Lark Paper

Guides

Complete answers to the questions that send people looking for a spreadsheet in the first place.

Nobody goes looking for a template because they want a template. They go looking because there is a question underneath it — what should I charge?, how much of this invoice is actually mine?, what do I even need to write down? — and a spreadsheet looked like the shortest route to an answer.

These guides are the answer, written out in full. Each one is meant to leave you able to do the thing yourself, with a pen and a blank sheet if that is what you have. Where a Lark Paper template does the same job faster, it gets exactly one mention at the bottom of the page, and you can ignore it.

Some things you will not find here: invented statistics, “in today’s fast-paced world”, or a number quoted without saying where it came from and when. Tax figures carry the year they apply to, because they change. Where something is a rule of thumb rather than a rule, it says so.

Developer tools

Freelancing

  • How Much Should I Charge as a Freelancer?

    A worked method for setting a freelance rate: gross up from target take-home pay, add real overhead, divide by honestly billable hours. Includes the arithmetic, a utilization sensitivity table, and where the number stops being useful.

    7 min read

  • Freelance Quarterly Taxes: How Much to Set Aside

    A US freelancer's guide to estimated quarterly taxes: the verified 2026 self-employment tax math, the 2026 payment dates, the 100%/110% safe harbor rule, and a set-aside percentage you can run on every invoice.

    8 min read

  • 1099 vs W-2 Taxes: What Actually Changes

    1099 vs W-2 taxes: who pays the payroll tax, why withholding matters more than the rate, what each side deducts, and a worked example at $85,000.

    5 min read

  • How to Track Business Expenses for Taxes as a Sole Proprietor

    How to track business expenses for taxes as a sole proprietor: the Schedule C categories that matter, the meals-and-mileage rules that trip people up, and a worked quarterly set-aside example.

    4 min read

Reading

  • How Many Pages a Week Should a Book Club Read?

    How to set a book club reading pace people actually keep: the pages-per-hour arithmetic from published reading-rate research, a 90-minutes-a-week budget, what to do when a book is too long for the gap, and how to build the year's calendar backwards from meeting dates.

    7 min read

  • How Many Books Can You Read in a Year?

    How many books can you read in a year, from published reading-speed research: a minutes-per-day table, the missed-days correction, and audiobook math.

    4 min read

  • How to Start a Reading Journal

    How to start a reading journal that survives past February: the five fields that do the work, what to add later, and a year of real entries read back.

    5 min read

  • How to Track a Reading Challenge

    How to track a reading challenge: book-count vs page-count vs category challenges, the ahead-or-behind pace calculation, and a worked mid-year check.

    4 min read

  • How to Run a Book Club Meeting

    How to run a book club meeting: a worked 90-minute agenda, the discussion-lead role separated from hosting, and a warm-up question that gets quiet members talking early.

    4 min read

Small business

  • Small Business Bookkeeping: What to Track and What to Ignore

    What a small business actually needs to record — the eight columns that answer every question your books have to answer — and the accounting work you can honestly skip until you are much bigger.

    7 min read

  • Excel vs Google Sheets for Small Business Finances

    A specific comparison for keeping a small business's books: real cost, hard limits, collaboration, offline access, and the .xlsx round-trip behaviour that silently unlocks protected cells.

    7 min read

  • Can a Cleaning Business Deduct Mileage Between Jobs?

    Which miles a house cleaning or janitorial business can actually deduct: the commuting rule, the three IRS exceptions to it, the two different 2026 mileage rates, and the four things a log has to record to survive an audit.

    8 min read

  • Standard Mileage Rate vs Actual Expenses

    Standard mileage rate vs actual expenses: what each method covers, the first-year election that locks your choice, and a worked 12,400-mile comparison.

    5 min read

  • How to Read a Profit and Loss Statement

    How to read a profit and loss statement: the five lines top to bottom, the three margins that matter, and why a P&L never matches your bank balance.

    4 min read

  • How to Price Cleaning Services Per Hour

    How to price cleaning services per hour: the real cost of an hour of cleaning (labor, supplies, drive time, tax set-aside), a worked $28/hour floor, and where margin actually comes from.

    4 min read

  • What Counts as a Business Mile?

    What counts as a business mile for tax purposes: the commuting rule, the home-office exception, driving between multiple work locations, and what does not qualify no matter how it feels.

    4 min read

  • How to Prepare Your Data for Spreadsheet Customisation

    Prepare a spreadsheet customisation with a clean sample, clear column meanings and a few test cases. Keep private customer information out of early enquiries.

    2 min read

Weddings

  • How Much Does a Wedding Cost? Building a Budget That Holds

    What a US wedding actually costs, using The Knot's 2026 Real Weddings Study: why the $34,000 average is a poor planning figure, why you must not add up the category averages, and how to build a budget backwards from the money you actually have.

    7 min read

  • How to Make a Wedding Seating Chart

    How to make a wedding seating chart: what to have before you start, how many really fit at each table size, a three-pass method, and a plan for 118.

    4 min read

  • How to Make a Wedding Day Timeline

    How to make a wedding day timeline: the two fixed points to build backwards from, real durations for hair, travel and photos, and a 4pm run of show.

    4 min read

  • Who Pays for a Bridal Shower?

    Who pays for a bridal shower: the host-pays rule, how the bridal party splits the cost fairly, a worked 22-guest budget, and the rules that still hold.

    4 min read

  • Wedding Vendor Payment Schedule

    How to build a wedding vendor payment schedule: the typical deposit-to-balance pattern, why due dates cluster in the final month, and a worked schedule across six vendors.

    4 min read

  • How to Seat Divorced Parents at a Wedding

    How to seat divorced parents at a wedding: separate tables vs one shared table, where step-parents and new partners go, and a worked plan for a family with two remarriages.

    4 min read

  • Bridal Shower Games and Timeline

    Bridal shower games and timeline: a worked 2.5-hour run of show, how many minutes to give each game, and which games actually work for which guest lists.

    4 min read

  • Wedding Planning Checklist by Month

    A wedding planning checklist by month: what to book 9-12 months out, what waits until the final month, and why opening the whole to-do list every week is what makes planning feel endless.

    4 min read

  • How to Split a Wedding Budget When Both Families Are Contributing

    How to turn family wedding contributions into a budget that actually holds: lump sums versus earmarked money, who gets a say in what, when the cash has to land against vendor deposits, and the gift-tax line most couples never check.

    9 min read

  • A Three-Hour Gap Between the Ceremony and the Reception: How to Actually Run It

    You have a forced gap between the ceremony and the reception. How to work out whether it can be shortened, what to put in it if it cannot, and how to schedule both ends so the day does not sag in the middle.

    8 min read

Writing

  • How to Outline a Novel Without Killing the Fun

    A practical method for outlining a novel that keeps discovery intact: a logline stress test, four load-bearing beats with word-count targets, want-vs-need character work, and scene cards you fill in one drafting session ahead.

    7 min read

  • How Many Words Should a Novel Be?

    How many words a novel should be, by genre: the commonly cited ranges for adult fiction, fantasy and sci-fi, romance, and YA, plus the NaNoWriMo 50,000-word convention and why length is a starting target, not a rule.

    4 min read