Comment by chasing | Hacker News Reader

Comment by chasing | Hacker News Reader

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I mean, you took three months off, essentially -- knowing that you'd have no savings at the end?

I'd suggest this, which I think has been said elsewhere in this thread:

Pay yourself a monthly amount and don't touch the rest. And base that amount on a figure that's somewhat less than the average of what you've been pulling in for the last year or so.

Have a crazy lucrative month? Great! Into the "business" account it goes -- you get paid the same amount. Have a crap month? No worries -- you get paid the same amount.

You've got to figure out techniques to smooth the unpredictable into the predictable. That's how you remain sane as a freelancer. And I've been freelancing for basically the entirety of my career, since the late 90s.

Also: Never put yourself in a position where you know you're going to have no savings. That bit about taking three months off and having no savings at the end. Ugh. Personal projects are great. Vacations are necessary. But as a freelancer, you have to earn those things.

> Pay yourself a monthly amount and don't touch the rest.

This is exactly what I do. I used to not and it sucked. I would never ever go back.

I would also add the micro-tip that I set up not only separate accounts for business and personal, but separate accounts within person for "money I can blow" and "money to live on". My wife and I each have our own money-to-blow account which totally prevents arguments about wasteful purchases.

In cases where monthly income is going to fluctuate dramatically, I couldn't imagine NOT doing what you're suggesting. This could go for other jobs besides freelancing, like living off of small business incomes or gambling professionally.

> I mean, you took three months off, essentially -- knowing that you'd have no savings at the end?

In retrospect, it was extraordinarily dumb! I hope that was clear from the article. The point I was trying to make with the story is that when I had a vague pool of "savings", it felt like I had a bigger cushion than I actually did.

Kudos to you for making things predictable. I would wager most people don't plan as well as you do. My hope is this will be their first step to stabilizing their budget.

I hear where you're coming from, but this isn't a stable budget. It's living in two-month feast/famine cycles rather than one-month ones.

I would wager that most professional freelancers do plan as well as I've described. And by that, I mean people who are into freelancing for the long haul and not just between full time gigs.

And, to be totally honest, I actually don't structure my finances like this (although I'm a very long-term freelancer). I have my own techniques. But I would consider this to be the baseline for not going insane and/or getting kicked out of one's apartment.

Kudos to you, for sharing your experience.

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