FastDue.com – Free Online Accounting with Contract Template Library

I’ve written before about Microsoft Office Accounting Express, which is an awesome free accounting tool (and a Beth Favorite) that works like QuickBooks, at least for amateurs like me.

Someone sent me a link to FastDue, which is intriguing as well. It’s got the same kind of invoicing capabilities and also lets you accept PayPal. But the coolest thing is that it contains a library of business document templates, such as contracts, non-disclosure agreements, etc. People are always asking me where to get agreements, and I like that they’re right here in the system.

FastDue is free for now — they pay for themselves with ads. I read they may switch to a standard/premium structure, which I would guess means you may be able to choose not to have the ads.

FastDue.com – Move Your Business Online.

Mint.com: Free online money manager

I love it when people share their favorite free tools with me. Shanna, who provided the recommendation, started using Mint.com for her personal expense tracking. The system takes you a few minutes to set up, and then all of your expenses and income are aggregated to the same place.

Mint makes its money by providing recommendations that could save you money… a suggestion of a credit card that has a lower interest rate, a recommendation of a high-interest bearing savings account. If you take them up on their offer, Mint makes money. If not, you can still use their proven budgeting system for free.

Last year it won awards from Kiplinger.com Time and Money magazines, PCWorld, lifehacker… yeah. Everybody loves it. It’s secure, easy to use and just makes sense.

And the website looks cool, too.

Free Personal Finance Software, Online Money Management, Budget Planner and Financial Planning | Mint.com.

Office Accounting Express

Sometimes it’s hard to believe these programs are free. Office Accounting Express from Microsoft lets me track my time (and my employees’ time, if I had any), create invoices and estimates, reconcile with my bank account and accept credit cards through PayPal.

If I knew anything at all about accounting, I’d probably use a lot more of their features, but this program is perfect for my needs as a freelance writer with multiple clients.