Leftover hours are a line scribed parallel to the day job, not a pile found after the week is spent.

A marking gauge rides a fence along a true edge, then a steel pin marks a second line at a set offset. Marking Gauge applies that order to side income: seat the day-job fence first, then mark what leftover hours can hold, and what they cost the rest of the week. No earnings promises.

Open the cut list About the method

Fence, stem, pin

Fence: The day job, commute, sleep and care hours that cannot move. Until this edge is seated, leftover hours have nowhere true to be measured from.
Stem: The weekly record that holds the offset: hours marked, hours used, money in, costs out, tax set aside. Without a stem the pin wanders.
Pin: The leftover-hours line, a fixed distance from the fence. Side work that needs more board than that offset is a different job, not a small extra.

Cut list

Pieces to mark before extra work is accepted. Read in order, fence first.

Stock list for leftover hours, measured from the day-job fence
Piece	Offset	Note
Set the fence before leftover hours	hours	Seat the day job, commute and sleep. Only then mark leftover hours as a parallel offset.
Mark the rate parallel to the quote	rate	Keep remaining pay in line with the quote after fees, unpaid time, tax and tools.
A weekly stem of records	record	One brass stem a week: hours, payments, costs and tax, closed on the same day.
Offers that ignore the gauge line	fit	Work that asks the fence to move, or the pin to travel past the offset already marked.