McAfee's Bookkeeping

10/14/2026

Quick QuickBooks tip for Maine contractors: if you categorize the same supply-house charge over and over, a bank rule does it for you — and keeps “Miscellaneous” from creeping back in.

1. Go to Accounting → Rules, → New Rule. Or the Gear icon → Rules → New Rule.

2. Name it (for example, “Home Depot – Materials”) and set it to apply to Money out.

3. Add a condition: Bank text contains “Home Depot” (or your supplier's name as it shows on your bank feed).

4. Set the category to your Materials & Supplies account, then choose whether QuickBooks should auto-add or just suggest and let you review. Start with review until you trust it.

5. Save. Next time that vendor shows up in your feed, it's already sorted — you just assign the customer/job.

Set up one rule for each vendor you use every week and most of your bank feed sorts itself. Check your rules every few months so they keep matching how you work.

Want help getting this set up correctly? Let's talk.

10/12/2026

Here's something that trips up a lot of new STR hosts: the number that lands in your bank account isn't the full story.

That deposit is already net of cleaning fees, platform commissions, and any guest refunds — so if you're only matching your books to your bank balance, you're missing where the money actually went.

Friday's blog post covered how to set up income accounts that mirror your platform payout reports from day one. This is the habit that makes that setup actually pay off every month. If you missed it check it out at the link below!

https://mcafeesbookkeeping.com/blog/new-to-hosting-heres-how-to-start-your-str-bookkeeping-off-right

10/09/2026

New to short-term rental hosting? Between furnishing the space and setting your pricing, bookkeeping is probably last on your list — but STR money moves in more directions than almost any other small business.

Getting your chart of accounts set up to match your platform payouts from the start makes reconciling a monthly task that takes minutes, not hours.

New on the blog: New to Hosting? Here's How to Start Your STR Bookkeeping Off Right. Link below. 👇

New to short-term rental hosting? Learn how to set up your QuickBooks chart of accounts from day one to track payouts, fees, and expenses correctly.

10/05/2026

Quick gut-check for Maine contractors: open your Profit & Loss report right now. How many line items say “Miscellaneous” or “Other”?

That's not a tracking problem — it's a setup problem. Friday's blog post walked through how to build a chart of accounts that actually matches how a trades business runs, from day one.

If your categories have been a catch-all for a while, it's never too late to clean them up — just more work than building it right the first time.

If you missed it Friday check out the blog post!
https://mcafeesbookkeeping.com/blog/starting-a-trades-business-in-maine-set-up-your-chart-of-accounts-right-from-day-one

10/02/2026

Starting a trades business in Maine? 🛠️ Between permits, tools, and your first jobs, bookkeeping probably isn't top of mind — but the chart of accounts you set up now is the foundation for everything else.

A clean setup from day one means you'll actually know which jobs are profitable, instead of staring at a pile of "Miscellaneous" expenses a year from now.

New on the blog: Starting a Trades Business in Maine? Set Up Your Chart of Accounts Right From Day One. Link below. 👇

Starting a trades business in Maine? Learn how to set up a clean QuickBooks chart of accounts from day one to track job costs and stay tax-ready.

09/30/2026

Quick QuickBooks tip for Maine landlords: if you've paid a plumber, handyman, or other contractor $2000 or more this year, here's how to make sure 1099 season doesn't catch you off guard.

1. When you add a new contractor as a vendor, check "Track payments for 1099" right in their vendor profile.

2. Collect their W-9 before the first payment — QuickBooks has a secure spot to store their tax ID once you have it.

3. Pay them by check, ACH, or bank transfer, not credit card — card payments are excluded from 1099-NEC reporting since the card processor reports those separately.

4. At year-end, go to Reports → 1099 Contractors (or use QuickBooks' 1099 e-file wizard) to see who crossed the threshold and file accordingly.

Set this up the moment you hire someone, and January becomes a five-minute report instead of a scramble to track down a W-9 you never collected.

Want help getting your vendors set up correctly? Let's talk.

09/28/2026

We wrapped out the month with a simple end-of-month QuickBooks checklist on Friday — reconcile, clear your review tab, confirm receipts, read your P&L, save your reports.

If you actually ran through it this weekend: nice work, that's the habit that keeps books from ever getting away from you. If you didn't get to it yet, no judgment — pick one item and start there before October gets going.

Small, consistent habits beat one big catch-up session every time.

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09/25/2026

Check out The Spice and Tea Exchange. Their teas are amazing!

On tap this weekend —>

Bonita Peach Herbal Tea 🍑
Try with our Peach on the Beach Sugar 😉

And back again this weekend our VaniLLa Bean Oolong Tea! In honor of another weekend of celebration for the brand new Flagship Store!

Stop by and grab an iced tea for your stroll through the new campus!

09/25/2026

To close out this month's series: a genuinely universal one. Whether you're a contractor, a host, a landlord, or something else entirely, this simple five-item checklist takes about thirty minutes a month and keeps your books from ever getting away from you.

Reconcile, clear your review tab, confirm receipts, read your P&L, save your reports. That's it.

New on the blog: the end-of-month QuickBooks checklist every small business owner needs.

Reconcile, clear For Review, attach receipts, read your P&L, save your reports — a simple 5-step monthly QuickBooks Online checklist for any small business owner.

09/23/2026

Quick QuickBooks tip for Maine STR hosts: if you're manually calculating the lodging tax portion of every payout, here's how to make QuickBooks do it automatically.

1. Create a liability account: gear icon → Settings → Chart of Accounts → New → Other Current Liabilities → name it "Lodging Tax Collected."

2. Go to the gear icon → Rules → New Rule, matching your platform's payout description.

3. Under Splits, allocate the tax percentage of each deposit to the Lodging Tax Collected account, and the rest to rental income.

4. When you remit the tax, record that payment against the same liability account — zeroing it back out.

Once it's set up, every payout splits itself correctly the moment it hits your bank feed. No spreadsheet math required.

Want help building this rule for your platforms? Let's talk.