Best way to track time spent on projects?

Guessing is gonna bite you eventually, especially when clients start questioning invoices or you need to figure out which projects are actually profitable. I'd recommend getting a time tracking app like Toggl or Clockify - they're pretty painless to use and you can set up projects for each client. The key is starting the timer *when* you actually start working, not trying to remember later. I know it sounds obvious but you'd be surprised how many people still wing it.

What works well for a lot of web designers is tracking time in blocks throughout the day. So when you switch from designing mockups for Client A to doing revisions for Client B, you just swap which project the timer's running on. Most apps let you add notes too, so you can jot down what you were actually doing - "homepage redesign" or "CSS fixes" - which is super helpful when you're reviewing things later. After a week or two it becomes habitual and you stop thinking about it.

The real game-changer though is reviewing your tracked time weekly and seeing where your hours actually go. You might realize you're spending way more time on revisions than you estimated, or that certain clients eat up disproportionate time. That data is gold for adjusting future quotes and figuring out which projects are worth your effort. Plus when a client inevitably asks "why did this take so long?" you've got actual numbers instead of a shrug. Trust me, it makes billing conversations way less awkward.

I'd go a step further than just tracking - I'd suggest logging time in real-time as you switch between tasks rather than trying to reconstruct it later, since your brain won't remember accurately after a few hours of work. A simple tool like Toggl or even a spreadsheet where you jot down start/stop times keeps everything honest and makes invoicing way less stressful down the line.