How to Log Expenses in the Finance Planner for Creatives

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How to Log Expenses in the Finance Planner for Creatives

Tracking your expenses is one of the most powerful habits for gaining control over your finances — and your Finance Planner for Creatives makes it easy to do just that.

Whether it’s a personal purchase or a business investment, each logged expense keeps your charts, summaries, and tax tools accurate and insightful.

Sections

• Required Fields

• Optional Fields

• Additional Fields for Business Expenses

• Easily Duplicate Entries in the Expense Log

• Things to Keep in Mind

✅ Required Fields

These fields are essential for every expense entry — both personal and business:

• Subcategory
  Choose the type of expense (e.g., Software, Utilities, Dining Out).

  💡 Tip: The matching Category will auto-populate based on your dropdown setup.

• Price
  Enter the amount you spent.

• Date
  Use the actual date of the expense — this powers your calendar view and summaries.

✨ Optional Fields (Both Personal & Business)

These fields help you add context or extra tracking details:

• Item (short description)
  A quick label like “Canva Pro Subscription” or “Weekly Groceries.”

• Retailer / Seller
  Who you purchased from — Amazon, Target, Staples, etc.

• Payment Method
  How you paid — Chase Credit Card, PayPal, Cash, etc.

• Notes / Description
  Any extra details you want to remember — what the purchase was for, whether it was shared, calculations if only partially tax-deductible, etc.

🧾 Additional Fields for Business Expenses

If you're logging a business expense, these extra fields can help you track what's reimbursable or deductible:

• Billable to Client
  Was this expense related to a client project? Select Yes if you plan to invoice for it.

• Billed
  Once you've added the expense to a client invoice, select Yes here to keep track.

• Receipt (Image or Link)
  Paste a link to a cloud-stored image, file, or PDF of the receipt. This helps with bookkeeping and tax documentation.

🔁 How to Easily Duplicate Entries in the Expense Log

Have recurring personal or business expenses? Instead of re-entering all the details every time, here’s how to quickly duplicate a past entry:

1. Filter by Subcategory or Other Relevant Metric (Optional):
   Use the dropdown filters to narrow your view to a specific expense subcategory—like “Groceries” or “Subscription”—so you can quickly find the entry you want to copy. See more here on filtering tables  →

2. Find the Entry You Want to Duplicate:
   Scroll to the row that has the details you want to reuse (item, subcategory, description, amount, etc.).

3. Copy and Paste to a New Row:

   • Select the bordered cells in the row you want to copy (avoid the shaded cells)

   • Use Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac) to copy.

   • Scroll to the next empty row at the bottom of the log.

   • Select the first cell of that row in the table and paste with Ctrl+V or Cmd+V.

   • Repeat these steps for the cells on the other side of the shaded column.

4. Update the Details:
   Don’t forget to update the date, description, amount, or any other fields that might change. (This is especially helpful for monthly software subscriptions and other regular purchases)

✨ Pro Tip: If you see a yellow row (or two), it means those entries are duplicates—this visual cue helps you quickly spot and avoid accidental double entries.

📌 Things to Keep in Mind

• Only edit the bordered cells — shaded areas and formulas update automatically. See more about which cells to edit here →

• Customize your dropdowns (like retailers or payment methods) to match your life — see how.

• Double-check that your subcategory has a corresponding category so that your data charts and insights are calculated correctly.

• You can safely clear entries in bulk from the bordered sections when you're ready for a reset. See how.

Looking to enter income instead? Check out this guide.