuit/QuickBooks.
  • QuickBooks Online Self-employed has the least amount of functionality.
  • QuickBooks Online Plus and QuickBooks desktop Premier have the ability to track inventory.

Bookkeeping software will cut the amount of time you spend doing your books by 50-75%

Bookkeeping software, such as QuickBooks, will save you an average of 50-75% of the time that you currently spend using paper or spreadsheets.

There is a learning curve involved (slightly more so than learning how to do formulas and macro’s in spreadsheets).  But once you have it set up, using it is a breeze.  It’s easy to add income or expense categories without having to update multiple spreadsheets.

Now that you’ve compared bookkeeping using spreadsheets and software – which method do you think if right for your and your handmade or creative biz?

About Nancy Smyth, The YarnyBookkeeper

Hi, I'm Nancy. Yarn addict, career bookkeeper, and handmade business owner. I get the same feeling of joy when working with yummy yarns as I do when working with a column of numbers that all add up correctly. Bookkeeping for your handmade or creative business doesn't need to be scary. I can help you learn to handle your bookkeeping and other behind the scenes STUFF with confidence!

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