I’ve recently started investing more in my blog and I need to start keeping track of what I’m spending every month! This post includes everything I’ve invested in lately in case you are curious and also a free printable for tracking expenses. I will be keeping track of everything through an actual tracker, but sometimes it’s nice to have it on paper in front of you.

MailChimp – $10 a Month

I wanted to be able to send automated emails, like my welcome email and I want to do some design challenges &/or mini-courses soon!

Buffer: The Awesome Plan – $10 a Month

I have been using the free plan for a while now, but I’m trying to get more into scheduling on social media so I decided to upgrade. I am also a mod for a group, The Blogging Elite, and I wanted to have the option to schedule the posts in that group. It makes it so much easier because I can schedule those posts as soon as I have the information.

Calendly – $98

I accidentally did the annual payment for this one, it’s not terrible because I will save in the long run. I want to give the option of doing a Skype session (even though it scares me) with me for my design/branding packages and I thought it was a great way to keep track and be able to limit when I do the sessions.

Project Management App

I’m still undecided on this one, but I know it’s something that I need to invest in. I tested out 17hats and although I liked it, I didn’t like the design of the questionnaires, contracts, etc. I’m a designer, so I want to make sure everything I send to a client is something with a little more design-friendly. This one is also $29 a month, I can’t afford the annual or two-year plans and $29 seemed a little steep to me.

Right now, I’m testing Motiv and the invoices and everything looks so much more professional than 17hats. The only thing Motiv doesn’t have that 17hats has is the Workflow feature, but I can do that through another free app. Plus it’s only $15 a Month!

I want an app that can do everything because it’s so much better than paying for a separate app for contracts, invoices and everything else. I will most likely end up going with Motiv. There’s a feature for bookkeeping, but you can’t set up monthly payments as far as I can tell so far.

LeadPages – $37 a Month

This one was such a hard decision for me. I had been wanting to start using it and was planning on waiting until I started making a little more income through blogging. There were certain things that I wanted to be able to start doing for my blog that I knew I couldn’t do without it (Including the bonus printable linked below)! I decided to take the plunge because I know eventually I will start making enough to cover the expense. I’m already loving it too and it’s only been a couple days!

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Now, For the Free Printable!

This printable was inspired by a spreadsheet shared on byRegina. As much as I love using Google Docs for all blog things, I’m terrible at keeping up with forms like that on the platform. I broke it down by categories so that I can look at them each month and decide if I need to cut back in a certain area.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter to get the bonus printable to track your income!

Have you invested in any services for your blog?