Elise, I'm sorry if I came across as harsh, but your story would read like a minefield to the IRS. I'm long retired but I help a friend who is also an expert at the work she does (farmer/florist) but she is completely lost when it comes to bookkeeping. We've had many sessions of "tough love." You claim to have written a book about healing your relationship with money. The first step is to realize the IRS is not out to get you. The second is to deal in facts. Your SS and Medicare obligation will be 13.2 percent of your profit, plus Federal Income Tax on top of that. New businesses usually don't turn much of a profit, but if your expenses are as low as you say, you might. So in the future setting aside 10% will not cover your obligations. You mentioned a home office. This is an area that gets the attention of the IRS because it is so often abused. The IRS allows a home office, but it can't be used for anything else. If you have an extra bedroom that you can devote to an office, that perfect, partial rooms often lead to trouble because it's not a dedicated space. You mentioned setting aside money into savings for taxes. When you are self employed you must keep business funds and personal funds in completely separate accounts. Mixing personal and business money is called co-mingling of funds and is another big IRS no, no. You must have a separate business account and business credit cards. Using your personal credit card for business will get you in hot water with the IRS. The single most important thing you could do on the accounting aspect of your business would be to find a friend who knows how to use QuickBooks. It's a great program, but it helps to have a QuickBooks expert user get you up and running. They have an online version and a stand alone computer application.