Bookkeeping for a handmade business comes with some extra moving pieces — inventory, cost of goods sold, pricing your work, craft fairs, taxes, and figuring out where the heck the money went.
This resource library is full of practical, plain-English tools, calculators, worksheets, and trainings created specifically for handmade business owners.
Explore the Handmade Business Resources Library
You don’t need to tackle everything at once or turn yourself into a bookkeeper.
Start with the problem you’re trying to solve right now, grab the resource that helps, and come back when you need the next thing.
Not Sure Where to Start? Start With What Feels Hard Right Now.
You don’t need every resource on this page. Start with the problem you’re trying to figure out today.
Handmade Product Pricing & Cost of Goods Sold Calculator
Not sure what your products really cost you to make?
This calculator helps you work through materials, labor, overhead, and profit so you can see what needs to be included in your price — instead of guessing and hoping there’s enough left over.
Maker Fair Wage Calculator for Handmade Business Owners
Not sure what your time is actually worth?
Use this free calculator to work through your income goals, available working hours, business expenses, and taxes to figure out a fair hourly rate for your handmade business.
Because the time you spend making your products shouldn’t quietly disappear from your pricing.
5-Bucket Expense Sorter
Not sure where the heck your business expenses are supposed to go?
This simple sorter helps you make sense of common handmade business expenses and get them into the right general categories — without needing an accounting degree to do it.
On the blog:
Sometimes you don’t need another worksheet or calculator — you just need someone to explain what the heck is going on.
Start with the bookkeeping question or problem that’s tripping you up right now.
Not Sure Where to Begin?
Handmade Business Bookkeeping: A Plain-English Guide for Makers
If you’re trying to get a handle on the bookkeeping side of your handmade business but aren’t even sure what you should be paying attention to, start here.
This guide walks you through the basics — income, expenses, inventory, cost of goods sold, pricing, taxes, and the numbers that help you understand what’s actually happening in your business.
Read the Plain-English Guide to Handmade Business Bookkeeping
Featured Series:
Accounting Speak in Your Handmade Business: A Plain-English Guide (9 Part Series)
Where Did the Money Go? Budgeting for Handmade Businesses (7 Part Series)
Why Handmade Business Bookkeeping Feels Hard (And How to Fix It) (9 Part Series)
Tax Time For Handmade Business Owners Round-Up (9 Part Series)
Inventory + COGS for Handmade Businesses Round-up (9 Part Series)
New posts:
- Black Friday Shopping Plan: 8 Steps for Your Handmade Business
- Is Profit Leaking Out of Your Handmade Business? Here’s Four Warning Signs
- Are Discounts Hurting Your Handmade Business?
- Free Bookkeeping Software for Handmade Businesses: What to Look For + Options to Consider
- Tracking Craft Fair Sales Without Losing Your Mind
Maker Calculators & Tools
You don’t need to guess your way through every money decision in your handmade business.
These tools help you plug in your own numbers, work through one question at a time, and get information you can actually use.
Fair Wage Calculator
Stop pulling an hourly rate out of thin air.
Use your own income goals, available work hours, and business costs to figure out a fair hourly wage for the time and talent you put into your handmade work.
Handmade Product Pricing & Cost of Goods Sold Calculator
Your materials aren’t the only thing that goes into the cost of making a product.
Work through materials, labor, overhead, and profit so you can see what your product really costs and make better-informed pricing decisions.
Pattern Pricing Calculator
Pricing a crochet, knit, sewing, or digital pattern comes with its own set of questions.
This calculator helps you work through the time, costs, and other pieces that go into creating and selling a pattern so you can choose a price that makes sense for your business.
Money In & Money Out Register
Not ready for a full bookkeeping system yet?
Use this simple register to keep track of what’s coming in, what’s going out, and what’s left — so you have a clearer picture of what’s happening with your business money as you go.
The Handmade Business Budget Planner
Give your money a job before the month gets away from you.
Use your own numbers to plan for upcoming expenses, product costs, taxes, owner pay, and other business needs — instead of waiting until the money is already gone to figure out where it went.
Free eBooks, Workbooks, and Checklists for Makers
Sometimes you don’t need another calculator — you need someone to explain what the heck you’re supposed to do.
These plain-English guides, worksheets, and checklists walk you through the bookkeeping stuff that tends to trip up handmade business owners, one piece at a time.
Business Use of Home Worksheet
Craft from the couch, kitchen table, or that one chair the dog or cat swears is theirs?
This worksheet helps you figure out the business portion of your home expenses so you can see another piece of what it really costs to run your handmade business.
Craft Fair/Market Evaluation Workbook
Ever pack up after a craft fair wondering, “Was that even worth my time?”
This workbook helps you look beyond total sales and compare what you brought in with the money, fees, inventory, and time that went into the event — so you can decide whether that market was actually worth doing again.
IRS-Ready Checklist
Tax time is a whole lot less miserable when you aren’t hunting through drawers, inboxes, and random piles of receipts.
Use this checklist to gather and organize the bookkeeping information and records you’ll want to have ready before it’s time to deal with your taxes.
Bookkeeping: The Secret Sauce
Need somebody to explain how bookkeeping actually works in a handmade business?
This down-and-dirty guide walks you through the bookkeeping and tax basics in plain English so you can understand what you need to keep track of, why it matters, and what to do with the information.
Accounting Speak for Your Handmade Biz
Assets? Liabilities? Equity? COGS WTFery?
This plain-English guide explains common accounting terms and shows you what they actually mean inside your handmade business — without making you sit through an accounting lecture.
Tax Deductions for Handmade Biz
Not sure what counts as a business expense or what you may be able to deduct?
This guide walks you through common expenses handmade business owners run into and helps you understand what records you should be keeping for tax time.
5-Bucket Expense Sorter
Not sure where the heck your business expenses are supposed to go?
This simple sorter helps you make sense of common handmade business expenses and get them into the right general categories — without needing an accounting degree to do it.
Bookkeeping Journal for Handmade Business Owners
If your bookkeeping plan has basically been “I’ll deal with it later,” this journal gives you a much easier way to keep it from piling up.
Use the simple prompts and check-ins to stay connected to what’s happening with your money a little at a time — instead of turning bookkeeping into one giant job you dread doing.
Free Webinars & Mini-Trainings
Sometimes you need more than a worksheet — but you don’t need another giant course to work through.
Grab a coffee and dig into the money side of your handmade business, one practical topic at a time.
Avoid These 10 Handmade Business Myths
Got a brain full of half-true advice, conflicting tips, and random crap you’ve picked up along the way?
This training walks through 10 common handmade business myths, why they can get you into trouble, and what you need to know instead.
Bookkeeping for Pattern Designers
UPDATED TRAINING COMING IN 2026
Selling patterns doesn’t work exactly like selling finished handmade products — and some of the bookkeeping questions are different too.
This training walks through the money and bookkeeping issues pattern designers need to pay attention to and how to handle them without making things more complicated than they need to be.
When Do I Finally Get to Pay Myself?
UPDATED TRAINING COMING IN 2026
Sales are coming in… so why does it still feel like there isn’t enough money to pay yourself?
This training helps you understand the difference between sales, profit, paying yourself for your labor, and taking money out of the business — so you can see what has to happen before there’s actually money available for you.
Self-Employment Tax Explained
UPDATED TRAINING COMING IN 2026
Self-employment tax has a lovely way of making people say, “Wait — I have to pay WHAT?”
This training explains what self-employment tax is, why it shows up, how it works, and how to plan for it so it doesn’t sneak up on you at tax time.
Ready for More Hands-On Help?
Sometimes a free worksheet or guide is enough.
And sometimes you want somebody to walk you through the bookkeeping, give you a system to use, or help you understand the handmade-business money stuff that gets a little more complicated.
The 10-Minute Bookkeeper (Spreadsheet Bookkeeping System)
A handmade-business spreadsheet bookkeeping system built for creative brains.
Track the income, expenses, inventory, Cost of Goods Sold, mileage, and other information your handmade business actually needs — without turning bookkeeping into another giant job that takes over your week.
How to Spot Profit Leaks in Your Handmade Business (Self-Paced Training)
Making sales but wondering where all the money went?
This self-paced training helps you spot costs, pricing decisions, and money tied up in inventory that may be eating into what you keep.
Includes the recorded training and companion Profit Leak Audit Workbook.
Bookkeeping Starter Series (Self-Paced Training)
Brand new to bookkeeping and not sure where the heck to start?
This 4-part, maker-friendly beginner course walks you through the basics you actually need to understand so you can start keeping better records without crying into your yarn.
Sales Tax Guide for Handmade, Creative & Craft Business Owners
Sales tax doesn’t have to make your brain explode.
This guide helps you understand how sales tax works for a handmade business, when it may apply, what you need to keep track of, and the questions you need to answer so you can handle it without guessing your way through it.
What Should You be Tracking in Your Handmade Business Bookkeeping System? (Self-Paced Mini-Course)
Before you worry about which spreadsheet, software, or bookkeeping system to use, you need to know what information your business actually needs you to keep track of.
This mini-course helps you figure out what to track, why it matters, and how that information helps you understand what’s happening with your money.
Handmade Business Bookkeeping Breakthroughs (Self-Paced Course)
Got the bookkeeping basics down but keep running into the trickier handmade-business stuff?
This course goes deeper into things like inventory and other bookkeeping problems that tend to show up once your business gets a little more complicated.
The Handmade Business Bookkeeping Academy (Membership)
Want more than a single course or tool?
The Handmade Business Bookkeeping Academy brings together practical courses, tools, and step-by-step guidance to help you tackle the money side of your handmade business as questions come up — without having to figure everything out on your own.
Free Bookkeeping Videos for Handmade Business Owners
Prefer to watch instead of read?
Browse past Friday Live trainings and Q&As covering bookkeeping, pricing, taxes, and the money questions that come up in a real handmade business.
If you'd rather be working with yarn, fabric, paint, or clay than trying to figure out what the heck is going on with your business money, you're in the right place.
I help makers understand what’s happening with their money—and what those numbers actually mean for their business. Because handmade business bookkeeping goes beyond simply tracking what came in and what went out.
You don’t need to become a bookkeeper or run out and get an accounting degree. You just need to understand enough to make better decisions about your business without all the accountant-speak.
👉 Want help figuring out your bookkeeping (without overcomplicating it)? Join the Free Handmade Business Bookkeeping community.
I am a coach/educator, not your bookkeeper or CPA. This information is for educational purposes, not financial or tax advice.
Full Disclosure - How I use AI
I use AI to create some blog images because it does a much better job of producing maker-specific images than I can usually find after hours of searching.
The ideas, teaching, and writing in my blog posts are mine. I use AI as an editing partner to help me check clarity, rein in my tendency to get too wordy, and occasionally keep me from wandering off on a tangent.
- Black Friday Shopping Plan: 8 Steps for Your Handmade Business - November 2, 2026
- Is Profit Leaking Out of Your Handmade Business?Here’s Four Warning Signs - October 21, 2026
- Are Discounts Hurting Your Handmade Business? - October 16, 2026
