← Freelancer money sheets hub · Friday chase ritual · 2026-10-28

Who to chase this Friday — a freelance invoice aging ritual

Disclosure: I make and sell freelancer money sheets (free samples + paid trackers on Gumroad as Jennifer Keith / keithjenn). This page teaches the free Friday ritual first. Not accounting, tax, or debt-collection advice. EXAMPLE names and amounts are fictional.

The Friday question

Free browser tool: Friday Invoice Chase Ranker — type rows, get Top 3 with 60+ first (MIT, no login). Submitted to ToolCommons #65.

Every Friday you only need one answer: who do I chase first? Not “rebuild the workbook.” Not “write a soft→firm email sequence.” Just a ranked chase list from open invoices.

If you bounce between Gmail, sticky notes, and last month’s copy-paste, you miss old scary invoices while chasing a big fresh one.

Four buckets — Current / 1–30 / 31–60 / 60+

Keep every open invoice in one of four AR aging buckets:

Bucket	Meaning	Friday bias
Current	Not yet due (or due today)	Watch — don’t chase yet
1–30 days	Recently overdue	Polite nudge if amount or client matters
31–60 days	Stuck	Escalate tone / channel; confirm receipt
60+ days	Danger zone	Usually chase first unless you already wrote them off

The free sample shows EXAMPLE rows so formulas are visible before you replace them. On that sample set, unpaid total is $1,620.

15-minute Friday ritual

Open the aging sheet. Put today’s date where the sample asks (Start Here / As-of).
Confirm every open invoice sits in a bucket (Current / 1–30 / 31–60 / 60+).
Sort by days overdue (not amount). Old small invoices hide under new big ones if you sort wrong.
Pick the top three only. Write their names on a sticky note or calendar block.
Chase those three this afternoon. Stop. Don’t rebuild tabs first.

Common mistake: opening five browser tabs “to see who hasn’t paid” instead of one aging view.

Start free — Freelancer Invoice Aging sample (MIT · GitHub):
https://github.com/SirMem/freelancer-invoice-aging-sample

Raw .xlsx:
download Aging sample

Also on Gumroad $0+: keithjenn.gumroad.com/l/merlns

Hub (all free samples + ledger): sirmem.github.io/freelancer-money-sheets

A story that travels (share shape)

STORY-FOOTNOTE: People forward wild Friday chase moments — not “I found a tracker.” If you post this ritual, lead with a concrete scene (same client, three invoices, 60+ day bucket, top-3 only), then put the free sample link as a footnote. Product-brochure posts do not count as share progress. Paste-ready CN/EN: STORY-FOOTNOTE-POSTS.md.

What this ritual is not

Not a soft→firm email-script pack. You already know how to ask for money; the gap is usually who and in what order.
Not a full multi-month invoice log with status history for every client.
Not tax or legal advice — aging buckets help cash collection, not Schedule C.

If someone asks “does it include chase email scripts?”

Limit first (LIMIT-ADMIT): No — this ritual and the $6 tracker are not a soft→firm email-script pack. Competitors sell those at $7–$39. Here the product is the Friday who / in what order decision surface.

Answer template (send only after they ask): see hub LIMIT-ADMIT-REPLIES.md.

When the free sample isn’t enough

The free Aging sample is one working subset: buckets + a chase list on EXAMPLE rows.

If you need a fuller “who owes me this Friday” system across months (Invoice Log + Aging decision surface, not scripts), that’s the paid tracker — same late-pay situation, titled for the Friday decision:

Who to Chase This Friday — Freelance Invoice Aging Tracker · $6
https://keithjenn.gumroad.com/l/freelancer-invoice-tracker

If three EXAMPLE rows already answered your Friday questions, stay on the free sample.

Notes

EXAMPLE clients only — replace with yours.
Not tax, legal, or debt-collection advice.
AI-assisted packaging disclosed on the hub.
Related: Five tabs → one aging sheet · How to track overdue freelance invoices