When I was a freelancer, I hated invoicing my clients. I used Quicken Home & Business to generate primitive invoices, which I then imported into Word to clean up. Then, generally, I'd e-mail the file as an attachment. It was a painful process, so I didn't do it enough, and naturally, my cash flow suffered.

But I just found out about Blinksale, an easy online invoice creation tool. It generates professional-looking invoices (with your own logo, if you want) and e-mails them to your customers. It also tracks payments and past-due balances, and it can send dunning reminders for you too.

It's not complex. In fact, it borders on cute. But for very small businesses and work-at-home consultants, it could add ease to the invoicing process and a professional gloss to client communications.

Blinksale is free to use if you send three or fewer invoices a month. Paid plans range from $12 to $49 a month, depending on the number of invoices you plan to send out.

• See product information for Quicken Premier Home and Business 2006
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