Freelance job log / invoicing - HELP!

[Halfmanhalfcake]

Please help! Im terrible, really terrible at logging my jobs and invoicing. I have tried so many different apps / methods to try and make it easeier.

I've worked out that what I need is a systerm where I can log a job, by project rather than by hours, as soon as it comes in. I can then also input a fee, and client. Then when I complete the job I can just click a button and send the invoice.

Does this exist?! All the apps I've tried are too complicated (time trackers, accounting software etc.) I've also tried just doing a job board in excel, but then I have to use another system to invoice and I get all muddled (I'm sure i might have ADHD because I literally can't seem to get a system in place that donsn't end with me forgetting to invoice or log a job properly).

MN I NEED YOUR HELP!

I bank with Nat West, they give me Freeagent - I log jobs by project, add hours as I go then raise and hit send on an invoice - worked fine over 4 years ( I am very not techy) - edited to say the system has accounting, banking etc - I am not limited so dont use it, have a simple spreadsheet for year end accounts

I use Xero. And start draft invoices as soon as I start spending hours on a job, add into it as I go and raise the invoice when the project is complete. Does have a monthly fee though.

When I was freelance, I just used a paper diary and recorded my hours done for each client on the day I worked for them. At the end of each month I added them up for invoicing then ticked them off when the hours had been invoiced.
That way I always had a record of what work I’d done and when. If I was late to invoice, I could see clearly which hours had been invoiced and which hadn’t.

I use a notebook - a real paper one rather than electronic. I tried so many different apps, programmes, whatever. But I found my brain considered that as an extra task that I had to worry about completing. So now I just keep a regular normal notebook.

I agree with @PotatoPrimo that keeping a simple track record, in a way that is natural to you, works as well as or better than any sytem that doesn't quite fit your needs or feel intuitive to you.

I literally keep track of my hours on a desktop Stickie, adjusting them with a date each time I do more work for that client, then invoice at the end of the month, using a Word invoice template.

If clients pay in advance, which some do, I deduct hours until we reach zero then reinvoice

So my system would look like this:

Desktop Stickies

Client A
3 hours prep 3.1.24
7 hours on project 7.1.24
2.5 hours meeting 13.1.24
.5 admin (to cover email to and fros)
Total for Jan: 13 hours

Client B
Project Fee up front: £1000 = 20 hours
1.5 hours Zoom meet 3.1.24
14 hours on project 5.1.24 & 8.1.24
2 hours Zoom 14.1.24
Total for Jan: 17.5 hrs

Carry over 2.5 hours to feb

Etc. It's a bit ad hoc but it's simple and you just add the bits here and there as you complete them, because the stickie is right there on your desktop.

This is all really helpful, thank you. I have monzo where i can invoice from. I did think about raising an invoice each time I got a job, and then completing it once finished. However, the hassle of going through all of security each time I got a job just made me not do it properly.

Maybe a pen / paper is the best option.

Ive been looking today and theres something called Monday which looks kind of like the thing I need, but again a bit too complicated.

Sounds like you need simple: buy a notebook.

Have a new page for each job.
Write key info when job comes in
Fold page down when job done and invoiced OR put huge green tick across the page.