Clean It Up

UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:02:07 pm

Title: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:02:07 pm
Hi guys please don't shoot me for this, but iv looked at various programs window cleaner pro, cleaner planner,George etc
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:04:53 pm
Sorry hadn't finished lol, to me they seem really complicated and a bit of a waste of time, iv always had all my work in a diary highlight when done ticked when paid. I just don't understand why you would want anything else. I'm not very good with technology so please explain why you lot sware by them  :)
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Window Lickers on December 22, 2014, 08:05:15 pm
Nothing wrong with it.

But it only allows you to record what you've done on any given day.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: brianbarber on December 22, 2014, 08:11:42 pm
Lose a paper diary you are up poope creek

I use paper and round software.


Mr B
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:13:35 pm
All my work is in my head I know every house what its price is, etc I have over 200 customers and I know plenty have 400 plus's but id be able to start a new diary if I lost it
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Dave Willis on December 22, 2014, 08:26:27 pm
I wouldn't.
Can you invoice from your diary, can you search for customers, can you print your end of year accounts within seconds? Can you see your expenses list?

What you are doing is fine but it's just a diary.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:32:26 pm
Don't do commercial so invoicing is not a problem any jobs I do that require one I have a duplicate book, I always put all my expence reciepts in an envelope and write the total on it every month, I understand for some people you really need it but for someone like me or most one man bands I cant see any majour use, I do proper books every year and file my tax return the same as the rest.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Soupy on December 22, 2014, 08:35:42 pm
To be fair, you appear to struggle posting a topic on a forum. A diary is almost certainly the best fit for you.

 ;D
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: PoleKing on December 22, 2014, 08:37:09 pm
All my work is in my head I know every house what its price is, etc I have over 200 customers and I know plenty have 400 plus's but id be able to start a new diary if I lost it

Fella I bought my round from had over 300 customers all in his head!
He knew what they owed, when they skipped cleans, and had pretty much his year end figures all in his swede!!
I couldn't do it mate. I've got less than that now and can't remember them all.

If you can remember all your customers, fair play to you.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Clever Forum Name on December 22, 2014, 08:37:13 pm
Last night I went to cinema and whilst at the cinema Cleaner planner textd all the customers for today to leave the gates open.

I text customers at a set time. Text em too early and they forget.

Just one example of why I use a program.

If the book works for you use it.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Window Lickers on December 22, 2014, 08:37:31 pm
That is a fair comment in all truthfulness.


 ;D
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:43:36 pm
Last night I went to cinema and whilst at the cinema Cleaner planner textd all the customers for today to leave the gates open.

I text customers at a set time. Text em too early and they forget.

Just one example of why I use a program.

If the book works for you use it.

These are the sorts of constructive comments I was looking for, that's a really useful tool. I genuinely know nothing about these programs and looking for comments from people who use them and now find they couldn't work without them.
And no word of a Li I can remember every one of my houses and when they are due. I have to check the book for previous moth debt
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Mr B shine on December 22, 2014, 08:48:51 pm
a day a page diary is what I use and right now it is great.
 But if I get bigger next then I will probably start using software
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:48:58 pm
I seriously would like to give cleaner planner a go as so many of you are using it and rate it, the last thing I tried that everyone was using was the best thing I ever dud work related (Gardiner carbon poles) and gutter vacuum
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 08:50:48 pm
At one stage I had about 280 customers in the diary and was still ok. Ditched slot of customers in last year tho. Only looking for quality customers these days
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Dave Willis on December 22, 2014, 08:51:58 pm
Last night I went to cinema and whilst at the cinema Cleaner planner textd all the customers for today to leave the gates open.

I text customers at a set time. Text em too early and they forget.

Just one example of why I use a program.

If the book works for you use it.

These are the sorts of constructive comments I was looking for, that's a really useful tool. I genuinely know nothing about these programs and looking for comments from people who use them and now find they couldn't work without them.
And no word of a Li I can remember every one of my houses and when they are due. I have to check the book for previous moth debt


You're in the wrong job Derren.

(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1419281863_derren.jpg)
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Clever Forum Name on December 22, 2014, 08:54:36 pm
Last night I went to cinema and whilst at the cinema Cleaner planner textd all the customers for today to leave the gates open.

I text customers at a set time. Text em too early and they forget.

Just one example of why I use a program.

If the book works for you use it.

These are the sorts of constructive comments I was looking for, that's a really useful tool. I genuinely know nothing about these programs and looking for comments from people who use them and now find they couldn't work without them.
And no word of a Li I can remember every one of my houses and when they are due. I have to check the book for previous moth debt

You don't need cleaner planner though for this. You can use just text local :)
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 09:16:12 pm
Last night I went to cinema and whilst at the cinema Cleaner planner textd all the customers for today to leave the gates open.

I text customers at a set time. Text em too early and they forget.

Just one example of why I use a program.

If the book works for you use it.

These are the sorts of constructive comments I was looking for, that's a really useful tool. I genuinely know nothing about these programs and looking for comments from people who use them and now find they couldn't work without them.
And no word of a Li I can remember every one of my houses and when they are due. I have to check the book for previous moth debt


You're in the wrong job Derren.

(http://www.cleanitup.co.uk/smf/1419281863_derren.jpg)

 ;D well I do try
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: david mark on December 22, 2014, 10:04:33 pm
I do both got 4 guys work for me we believe  our  round books are much quicker.you can spend hours on these window cleaning programs if you put the time in you can't beet them we have other 1500 addresses took me over a month to list them all
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: LWC on December 22, 2014, 10:19:18 pm
Can you remember everyones names, phone numbers, email addresses, how much they owe, when theyre due? I certainly cant, this is why i use it. I know you use a diary but you have to physically check this, for the likes of cleaner planner, window cleaner pro...it tells you all this and when theyre due at a click of a button.

As pure h20 says about texting, just one of the features. For me GoCardless integration is amazing, one click and i pull the money owed to me.

Having it all laid out on my mobile, and which order to go in. It just works...however you do whatever works for you...having a system to think all these things for me is just one less stress.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: SeanK on December 22, 2014, 10:34:10 pm
Why do you need to remember anything ? I have a list of to do customers which I tick and date when cleaned,
When I get home I just write the same list onto the next day they are due.
I have a separate book with all my customers details at home if there's ever a need to contact them.
I never do more than 15 to 20 properties in a day so its no big deal to me.
 
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: LWC on December 22, 2014, 10:43:06 pm
You hand write every list?
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 22, 2014, 11:05:21 pm
Honestly it doesn't take me long at all to write my worksheet from day to day,and to be honest I don't have any customers numbers and in 5 years I havnt needed any. But times are changing and maybe I should look into it properly, I can see it has a lot of benefits but it would take an age to put all my customers on it then get phone numbers of everyone etc.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: LWC on December 22, 2014, 11:12:09 pm
I have most my customer numbers or some form of contact. Can chase debts up, ask them to leave gates open etc.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: SeanK on December 22, 2014, 11:20:49 pm
You hand write every list?

Yes it not hard for me as most of my daily work would be on the same street or road.
So just put the street name at the top followed by the house number and price charged.

Street name.
12  £10
15  £10
18  £10
19  £15
20  £10
22  £18
Street name
and the next set of numbers, like I said I usually only do 15 to 20 properties per day.

Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: ChumBucket on December 22, 2014, 11:22:18 pm
I print a weekly worksheet out & record each day in a A4 week to view diary. Done this for over ten years no probs, I also know every customer & every price in my head too!! :) I probably average about ten jobs per day, no estate work etc.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Clever Forum Name on December 22, 2014, 11:25:28 pm
You hand write every list?

Yes it not hard for me as most of my daily work would be on the same street or road.
So just put the street name at the top followed by the house number and price charged.

Street name.
12  £10
15  £10
18  £10
19  £15
20  £10
22  £18
Street name
and the next set of numbers, like I said I usually only do 15 to 20 properties per day.



Do you keep all your old sheets then?
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: gary999 on December 22, 2014, 11:32:02 pm
I use my calendar on my email. it allows me put details of customers
obviously date of clean and re occurance of event, weekly,monthly etc
and I can print daily weekly etc lists from it.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: SeanK on December 22, 2014, 11:33:25 pm
You hand write every list?

Yes it not hard for me as most of my daily work would be on the same street or road.
So just put the street name at the top followed by the house number and price charged.

Street name.
12  £10
15  £10
18  £10
19  £15
20  £10
22  £18
Street name
and the next set of numbers, like I said I usually only do 15 to 20 properties per day.



Do you keep all your old sheets then?

Don't use sheets its a dairy and I keep them all, to be honest I have never looked into any other way of doing it
hadn't even heard of these programs until I joined this forum.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Fin Clearview on December 23, 2014, 12:01:29 am
I went to CP a couple of months ago after a good 15 years of work swimming around in my head. This is the major plus for me that i don't have the headache of trying to remember it all. I enter into the software and forget about it or even look for scraps of paper etc i used to jot down quotes or whatever, everything i write down is on the app. Definitely worth a try imo.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: PoleKing on December 23, 2014, 07:49:13 am
You hand write every list?

Yes it not hard for me as most of my daily work would be on the same street or road.
So just put the street name at the top followed by the house number and price charged.

Street name.
12  £10
15  £10
18  £10
19  £15
20  £10
22  £18
Street name
and the next set of numbers, like I said I usually only do 15 to 20 properties per day.



Do you keep all your old sheets then?

I use sheets, as I use excel, I keep the last couple of years sheets.
Probably no need but makes me happy.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: AuRavelling79 on December 23, 2014, 08:05:19 am
I moved to George from a diary and set of tick sheets in April. I couldn't see the point but now it is so much quicker especially at the end of the day when you enter in who's been done and paid.

The time consuming bit was entering on over 400 names and addresses but now it is so much easier and quicker.

I only invoice about 8 customers a month and still use Word but will probably change next April.

I also started entering expenses on in October.

The reports and forecasts are helpful too.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Clever Forum Name on December 23, 2014, 08:06:30 am
Having had issues with accounts and data  ::)roll ::)roll I am more than happy to be on cloud based software with updates.

I am also going to be keeping paper records of the cloud software. So every month i will just print out income and what i have collected (cash/online/card/bacs etc)
 
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Clever Forum Name on December 23, 2014, 08:16:06 am
I moved to George from a diary and set of tick sheets in April. I couldn't see the point but now it is so much quicker especially at the end of the day when you enter in who's been done and paid.

The time consuming bit was entering on over 400 names and addresses but now it is so much easier and quicker.

I only invoice about 8 customers a month and still use Word but will probably change next April.

I also started entering expenses on in October.

The reports and forecasts are helpful too.

I loved george and thought it was great but i tend to have a little OCD with checking stuff. For me. If i am bored and i check my phone and i see someone has paid, within 10 secs i can update it when i am out. Now some might say there is no differential then between work and social. But i get emails when shopping, down the pub etc etc. Some CAN wait, some cant. For me its all about providing the best service possible and satisfying my OCD.

Its like AMAZON prime. I don't need it and managed years without it. HOWEVER knowing i can get parcels next day and on Sundays makes it worth it. Now i look back and wonder how i done without it. Even with my van, when i turn round corners it lights the curbs up. I work on new estates and collect in evenings. Some roads are not done so the curbs are SILL rippers!!!! How i managed without damaging my old van i don't know.

Its the same with excel,george and cleaner planner.

I did excel, i did george and i am now on CP. I couldn't imagine doing without excel, then george, now cp. 
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Soupy on December 23, 2014, 09:00:48 am
Probably no need but makes me happy.

Definitely a need. According to HMRC you should keep the last 6 financial years.
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: PoleKing on December 23, 2014, 01:25:53 pm
Probably no need but makes me happy.

Definitely a need. According to HMRC you should keep the last 6 financial years.

I meant just the papers.
All the actual records are on the Mac for her maj...
Title: Re: whats wrong with a day a page diary
Post by: Deangsi on December 23, 2014, 03:31:24 pm
You hand write every list?

Yes it not hard for me as most of my daily work would be on the same street or road.
So just put the street name at the top followed by the house number and price charged.

Street name.
12  £10
15  £10
18  £10
19  £15
20  £10
22  £18
Street name
and the next set of numbers, like I said I usually only do 15 to 20 properties per day.



Do you keep all your old sheets then?

Don't use sheets its a dairy and I keep them all, to be honest I have never looked into any other way of doing it
hadn't even heard of these programs until I joined this forum.


+1