Most budget apps assume a salary. You do not have one.

You have a fat month, then a client who "needs two more weeks," then a week of $40 of Uber. Averaging that into a pretty pie chart does not help. What helps is one number: how much cash you need sitting still so a slow month does not wipe you out.

HustleBooks calls it the lean-month buffer. Take the last three closed months. Average the net (paid income minus expenses). Cut it in half. That is the floor.

Why half, not a full month? Because you are still working in a lean month. You are not unemployed. You need a cushion, not a replica of your best month sitting in a savings account doing nothing.

Do this on paper if you want. The planner just does the arithmetic every time you log a payment, and it will not let the number hide at the bottom of a spreadsheet tab you stopped opening in March.

If you freelance and you cannot say your buffer out loud right now, that is the problem. Fix the number. Then keep logging.