With income that bounces, treat yourself like an employee and pay a steady monthly salary from a holding account. Make Checking A your income holding account and Checking B your bills and spending account. All client payments land in A. Once a month move a fixed amount to B equal to your low-month baseline, say 2,000, and pay all bills and the card minimums from B. That smooths the spikes and makes decisions easier.
For the surplus that accumulates in A, use a simple rule that changes once your cushion is built. While your emergency fund is under one month of bare-bones expenses, meaning only rent, utilities, groceries, gas, and minimum payments, put the minimum on the card and send 70 percent of surplus to savings and 30 percent as extra to the card. Once the fund hits that floor, flip to 20 percent to savings and 80 percent extra to the card, since 24 percent is expensive, until the balance is gone. In any month where income is under your set salary, pause extra debt payments and use the emergency fund to keep the salary going, then in the next strong month replenish the fund first and resume the 80/20 split. Automate the transfers on the day money lands so you do not have to think about it, and keep only a small buffer in B to avoid overdrafts. If a big repair hits, pay from savings without guilt and drop back to the 70/30 mode until the fund is back to the target.
