Hello TYOUNG1,
Thanks for the details of what you'd like to do with invoicing your customer monthly. I'll do what I can to help find a solution for you and clarify the difference between a statement and an invoice.
To begin, an invoice will show your customer items purchased or services used with their associated prices so they know what they're paying for in addition to the amount they're paying. A statement is a list of all outstanding invoice amounts owed, so it won't show your customer what they're paying for.
For that reason, I recommend sticking with invoices for what you're describing. One of the great things about QuickBooks Desktop is you can create an invoice, then save and close it to change or add to later. Once you're ready to really send it off at the end of the month, you can click Email in the toolbar.
If what you're invoicing is services rendered, you can consider the Timesheet feature. That way, you can enter the time taken for the services as you go, mark them as billable, and then simply add them all to an invoice at the end of the month. To learn more about Timesheets, press the F1 key on your keyboard to bring up the QuickBooks Desktop Help feature. Switch to the Help tab, then click Search to activate the search bar. Use keywords like "timesheet" or "time activity" to find more details.
Another option is to use Progress Invoicing. This feature allows you to create invoices from estimates. In this case, you could use it by adding each of your items to an estimate throughout the month and then create an invoice from it when you're ready to send it off. Learn more about this feature here: Set up and send progress invoices in QuickBooks Desktop
Check out this article from the QuickBooks Online portion of our community to learn more about different transaction types and when to use them. Keep in mind that any links in that article will lead to QuickBooks Online-relevant information and will not apply to QuickBooks Desktop. What is the difference between an invoice, sales receipt, bill, and statement?
You can learn more about these functions in QuickBooks Desktop through the Help menu I mentioned above.
Best of luck! Feel free to stop by again next time you have questions. :)
