TIL my neighbor the accountant said my "quiet months" should be planned like seasons, not panic

I was walking my dog last week and my neighbor Marie (she does taxes for freelancers) starts going off about how I treat slow months like emergencies instead of just part of the cycle. She said I should set aside 15% of every paycheck into a separate account for the dead weeks, not just scramble when work dries up. I been freelancing for 3 years and never once thought about it that way, I just panic-sell my services for half price when things get quiet. Anyone else do the seasonal savings thing or just wing it like me?

3 comments

3 Comments

kai_ramirez3815d ago

Wait are you seriously still panic selling? I set aside 20% off the top every single invoice and it saved me last February when I had like 2 gigs total. You gotta treat it like rent money, not a suggestion. Automate the transfer the same day you get paid so you never even see it.

emma_jones15d agoOG Member

Honestly, Marie is exactly right and it's wild how many of us just ignore this. Tbh, I started doing this last year after a brutal dry spell where I was literally taking $5 logo gigs just to make rent. Ngl, it felt weird at first setting money aside when I could have used it right then, but now my slow months are way less stressful. The key is treating that 15% like a bill you have to pay, not a choice. You gotta automate it to a separate account so you literally cannot touch it for anything else. Once you see that balance grow during the busy season, the panic-selling just stops happening because you know you have a cushion.

xena_hernandez9815d ago

That automation part is the real trick, but what do you do when the slow season hits harder than expected and you have to dip into that cushion sooner than you planned?