Bills & rent
Rent, electricity, salaries — the payments that come round every month. Businessly never takes the money on its own; it waits until you say you paid.
A bill in Businessly is a template, not a payment. You describe the thing that repeats — its name, how much, and which day of the month it lands — and every month the app shows it as due. The actual cash entry is created only when you tap Record.
That is the whole idea, and it is what keeps your books honest: your cash in hand never drops for a bill you have not really paid yet.
Where to find it
Tap the round button in the middle of the bottom bar. If you are not already in this group it takes you there; tap it a second time to open the list of sections, then choose Bills.
You can also reach it from Settings → Bills & rent, or from the Bills & rent due card on the Home screen.
Bills is a permanent entry in the left sidebar — one click, no menus.
Adding a bill
- Tap Add and choose New bill / rent.
- Give it a Name — the field suggests Rent, Electricity, Salary…
- Enter the amount and the day of the month it is due.
- Say whether it is money you pay or money you receive.
If you have nothing set up yet, the empty screen says No recurring items yet and offers Add recurring directly.
The monthly cycle
Each month a bill moves through the same three states.
| State | What it means | What you do |
|---|---|---|
| Due | The day has arrived (or is close) | Nothing yet |
| Overdue | The due day has passed and nothing is recorded | Pay it, then record it |
| Paid | You recorded the payment for this month | Nothing — it returns next month |
When the money actually moves, tap Record. Businessly offers This month or Another date… if you paid late or early, then creates the real entry: a bill you pay becomes an expense, a rent you receive becomes cash in.
Several months at once
Behind on rent, or a tenant hands you four months together? Open the item and use the lump-sum option rather than recording the same month over and over.
- For money coming in you set Months to receive; for money going out, Months to pay.
- Businessly marks off each month separately, so the history still shows month by month — you just entered them in one go.
- It handles arrears and advance the same way: pay ahead and the coming months are already marked.
Installment plans live here too
The same screen carries a second section, Installment plans, for goods sold and paid off monthly. They behave differently enough to have their own page — see Installment plans.
Sending a reminder
Open a bill and you can send the person a WhatsApp message with the amount and month already written. You edit the wording once under Message templates and it is used everywhere.
WhatsApp opens directly in the app, with the message ready. You press send.
WhatsApp opens in your web browser. You need to have signed in to WhatsApp Web once on that PC; after that it works the same way.
The phone notification that nudges you when a bill is due does not work on a PC. You can switch reminders on and set a time, and the app will even say a test reminder was sent, but nothing will ever appear. Reminders arrive on your phone only.
Ending a bill
When something stops — you leave the shop, a tenant moves out — remove the recurring item. That stops the monthly reminder. Payments you already recorded stay in your books; removing the template never rewrites history.
