Very little mainstream personal finance advice is applicable to freelancers. 

If you don’t have a 401(k), much less a company that will match your contributions, you can’t automate deductions from your paycheck. If you make different amounts of money every month, you can’t set a structured budget. Sometimes young freelancers new to the industry get a nasty shock in the spring when the IRS tells them that no one has been paying income taxes on their behalf. 

All that to say, there is no formal structure in place to help freelancers manage their money. And if even people on a traditional salary need education for budgeting and saving, well, freelancers must need it that much more.

However, it doesn’t have to be harder for freelancers; it’s just a different system. And while it’s great to hire your own freelancer in a financial planner or accountant, that’s not in the budget for everyone.

There are three crucial tenets for financial health, and if you focus on them, you can feel confident handling your own finances no matter if it’s your busy season or a dry spell.

Pay the Government First

The big thing you have to know when you transition to freelance work—when you have a 1099 instead of a W-2 tax form—is that it’s your responsibility to hold back money for income taxes. If you are paid $1,000 by one of your clients, that’s not $1,000 into your pocket. 

But how much is yours? Well, that will depend on your tax situation. How much do you make in a year? Are you married? How much does your spouse make? Do you have kids? Do you own your home? What state do you live in? Which city? 

Luckily you don’t need to hire a tax attorney to figure this out. You can simply look up your local tax laws, and if those are too confusing, look online for freelancer groups. You don’t even have to talk to other writers, just your fellow contract workers. 

If you’re just starting out freelancing, gather some information and then round up. For example, if it seems like you’ll need to pay 20 percent of your money in taxes, round that number up to 25 percent and take that percentage out of every single payment you take in, stashing it in a separate savings account specifically for taxes.

Pay Your Savings Second

Speaking of savings accounts, those are your second priority. 

It’s good sense for anyone to have an emergency savings account with living expenses for at least a few months. If you’re a freelancer, you should have at least a good six months of living expenses on hand in case you end up losing a client or have an unexpected downturn in work. 

But after your emergency fund is full, you should still be saving. Put that money toward some kind of retirement fund, whether it’s a Roth IRA or some other kind of sensible, long-term investment strategy. 

It used to be that you needed to hire someone to plan your investments for you, but these days there are lots of companies that offer affordable AI-automated investments that align with your personal goals. 

Track Your Spending Third

When thinking about saving for anything beyond taxes or emergencies, it can be tempting to save only a few pennies so you can just spend the rest. And if you’re looking for people to tell you what the magic percentage to save is, what numbers you need to hit by which age in order to retire with a certain amount of cash, you can find all kinds of information online. 

But you’ll never really feel in control of your money or good about your savings if you don’t get curious about your day-to-day spending. Where does your money go? Why do you buy what you buy? How much of it is needs, and how much is wants? Is there another way for you to get a dopamine hit that isn’t buying an overpriced coffee every day? 

Because it’s now so easy to order things online, lots of people spend impulsively and recklessly. Luckily there are also lots of people who have shared their stories of coming to terms with their bad habits. Taking your credit card information off your phone, giving yourself a forty-eight-hour waiting period before making a purchase, and trying “no spend” weeks are all easy, free ways to build healthier money habits. 

Get Curious, Get Empowered

Many Americans are afraid to even think about, much less talk about, their money. But there’s no reason to be nervous about it—even people with bad debt and bad habits can turn the ship around if they just take hold of the wheel. 

You don’t need to farm out your money to an expensive accountant. Just cover your taxes, build your savings, and send some mindfulness to your spending habits, and you’ll be in a better position than your salaried friends. 

Chelsea Ennen is a writer living in Brooklyn with her husband and her dog. When not writing or reading, she is a fiber and textile artist who sews, knits, crochets, weaves, and spins.