I spend $1,878 on my business each month.

See where it goes and which apps are worth it to me

Author

Diana Kelly Levey
June 18, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 11 minutes

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I’m a self-proclaimed personal finance dork. I love listening to podcasts about how and where people spend their money. I like to see how service-based business owners invest in their business and call it general nosiness but I enjoy getting a sneak peek into people’s budgets.

So why not share mine?

Think of it as me leaving the “medicine cabinet” door open in the bathroom.

Here’s where I spend my business money each month.

Note that I keep a monthly spreadsheet for business expenses (and personal expenses), but some of these subscriptions are paid annually.

This also includes some of the best apps for freelancers, I think are worth spending money on. See the full list of top apps for writers in 20205 here. 👉

Remember, all of these are business write-offs when you’re working on taxes for freelance writers:

BeeHiiv newsletter subscription: $79/month (I try to earn this back with ads you see here — if you click a link it helps me 🙂 )

ChatGPT Plus: $21/month (see the hack to save $ with this at the bottom)

CanvaPro: $10/month ($120/year) Here’s how to use Canva for freelance writers.

OtterAI Pro: $8.33/month (99.99/year) I used this to transcribe interviews and client meetings and get 1,200 monthly minutes. You can use a free version and different email accounts to save.

LinkedInPro: $18.10/month ($217.24/year). I see a lot of people complain about how expensive LinkedIn is month to month—and it is!—but I pay the annual fee and save. You can also apply for a free year as a “LinkedIn for Journalists” membership. TBH, I earned over $60,000 worth of business last year from LinkedIn contacts/relationships and writing LinkedIn posts that got noticed, etc. so I think ~$220 is worth it.

Rocket Money Premium: $4.33/month ($52/year). I heard about this app from Ramit Sethi’s podcast and I find it worth it to view a snapshot of personal finances, spending, budgets, and business expenses — especially at tax time.

Business insurance: ~$45/month. I’ll admit that I never had business insurance until last year when a client specifically requested it and I don’t think it’s a requirement or expense you need to tack on unless asked (usually healthcare clients). I’ve had at least two other clients in the past year ask if I have it and they were happy that I said yes.

GoDaddy website hosting/backup costs: $33.30/month: This includes hosting DianaKelly.com, running the other blog BestFreelanceTips.com, and security backup.

HP Instant Ink: $4.88/month. This is my monthly ink subscription for my printer. I’m not sure I use up enough pages and I could probably get some software that eliminates needing to use a printer for signing contracts but I’m old school and like having a printer/scanner.

Tailwind software: $26.25/month. I mostly use this for scheduling Pins on Pinterest but there’s a lot more this can do from a freelance marketing plan standpoint if I spent the time learning how to use it for marketing my business.

Taxes: $1,500/month ($4,200 quarterly): I pay quarterly estimated taxes to the IRS and NY state government that my accountant calculates during tax time. If I earn about the same each year, hopefully I won’t owe more taxes during the spring tax time.

Accountant: $115/month ($1,400/year): I pay an accountant who does my taxes for my S Corp and mine and my husband’s taxes each year. This is probably a very expensive accountant but I’ve been with his business for a long time now and after exploring other options at times, I’m staying put.

Books/magazines/offices supplies: $50/month: I estimate this in my budget

Education (courses/conferences): $75/month: I don’t always spend this but I try to keep a line item set aside for educational purposes to upskill and always be learning. (Having a pro subscription to LinkedIn allows for me to access a lot of courses included in the price.)

Coffee! $25/month: Since I work from home I don’t spend much on eating lunches out and I don’t socialize as much as I should with lunches and coffees with editors and clients but I do work in coffee shops occasionally or take a Dunkin’ coffee to the library so this is in my budget.

Total: About $1,878.76 (give or take, as I rounded some of these numbers up)

I make sure I estimate at least $2,100 a month for business expenses, minimum and keep that in mind when I quote freelance rates to clients and take on more work.

At the end of the year, my business expenses do add up to more than that for more expensive equipment, office enhancements, meals, travel, etc. but it helps me to have a known baseline average.

NOTE: For some of these monthly subscriptions, you can save on the annual subscription if you pay for the full year up front, but I usually don’t. I like to see how much I’m using it and if it’s truly helping my business before shelling out a $100 here and $200 there.

(PSST: I asked ChatGPT how to save money on my subscription and it gave me a tip to “cancel” and I’d get offered a 50% off price for three months. Thanks!)

What’s in your budget? How much do you spend on your business?

Thank you for reading.

Diana

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