It’s hard to remember when to do what when you are self-employed.  There’s no boss telling you what your daily/weekly assignment is.

I find it’s best to keep a to-do list that has dates assigned to tasks (I use google calendar’s task feature.  I can access it on the web and on my phone).  I also use monthly happenings like the day that bills/bank statements arrive in the mail or specific days of the week as a reminder.

For example.

•  I try and make time to do bank reconciliations in QuickBooks the day that I get my bank statement.  USAA sends me reminders via email.  If I can’t get to it that day, I will star the email and leave it in my inbox as an action item.
• My business week ends on Monday.  On Tuesdays I take care things in QuickBooks.  I enter in my mileage for the week, along with entering the receipts from my business wallet (I keep a 2nd wallet in my purse for business transactions).  I also go through and take care of deposits, figuring out what invoices are over due, etc…

Since my business is service based,  I try and get to projects in the order that they were received, unless there is a specified deadline involved.  Rather than invoice on a specific day.  I invoice customers as I go and notify them that their project has been completed.  If I wait around, there is a high probability that I will forget to invoice them.