Expense Tracking
Log what your business spends, sort it into categories, tie costs to the clients and projects that caused them, and see what you are really left with. Included with every account.
Logging an Expense
Revenue only tells half the story. Recording costs as they happen means your business always knows what it actually kept, not just what it billed.
📸 Image: The Add Expense form
[Upload screenshot of the expense form showing category, description, amount, currency and date]
How to Log an Expense:
- 1Go to Expenses from the sidebar
- 2Click "Add Expense"
- 3Choose a category and write a short description
- 4Enter the amount, pick the currency, and set the date it was spent
- 5Add any notes you want to remember, then save
Expense Fields:
Category
Which kind of business cost this is — see the eight categories below
Description
What you bought, in plain words — "Design software renewal" or "Client site visit"
Amount
What it cost your business
Currency
The currency you actually paid in
Date
The day the money went out — this is the date used for reporting, not the day you entered it
Notes (optional)
Anything extra worth remembering at tax time
💡 Pro Tip: Log It the Same Week
Small costs are the ones businesses forget, and they add up fast. Logging expenses weekly takes a couple of minutes and keeps your profit figures honest.
Expense Categories
Every expense belongs to one of eight categories. Using them consistently is what makes your totals meaningful later — both in your own reviews and in the Profit Calculator.
Software & Tools
Subscriptions, apps, hosting and the tools you work in
Marketing
Ads, your website, print, campaigns and promotion
Office Supplies
Stationery, printing, consumables and everyday supplies
Insurance
Business, liability and equipment cover
Professional Services
Accountants, lawyers, consultants and subcontractors
Equipment
Computers, phones, cameras, tools and hardware
Travel
Transport, fuel, accommodation and client visits
Other
Anything that does not fit the categories above
💡 Pick One Home for Each Cost
If a cost could sit in two categories, choose one and always file it there. Consistency matters more than being perfectly correct — it is what makes month-to-month comparisons useful for your business.
Receipts and References
Each expense can carry a reference back to its original receipt, so you can find the paperwork when an accountant or a tax filing asks for it.
Important: Freelance Trackr does not store receipt files. You record a link to a receipt you keep somewhere else, and/or a reference number. The receipt itself stays wherever you already keep it.
Receipt URL
A web link pointing to a receipt hosted elsewhere. Paste in whichever address you already have, for example:
- • A shareable link from the cloud drive where you already keep your receipts
- • The receipt or invoice link a vendor emailed you after payment
- • The supplier's own account area, where your past payments are listed
Receipt Number
The reference printed on the receipt or shown by the vendor — an order number, invoice number or transaction reference. Handy when there is no link to point at, and easy to search for later.
A Simple Routine That Works:
- 1Keep your receipts wherever you already keep them — a cloud drive folder or your email
- 2Copy the link to that receipt
- 3Paste it into the expense's Receipt URL, and add the receipt number if you have one
Linking to Clients and Projects
An expense can optionally be attached to a client, a project, or both. This is how you find out what a specific engagement actually cost your business to deliver.
📸 Image: Expense linked to a client and a project
[Upload screenshot of the expense form showing the optional client and project selectors]
Why It Is Worth Doing:
- ✓See true project cost – stock, travel, licences and subcontractors all in one place
- ✓Spot expensive clients – the best-paying client is not always the most profitable one
- ✓Quote better next time – price the next job using what the last one really cost
- ✓Recover costs confidently – know exactly what to pass on to a client
💡 Leave It Blank When It Is Not Job-Specific
Overheads such as insurance or accounting software belong to the business as a whole. Leave the client and project empty for those — they still count towards your total costs.
Filtering and Reviewing
The Expenses page is where you go to answer questions — what did we spend on software this year, what did that one project cost, where is the money going.
📸 Image: Expenses list with filters applied
[Upload screenshot of the expenses list showing the category, date range, client and project filters]
Filter by Category
Narrow the list to one kind of cost, such as Travel or Software & Tools
Filter by Date Range
Pull up a month, a quarter or a full tax year
Filter by Client or Project
See every cost attached to one engagement
Search by Description
Type a few words to find a specific expense fast
💡 Make It a Monthly Habit
Filter to last month at the start of each new one. Five minutes of review is usually enough to catch a subscription your business no longer uses.
Feeding the Profit Calculator
The Profit Calculator, under Tools, works out what your business is really earning after costs. It can run on your live data instead of numbers you type from memory.
✨ Use My Real Data
Switch the calculator to "Use My Real Data" and choose a date range. Instead of manual inputs, it pulls in:
- • The revenue you actually received in that range
- • The expenses you logged in that range, by category
How to Use It:
- 1Log your expenses as you go, so the data is there
- 2Open Tools → Profit Calculator
- 3Turn on "Use My Real Data" and set the date range
- 4Review the profit figures it calculates from your own numbers
Note on currencies: The calculator works in your default currency. If you logged revenue or expenses in other currencies, those items are left out of the totals and the calculator tells you that some items were excluded — so you always know when a figure is not the whole picture.
Next Steps
Now that your costs are tracked, explore these related guides:
Still have questions?
Contact Support