Organization

How to pay yourself a salary as a freelancer (without spending the tax money)

August 19, 2026

When you’re an employee, a fixed number lands in your account on payday. You know exactly what you have to work with, and everything else (taxes, social security) has already been taken out without you having to think about it. When you go freelance, that fixed number disappears. A client pays you 1,200 and, if you’re not careful, that 1,200 “feels like yours” the same day it lands in your account. It isn’t. Part of it has to go back out in taxes, another part covers business costs, and only what’s left after that is, genuinely, your salary.

Why I Stopped Using Excel for My Finances (And What I Actually Needed)

April 15, 2026

For several years, I managed my finances in Excel. It wasn’t just any spreadsheet: I’d invested time building it, it had formulas that worked, neatly organized categories, color coding. At the time, it was exactly what I needed.

Until it wasn’t.

It wasn’t a dramatic moment. It was an accumulation of small frictions that, over time, turned the spreadsheet from a useful tool into something I avoided opening.

The first problem: recurring expenses

The specific point where I started noticing things weren’t working was with recurring expenses and future projections.

Personal finances and freelance work in the same bank account: the mistake that costs you money and time

April 4, 2026

When someone starts freelancing for the first time, there’s a decision almost nobody makes consciously: whether to open a separate bank account for business, or just use the one they already have.

Most people go with the second option. It’s the easiest thing to do. Just to get started, to try things out, to keep it simple. And for the first few months, it works well enough.

The problem comes later. When it’s time to file your quarterly taxes, when your accountant asks for invoices, when you try to figure out how much money you’re actually making as a freelancer. That’s when having everything mixed together turns into a financial archaeology project nobody enjoys.