I've been self-employed for over a year now, and - more by luck than judgment - I've managed to keep my head above water financially.

I love the freedom it gives me, I love that I'm in control, and (mostly) I don't mind the weird hours. But it's been a steep learning curve.

I now know lots of people who are newly self-employed, some because they've ditched jobs they didn't like, some because they've been made redundant and have decided to set up on their own.

Here, I'm going to pass on a few tips that I've picked up in the wonderful world of working for yourself.

1) Bite the tax bullet!

As soon as you become self-employed, you need to let HM Revenue & Customs know. And from the very beginning you need to start squirreling money away ready to pay your tax when it comes to dreaded Self-Assessment time.

I've set up a separate savings account just for this purpose, and every time I get paid I put 25% of my wages into it. That stops the cash getting mixed up with the 'available to spend' money in my current account.

2) Remember your Student Loan contributions

Given my earnings, my tax bill will be less than 25% of my wages. However, I put this much away because there are some other costs I have to consider. The first is my Student Loan debt, some of which will also have to be repaid when I do my tax return.

This is unlike the employed set-up, which takes Student Loan repayments directly out of your monthly salary, before it reaches you. So if you're repaying a Student Loan, you need to put more aside to cover this. To find out more about Student Loan repayments through Self-Assessment, have a look at this page of the DirectGov website.

3) And National Insurance will take a cut, too

As a self-employed person, the way you pay National Insurance also changes. When you work for an employer, you pay Class 1 National Insurance contributions. However, when you work for yourself, you pay Class 2 and Class 4 National Insurance contributions.

You can choose to pay the Class 2 contributions in monthly or quarterly installments. However, the Class 4 contributions will be taken from you at the same time as your tax and any Student Loan repayments you owe - so it's important the money you squirrel away covers this.

Hence the 25% I save, which should (hopefully) cover all the expenses I've mentioned. To find out more about NI contributions, read this page of the HMRC website.

4) Keep all your household bills - for a LONG time

I used to keep household bills for six month usually, a year maximum. If you work from home however, you'll need to keep them for at least six years. This is a legal requirement, and they'll form part of your expenses claim in your self-assessment form (along with receipts associated with your job and various other paperwork).

For example, you may want to claim tax back on your broadband charges - because you use the internet as part of your job. Keep that paperwork in order or you could lose out financially.

5) Keep paper records

Finally, it's worth keeping paper records of your invoicing and recent work history, as well as those on your computer. Just think what a disaster it would be if your computer was stolen, or all your files were corrupted!

So, if you're sent any contracts, print them out immediately. And when you send invoices, it's worth printing off and filing a hard copy at the same time.

I also keep a little work diary, in which I write down the work I do each day, the fee involved and where I do that work. This is the sort of evidence that will help you claim your tax back. For example, it will help demonstrate that you were working from home on certain days, and that it is therefore reasonable to claim some heating and lighting costs as expenses.

To find out more about all aspects of self-employment, have a look at this page of the HMRC website. Good luck!