A bar clamp has a stop. Without it the sliding jaw keeps moving until the workpiece splits. Free hours need the same kind of mark: a written limit before the week starts, and a short note after it ends.
The note does not need software. Three lines are enough: hours held, money in, costs out. Date it. Keep it next to the previous week. If the hours grow while the rate after costs stays flat, the stop may need to move earlier, not later.
What the stop protects
The paid day is the core of the block. Side work that borrows sleep from Monday is already crushing that core. A stop written on Sunday night for the week ahead is clearer than a hope that energy will appear on Thursday.
What the mark is not
The weekly mark is not tax filing, not a pitch deck, and not proof of income for anyone else. It is a private reading of one clamp opening. Bar Clamp does not publish earnings promises. The mark exists so the next week does not start blind.
Read next: firm hours held between the jaws and when side work loosens the main hold.