Appreciation post: the $47 mistake that fixed my invoicing

I was sitting at a coffee shop in Portland last month when I realized I hadn't billed a client for three months of work. That was $1,200 I just forgot about because I was using a messy spreadsheet and notes on my phone. I spent the whole afternoon chasing invoices and feeling stupid. Now I use FreshBooks and set up automatic reminders that go out every month on the 1st. Has anyone else had a similar slip-up with tracking payments back when they were less organized?

4 comments

4 Comments

shane17012d ago

wait so you used a spreadsheet AND notes on your phone? like you had two different systems that weren't talking to each other? i gotta ask, did you ever double pay someone because you forgot you already marked it down in one place but not the other?

ben_fisher12d agoMost Upvoted

@shane170 you're describing my actual nightmares. double paid a plumber $400 once.

danielowens12d ago

I caught an article the other day about a contractor who lost thousands because of a similar setup with paper receipts and a digital tracker. @ben_fisher, that double pay situation is brutal, but it happens way more often than people admit when you're juggling multiple systems. At least with a single ledger method you can spot a duplicate before it clears.

michael80312d ago

Saw this happen to a friend who ran a landscaping business. He had invoices in his truck glove box, some on his phone, and a few on his wife's laptop. Ended up double charging one guy and not charging another. Took him a whole weekend to sort it all out with sticky notes and bank statements. You're not alone in this mess.