Money records, step by step

1. A book from the first receipt

Everything rests on one table: every money event is one line.

1. One line per money event — Every money event is one line. Notebook, spreadsheet or app: the columns are the same.
2. Date, description, amount — The number runs through the whole year. The date is the day the money was actually paid or received, and the amount goes in the income or cost column.
3. Cash or bank — Note how it was paid: C for cash, B for bank or card. The evidence column gets a number, e.g. R-047, and the same number goes in pencil in the corner of the receipt.
4. Same day, no erasing — Record right after buying or selling: recording "at the end of the week" loses a fifth of the small items. Strike a mistake through with one line and write the correct line.

Why: A homestead spends money in small amounts, in many places and in cash. Without records you remember the big purchases and forget dozens of small ones. When it comes to selling, a grant or a tax return, the authorities don't ask what you remember. They ask what you can show.

• Keep a notebook and pen where the money gets spent: in the car or in the market bag.
• Keep everything in one currency. When you pay in another currency, enter the amount from the statement.

2. Fixed categories

Categories are the heart of the records: make a list of codes once and keep it for years.

1. Costs C1–C9 — C1 animal feed, C2 seed, plants and fertiliser, C5 packaging, labels and jars. Investments in equipment and buildings have the code I.
2. Income S1–S8 — S1 eggs and poultry, S2 vegetables and fruit, S3 honey and hive products, S7 grants and payments. Home use has its own code, H.
3. Enterprise: for what — Next to the category, enter the enterprise: garden, hens, bees. Those two columns later give you the gross margin by enterprise.
4. Shared costs — Fuel for the market or electricity for the freezer doesn't belong to one enterprise. Enter it as "Shared" and at the end of the year split it by estimate, for example by share of sales.

Why: If one year you put feed under "hens" and the next under "animal feed", the years can't be compared. Adapt the chart of accounts to your homestead, but don't change it in the middle of the year.

• The category says what the cost is, and the "Enterprise" column says for what: garden, hens, bees.
• For a backyard with no sales, a notebook with the date, amount and category is enough.

3. Evidence and the file · Locked

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4. Cash and the cash box · Locked

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5. Home use · Locked

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6. Equipment, stocks, accounts · Locked

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