I just started using Easy Time Tracking.

www.easytimetracking.net

Man, is it easy! I love it. I downloaded and was billing a new client in no time.

It's a free trial for a month then $49 for a license. The program is pretty and very, very user friendly.

I highly recommend it.

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Originally Posted by lisataliga

Hi I don't know what you all use or recommend, but I use Traxtime to track all my client projects. It's a great tool and I don't know what I did without it. It spits out reports with a breakdown by project, and it even has a punch in and punch out button on your desktop! You can find out more here: http://www.spudcity.com Lisa

Ewww cool! Thanks Lisa, I'm gonna check it too

I'm a little old fashioned when it comes to tracking my time. I simply use a day planner and make note of the client, task and any notes and then the hours worked for that task. Most of my clients are billed monthly or bi-weekly and when I bill them for hours I highlight the time so I know it has been billed.

I also have Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager that allows for time and project management but so far this has been too time consuming and more work than necessary.

Wow Libra...you are good, I've worked with a person who also wrote EVERYTHING down and had special little symbols for tracking what was done on a task, like a "status symbol", lol; she was a darn great Project Manager though! It's good to know some people are not trusting this computerized age with ALL of the information...

Me, on the other hand, will definitely try out that TraxTime tool. Thanks for the resource Lisa.

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Wow, this is some GREAT information and just what I am looking for.....I am having a terrible time trying to keep track of the time I spend on a client's project. As my business grows I want to make sure I have a system that works. Thanks for all of the advice.



Tawanda

Hi, All:

My favorites are Complete Time Tracking and Office Time. They are both fairly inexpensive and offer free trials. Office Time has the coolest reports.

Hope that helps.

Victoria

I was just working on this issue for myself recently. I have been using TraxTime since I started 3 years ago, but I really dont like the report feature and have never found a way to make it look "pretty" when giving my clients their time sheets. Quite disappointing. Then I recently tried myhours.com and I wasn't crazy about that either... I mean, its OK, but I don't think the web based thing works for me.

Thank you Victoria for the recommendations you just gave! I think I might give one of those a try.

Megan Barber

Hi all!!

While I was working for a virtual staffing company, I used Traxtime. I found it very inexpensive and useful when doing 1 or 2 clients. After a while though, I found it difficult to punch out the clock and then punch in when I would receive a phone call from a different client. I found myself punching in, punching out and then maybe missing important details during the conversation. What I did then was create a timesheet within Word that I printed out (so much for virtual huh?) for each client. When I worked on a task I would write the time I started and then the time I ended with all my notes for that project. I would do the same for each client. It did take me awhile to add up my time at the end of the day, but I liked the idea of having that specific task and the notes that went with it along with the time it took. I hope that made sense. All the info within this forum is very valuable and I enjoy reading all the replies

I have to clock in my time by the minute and I found that online programs to be too difficult to switch back and forth between when I received a phone call or an Instant Message while while I was working on my computer. I always go back to pen and paper and just look at my system clock everytime I log in and out. If I have a day of constant interruptions, I'll add up as I go along but usually I only have to add up about 4 or 5 tasks at the end of the day, so it is not too bad. I log my time every night. That's the way I have been doing it for a few years now. I go through alot of notebooks, but it seems to be more accurate and I can switch easily between tasks without losing time or being distracted. This site is great! Thanks, Tess for all you do!

Thanks for all the great time tracking tips and software links......I am going to try TaskCoach....it seems like it has everything I need.

Kim Desroches-Noel

Have you tried Timestamp? I've been using it since I started 5 years ago, and for a freebie it's great. I export to Excel to subtotal various activities for invoicing. You can get it at www.syntap.com.

Regards
Lisa

Thanks for the ideas. I am going to check out Task Coach.

Another really good tracker that's free is myhours.com. If you "submit" the time as soon as you start it, you won't lose the starting info if you close the browser window by mistake. I think it works great, although it's a little clunky to initially set up.

Pat Z

I recommend ManicTime.com. Especially if you are like me and always forget to punch in/out. It lets me enter my work hours at the end of the day.

If anyone is on the Mac platform, I can recommend OfficeTime. I love the user interface and the ease with which I can switch between client projects. They have excellent customer support as well and they truly stand by their product.