How to track money people owe you

Money owed to you is easy to lose track of, for a reason that has nothing to do with bookkeeping: asking about it is uncomfortable, so we avoid looking at it, and then we genuinely forget.

Writing it down is partly an accounting act and partly a way of not having to hold it in your head.

It is not income until it arrives

This is the rule that matters most. A ₱15,000 invoice you sent last week is not ₱15,000 of income. It is a claim, and claims sometimes do not pay.

If your tracker counts it as income when you send it, your monthly totals describe money you do not have — and if the client never pays, you have to go back and unpick a figure you have already relied on.

The same shape, three situations

• A friend borrowed ₱2,000. No due date, no invoice, but it is still money you expect back.
• A client owes ₱15,000 on 30-day terms. A due date and an expectation of being chased if it slips.
• You paid for a group dinner. Four people owe you a share. Small, and the most likely to be forgotten entirely.

All three are the same record: who, how much, when you expect it, and how much has come back so far.

Partial payments are the normal case

People pay in pieces. A client sends half now and half on delivery; a friend gives you ₱500 back when they can.

A record that only knows “paid” and “unpaid” forces you to round — and rounding down means forgetting money, while rounding up means chasing someone for what they have already sent. Track the remaining amount, and the awkward conversation becomes a factual one.

Decide what it means to give up

Some of it will not come back. The ₱300 from a dinner two years ago is not worth another message.

Close those records deliberately rather than letting them sit forever. A receivables list you have stopped believing is one you have stopped reading, and then the ₱15,000 invoice hides among the ₱300 dinners.

Keep it out of your forecast unless you are confident

When projecting what you will have next month, money owed to you is the least certain input. A bill has a date and a fixed amount; a receivable has a date and a hope.

Plan without it, and treat it as upside when it arrives. That way a late payment is an inconvenience rather than a shortfall.