<prompt> Human: I was intending to start budgeting, doing the envelope method. I went to the dollar store and found this coupon holder-looks like a big wallet with different tabs so I got that instead of buying envelopes. It has been a couple weeks now and I havent put any money yet.My problem is, Im self employed, I sell at markets and my income varies each week. I had a good week last week, made about 1500 and paid some stuff then kept some money so i can buy new inventoryi sell perishables. As we speak, I dont have any money saved but will probably make 1000 profit over the weekend, but have apartment rent to pay this week and car registration. Then I will be broke again and I will have to wait til midweek go work again and expect to make 500 on one day I go to another market. Then rent at that market will be due. Basically I work, make some money then pay whatever bills are due and put some money aside for new inventory and thats a cycle I go through every week.My expenses are as follow: Rent 600, smud 50, personal loan payment 140, phone 60, Insurance 35, cigarettes yea i know.. 300, coffeefood 400, gas for personal use around 100Work expenses: 1000 for the two markets I sell at, gas 250, misc 100So personal expenses are around 400 a week and another 350 for work related. Thats 750 I need to put aside one week to start budgeting, but i always have something to pay every week because I havent been budgeting so the money isnt in the envelope. How do i break the cycle? Should I start really small and lets say put 13 of my weekly aside til I have enough to cover everything for a week when I have enough, or wait til I have a good week then put that 700 aside and start budgeting then?  <response>: Try YNAB. Really, get into it, tracking everything down to the penny. Its a learning curve, but you got auto-sync to banks and nitpick your budget, move things around, track progress, etc. Its a fantastic game if you buckle in and really get into it.I run 4 different ways to make money through it. My income is absolutely unpredictable and everything is week-to-week basis. YNAB helped me put aside money for future budgets and plan for expenses. Its a digital envelope system and you wont have to waste time with paper money and carrying around that cash.Its literally designed to help you pay things as money comes in and see how much time you have left before the next bills come in. Its really fun to keep trying to pay ahead and see how far you can get on regular expenses and making categories to cover random expenses. My favorite is rolling over the leftover money into the next months category and watch it grow. The graphs really help see trends and compare to last yearmonthweeks performances.Best of all, filing taxes doesnt suck anymore. Its an entire side quest to track and log in every write-offs and investing into tax advantaged accounts. 