15/10/2026
A Friday job. Fifteen minutes, one spreadsheet.
Thirteen columns, one for each week between now and early January. Top row: what's in the bank today. Then money in, entered on the date each customer normally pays. Be honest here. If they always take 45 days, an invoice that says 30 changes nothing.
Underneath, money out: wages, rent, suppliers, loan repayments. Then the ones that ambush people: the VAT quarter, PAYE, the insurance renewal, the Christmas bonus promised back in June.
The bottom row is the closing balance for each week. Scan along it. Somewhere there's a dip, usually where payroll and VAT collide. Found in October, that week can be fixed by moving one payment date or chasing two invoices. Found on the day, it can't.