Self Employed and majorly struggling to manage my money!

iwanttobreakfree

Hi Guys

I was just wondering if anybody knew of any resources for self employed people and managing their money - I'm finding the MSE stuff hard to implement because quite often the business accounts are such a mess that I just take bits here and there to survive on and my bills are getting really really behind despite me desperately trying to keep on top of things.

I think I'm really struggling cause I'm going from getting one lump sum each month when I was employed to scrappy bits here and there.

When you add all my income up its way more than my employed earnings but with it being in little bits you know what its like - it fritters away and you lose track of it before you realise.

I'm just at a point now where I dont know what else to do - all paperwork is in such a mess, I'm trying to sort it out but can never get to a point where it seems improved - it seems never ending!

Sorry for such a negative post but I really dont know what else to do now.

Gloomy_Past_Bright_Future

Have you thought about getting an accounts system.

When we started our own business 5 years ago, we were just like you, paper everywhere!, everything was a mess and doing the tax returns used to take me ages!

We became a LTD company 3 years ago and I spent £69 on a Sage accounts system, never used any accounts system before, was nervous to say the least, but it is the best thing we have ever done.

Invoicing takes minutes as opposed to hours, end of month statements are printed off within minutes, every receipt can be entered at the end of the day, instead of weeks/months building up.

It keeps everything in order, I just have one big envelope then once it has been entered in the system, (receipts/supplier invoices etc), it all goes in the envelope then organised in an order at the end of the month.

Customer invoices are there in your system forever, so if there are any queries they are always there.

You can also see at a glance your profit and loss account and what your bank balance "should be".

Worked for us.

GPBF

jonjamie1970

I think Gloomy is right, we use SAGE also, we started 10 years ago as a 1 man band and now turn over £35mill per year. SAGE has been with us from the second year, I can really recommend quickbooks for small business as its much easier to look at the cashflow picture than SAGE in my opinion.

It seems your having trouble seperating your business from your personal ?

My advice, from someone who has been there is to take a salary and stick to it, work out what you need and then check your making that much money, then transfre to a personal bank account each month, dont use the business bank account except for business.

So for arguments sake, you pay yourself £2k a month, direct transfer from the business account into your own.

My other piece of advice that will save you thousands is to get an accountant who can do the books monthly for you, its money well spent, honestly.

Of course, if there is any money left at the end of the year then you can invest in the company or withdraw the bonus for yourself.

sammy115

I can echo what jonjamie says - although I would but I am an accountant.

Although as well as an accounts system before that you need a cashflow of what is coming in and what is going out.

Find yourself a good accountant who will help you claim for all the expenses you need to claim for. Pay yourself first