Hey there, Karie again! Last week we started breaking up your business and personal money with two simple steps. You can catch up here, I’ll wait.

This week, we’re going to go even further into the world of finance and business. Stick with me, it doesn’t have to be painful.

Step Three: Keep it simple!

Bookkeeping doesn’t have to be complicated. You can use something as simple as Mint.com to keep track of your income and business expenses.

You can label each expense and track it throughout the year. So easy and FREE. Outright might also be helpful for finance tracking. Remember, done is better than not done, so just pick a program and get going.

Step Four: Taxes.

Use your brand new, shiny business savings account for taxes so you have a nice little cushion when it comes to tax time. If you end up saving more than you need, you can use the extra money to pay the accountant, reinvest in your business, or help Kristen donate to orphan care.

I suggest taking 25-30% of the money you earn and automatically put it into your savings account — and at the end of the year, tax time is going to be easy and stress free!

Do you know of any great, inexpensive, easy to learn accounting programs? Please share in the comments!

Psst! Karie wrote a bio to include here, but I scratched it to include something personal. This woman, a Financial Freedom Coach, helped me to organize my personal finances (business? Easy! Personal? Um, there’s money in the bank so let’s spend it, woohoo!) in an incredibly short amount of time with supreme amounts of care and humor. Years of dragging my feet were cleared up in a few phone calls.

Karie Hill is amazing, which is why I recommend you go and download her free Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom at Kariehill.com. You will heart heart heart her. And she’ll be back on Tuesday, hooray!