The classic freelance problem is not low income. It is not knowing how much of the balance in your banking app is actually yours — because sitting inside it is next year's tax, money owed to a subcontractor, and rent that leaves next week. Here is how to set the system up in MANA in about half an hour, then maintain it in ten minutes a week.
Step 1: create wallets that mirror reality
On the finance screen, create a wallet for each account you really have. Do not collapse everything into one. A set that works for almost everyone:
- Receiving account — the only account clients pay into
- Spending account — your own salary, transferred over on the 1st
- Tax account — reserved money, untouchable
- Cash — only if you genuinely spend cash
Enter opening balances that match your bank app on the day you start. If the numbers are wrong on day one, nothing downstream can be trusted.
Step 2: record what moves
Two approaches; pick the one that matches your temperament.
- Enter transactions as they happen — good if you have under 30 a month. Do it the moment money moves; it takes under a minute.
- Import a bank statement file — good if you let a month pile up. Import once, then categorise in one sitting.
One non-negotiable rule: every transaction gets a category. Uncategorised rows quietly break both the charts and the budgets. When in doubt, use a simple test — if you stopped freelancing tomorrow and the expense would disappear, it is a business expense.
Step 3: match incoming money to invoices
This is the step most people skip and the one that pays off most. When money lands in the receiving account, open that transaction and pick the invoice it belongs to.
Three things happen at once:
- The invoice is marked paid, so you never wonder later whether that job was settled.
- What remains in the unpaid list is real — it becomes your follow-up list.
- If the client withheld 3% tax, the deposit will not match the invoice total. Matching exposes exactly which jobs still owe you a withholding certificate.
If a client pays several invoices in one lump transfer, split it per invoice rather than recording one blob.
Step 4: set monthly budgets by category
On the budgets screen, set a monthly limit for each expense category. Actual spending for the month is compared against the limit and charted.
A structure that works for someone averaging 80,000 baht a month:
- Software and tools 4,000
- Travel and client meetings 3,000
- Subcontractors 10,000
- Marketing and portfolio 2,000
- Workspace 6,000
- Training and books 2,000
Two lines belong there even though they do not feel like expenses: tax reserve at 15–20% of what you actually received that month, and savings buffer at 10%. Set them as categories and move the money to the tax wallet for real every time a payment arrives — intention is not a reserve.
Do not budget aspirationally. Pull the last three months of real numbers, set the limits close to them, then tighten next month. A budget that was never realistic gets ignored within two weeks.
Step 5: the ten-minute weekly pass
Put it in the calendar — Friday morning works — and do four things.
- Categorise anything left over, down to zero.
- Open the unpaid invoice list; anything more than seven days past due gets a follow-up email today.
- Check which budget categories are near their limit, and decide while you can still change the outcome.
- Confirm wallet balances still match your bank app. A gap means something is missing.
Step 6: the twenty-minute month close
On the first day of the new month:
- Transfer your own salary from the receiving account to the spending account — a fixed amount, not whatever the month happened to bring.
- Move the reserved tax to the tax account and note the running total, so you know well before March whether it is enough.
- Read the month's summary and answer three questions: how much did I actually collect, which category grew abnormally, and what is already confirmed for next month.
Common mistakes
- Counting issued invoices as income. An invoice is not cash. Individuals are taxed when money is received, and landlords are paid the same way.
- Paying business costs from your personal account. By December you will not be able to prove which line was deductible.
- Setting budgets once and never touching them. Freelance income moves; review the limits every quarter.
- Reserving tax at year end. March is the worst possible month to find a lump sum.
This system will not raise next month's income. It will let you answer the question that matters in ten seconds — how much can I actually spend right now — and that answer quietly changes how you price work, whether you take the rush job, and how fast you walk away from a client who pays late.