greg334
Veteran Expediter
I noticed this forum popped up out of the blue and said “hey great place for a first post”
So how do you track you finances?
Here is what I am and have used in the past.
I started to use the OOIDA Cost Per Mile spread sheet
It was a great help when I got started. I modified it a bit to fit my needs but outgrew that in short order.
I still use a spreadsheet to keep track of my loads, load numbers and mileage but that's another story.
You don't need to be a computer expert to put together a basic spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc have help options that you can learn a lot from.
My next step was to Quicken for Home and Business (which I went back to just recently). It was difficult at first to setup but it gave me everything I needed in order to track my finances.
For a while I used QuickBooks which is a great small business tool. It can make reports for taxes and like Quicken for Home and Business, give you that all important monthly P&L statement.
I hired a “trucking” QuickBooks expert to set it up but they messed it up and for a while I could not really use it.
The nice thing about Quicken, they have a list of people who you can hire to help you with QuickBooks and I did just that. It still is usable but my needs have changed again for simpler accounting of my work.
I have used Peachtree for other businesses and even used a custom Oracle software but I found that Quicken software seems to have the best support and easiest to use.
The one thing that I have to mention is half the battle is getting organized outside the software so you can track your numbers. This can include creating good habits like getting receipts for all transactions recording them into a spread sheet or software within a few day (if not as soon as you make the transaction) and putting them in monthly or quarterly groups so you can find them if needed.
What to track?
Starting out I would track every penny and think about how to improve your savings on the road, for example not just buying a single cup of coffee but bring a thermos into the truck stop and filling it up. OR buying food to make on the road opposed to buying it at the truck stop.
So how do you track you finances?
Here is what I am and have used in the past.
I started to use the OOIDA Cost Per Mile spread sheet
It was a great help when I got started. I modified it a bit to fit my needs but outgrew that in short order.
I still use a spreadsheet to keep track of my loads, load numbers and mileage but that's another story.
You don't need to be a computer expert to put together a basic spreadsheet, Microsoft Excel and OpenOffice Calc have help options that you can learn a lot from.
My next step was to Quicken for Home and Business (which I went back to just recently). It was difficult at first to setup but it gave me everything I needed in order to track my finances.
For a while I used QuickBooks which is a great small business tool. It can make reports for taxes and like Quicken for Home and Business, give you that all important monthly P&L statement.
I hired a “trucking” QuickBooks expert to set it up but they messed it up and for a while I could not really use it.
The nice thing about Quicken, they have a list of people who you can hire to help you with QuickBooks and I did just that. It still is usable but my needs have changed again for simpler accounting of my work.
I have used Peachtree for other businesses and even used a custom Oracle software but I found that Quicken software seems to have the best support and easiest to use.
The one thing that I have to mention is half the battle is getting organized outside the software so you can track your numbers. This can include creating good habits like getting receipts for all transactions recording them into a spread sheet or software within a few day (if not as soon as you make the transaction) and putting them in monthly or quarterly groups so you can find them if needed.
What to track?
Starting out I would track every penny and think about how to improve your savings on the road, for example not just buying a single cup of coffee but bring a thermos into the truck stop and filling it up. OR buying food to make on the road opposed to buying it at the truck stop.
