Totally get the paranoia about backups—been there myself. I started out tracking my construction loan payments on a simple Excel sheet, thinking it'd be enough. But once the project really got rolling, things got messy fast. Dates shifted, amounts changed, and suddenly my neat little spreadsheet was chaos.
Ended up moving everything into Notion too, and it's been pretty reliable overall. Still, I learned the hard way to never fully trust one platform. Last year, I had a scare when a subcontractor payment almost slipped through the cracks because I accidentally overwrote a cell—thank goodness for version history. Ever since then, I've kept a monthly PDF export of my payment schedule saved separately on Dropbox. Might sound like overkill, but hey...better safe than scrambling at the last minute.
Interesting you mention Notion—I've been tempted to switch over, but is it really that much better than Excel for tracking payments? Right now, I'm juggling between Excel sheets and random calendar reminders, and honestly, it's getting pretty exhausting. Did you find Notion's version history reliable enough, or do you still feel the need for those extra PDF backups? I'm skeptical about relying too heavily on one app...but maybe I'm just being overly cautious?
"I'm skeptical about relying too heavily on one app...but maybe I'm just being overly cautious?"
Honestly, your caution makes sense—I've had apps crash or lose data at the worst possible moments. Have you thought about pairing Notion with something like Google Sheets for backup? Might ease your worries without adding chaos...
I get the hesitation about apps, but honestly, even spreadsheets can let you down if you're not careful. Last year I had a spreadsheet corrupt on me right before a big payment was due...talk about panic mode. Ever considered the good old-fashioned notebook as your backup? Yeah, it's analog, but sometimes having that tangible record tucked away somewhere safe can be a lifesaver.
I've had my share of spreadsheet scares too—nothing worse than scrambling to piece together payment history at the last minute. Notebooks can work, but honestly, paper records have their own risks (coffee spills, anyone?). My approach is redundancy: a simple spreadsheet backed up weekly to cloud storage, plus quick snapshots on my phone after each update. Might sound paranoid, but it's saved me more than once...
