Log Billable Expenses Before You Forget

The print run, the stock photo, the rush courier, the parking meter outside the client meeting — billable costs have a way of evaporating from memory by the time you sit down to invoice. The fix is simple: log it the moment it lands, while the receipt is still warm. This is a habit guide, not a how-to on the expense form itself — the goal here is to never let a reimbursable cost slip through again.

Catch it in the moment

The best time to record an expense is the second money leaves your account. Whether you just paid a vendor, bought a font license, or covered travel for a shoot, open Expenses in the left sidebar and jot it down before you close the tab.

1. From the left sidebar, open Expenses and choose New Expense.
2. Enter the amount, pick the vendor, and snap or attach the receipt right away.
3. Flag it as billable so it surfaces when you build the client’s next invoice.
4. Attribute it to a project so the cost flows into that project’s margin.

Already racing to your next thing? The command palette is the fastest path of all — hit ⌘K, type something like “create expense,” and capture the essentials in seconds without leaving whatever you were doing.

Tip: Photograph the receipt before you leave the counter. A paper receipt fades, but an attachment on the expense never does — and when the client questions a line item six weeks later, you’ll have proof in two clicks.

Make “billable” the default mindset

Not every cost gets passed to a client, but the ones that do are pure leakage if you forget them. Build a quick mental checklist for anything you buy on a client’s behalf:

• Pass-through purchases — stock assets, fonts, plugins, hosting bought for the project.
• Travel and logistics — mileage, parking, couriers, shipping samples.
• Subcontractor costs — a freelancer or vendor you paid to deliver part of the work.
• Materials — prints, props, packaging, anything physical the client receives.

Mark each of these as billable and tie it to the right project. When invoice day comes, these costs are already waiting to be added — no archaeology through your bank statement required.

Keep them tidy as you go

A pile of “miscellaneous” expenses is hard to bill and harder to report on. Tag and categorize as you capture, not later. Set your defaults once under Settings → Preferences so every new expense starts in good shape, then lean on categories and tags to keep things sortable.

Why it pays off

Clean, attributed expenses do double duty. They become billable line items at invoice time, and they feed your project margin so you can see whether a job actually made money. Capture sloppily and both of those break — capture well and they run on autopilot.

Tip: For costs that repeat — a monthly subscription you rebill, a recurring vendor retainer — set up a recurring expense once so it logs itself. One less thing to remember.

What’s next

• Record an expense
• Attribute an expense to a project
• Organize expenses with categories and tags
• Create a recurring expense