Any budget-savvy freelancer will do what they can to keep their expenses minimal. If you are just starting out, that’s pretty easy to do. As you get more serious, however, you may find that the tally for those expenses starts to add up. So, what are the vital expenses to keep the doors open, and what are the optional ones that just make things a little easier?

Essential freelance expenses

The professional expenses that you have change depending on what you actually do and how you do it, of course. These are some of the expenses of a full-time freelance writer that I consider to be essential to running my business on a daily basis. Let’s see if they stack up with what you had in mind!

• Accounting app/software: As those in my offline life know already, numbers aren’t my thing. So, learning how to keep track of freelance expenses was an extremely challenging process for me. I make it as simple as possible and use accounting software that is now a very convenient accounting app that keeps it all organized for me. While this does have a monthly cost, the pros definitely outweigh the cons.

• Tax preparation services: Taxes are always complicated and stressful if you ask me. In my earliest years, I tried to save money by doing it myself, but I added a lot of unnecessary stress to my life to do so. One year, when I was at my wit’s end, I decided to try working with a tax preparation service. This ended up being the best investment for me, as it took all of the stress out of it. Plus, I got to see how the professionals worked their way through the forms. I’ve now been freelancing long enough that I’m comfortable filing my own taxes, but I wouldn’t hesitate to work with a professional service if my business changed enough that I got stressed out again.

• Antivirus: This might be sort of an unpopular opinion, but I see antivirus software in the same light as insurance. It is a monthly/yearly cost that is annoying to budget for, but the first time that you need it — it’s worth every penny and more. It took me a few years to invest in antivirus, because I wasn’t sure that I needed it, but I’ve never looked back since doing so. If you do any online writing jobs, it’ll always give you peace of mind!

The right expenses are worth it

While I didn’t believe this in the beginning as a professional writer, the right combination of business expenses are worth their cost. The part that I couldn’t understand at the beginning of things was determining just what those “right” expenses would be for my business.

Next time, I’ll go into detail on what are optional professional expenses that are still very worth it — but not vital to keep things going. Until then, consider sharing some details below on some of the expenses that you think are important for professional freelancers!