What is Wave for?
It’s for bookkeeping.
Running my fitness blog started as a fun creative outlet after years of doing creative freelancing including photography and fitness training. But as I began getting more involved—with YouTube, blog writing, and social media coaching—I realized there was a whole side of blogging that people may not know much about: the business side. I’ll talk about that this time.
As a trained accountant, I have kept books for everything I earn and spend. For decades. To me, financial transactions are a diary of my life’s work, ambitions, hobbies, and outings. Data entry about money is enjoyable to me.
For my blog, it’s particularly important. I occasionally have income that needs to be documented at tax time. I don’t want to install clunky software. I’m a Mac user so the choices when I started my entrepreneurial journey were very limited (over ten years ago). I didn’t like Simply Accounting, nor Quickbooks. I didn’t want to buy a Windows PC just for bookkeeping. I needed a solution that fit my intermittent projects and self-employed income.
My Mac really only had one choice, and it was a good one: Wave, also known as waveapps.com.
Wave Fits My Creative Workflow
Wave is entirely web-based, which means I can use it from any device—even at a coffee shop or while traveling (with VPN on, of course). It doesn’t require a complicated signup process. I signed up, created my chart of accounts, and started entering transactions right after.
How I Use Wave in 2025
I use Wave to track revenue from coaching, design and illustration, and consulting gigs. It gives me a real-time look at what’s coming in—and what’s going out.
I also keep my recurring expenses organized. I can tell at a glance what my blog costs me: Cloudways hosting, domain renewals, Bricks Builder subscription, and WordPress plugins. The features are simple, robust, and adequate for small to big businesses.
I don’t have payroll or other complex needs, so the cost has been $0. As in zero dollars to date. As my income and needs expand, I’ll be delighted to pay for extra features. The basics suit me perfectly right now. Did I mention it works with my Mac (of course it does)!
Other Tools That Make My Blogger Life Easier
- Cloudways (hosting that just works)
- Independent Analytics (for GDPR-compliant blog stats)
- Bricks Builder (for easy-to-build and complex WordPress layouts)
- FluentCRM & FluentForms (for lead management without leaving WordPress)
- NordVPN (for securing logins and encrypting data flows when working online)
Thanks for reading — see you next week!
If you have questions or comments about bookkeeping and the ideal software for home business and small business, add them below!
Transparency Note:
This blog is just getting started, and meant to share advice and encouragement like a friend would, not a salesperson. None of the links in this post are monetized. I personally have used the products I talk about, and believe sharing my experience with them will help you decide when the need arrives.
If I ever get sponsors or affiliate links in future, they’ll always be clearly marked so you’ll know.