Gold in World of Warcraft rarely needs a grand plan. It needs a few steady habits and a reason for each coin you set aside. These notes collect the habits that worked best for a player with a short evening window.
Know your fixed costs
Repairs, consumables and the occasional enchant make up most of what leaves your bags in a normal week. Write them down for two weeks and you will see a pattern. That pattern is your reserve: the amount you keep untouched so a wipe never forces a hard choice.
Sell small and sell often
Stacks of five to twenty items move faster than a single stack of two hundred, and spare materials are easy to post at the end of a session. Check what other sellers list for the same item and place yours at a sensible level among them, then let the Auction House do its work while you play.
Follow the current content
Materials from the expansion being raided today sell more steadily than those from content most players have left behind. If you gather, gather what people are crafting right now, even if an older zone is prettier.
Pick one profession and learn it properly
Two professions that feed each other are better than five half-levelled ones. A miner who also does blacksmithing, or an herbalist who brews, buys less and sells more. Spend a month with one pairing before changing.
Plan large purchases in evenings, not in coins
A mount or a recipe can look far away when measured in gold. Measure it in evenings of your normal routine instead. Five evenings feels manageable, and the plan helps you decide when a different route is worth taking.
Keep a ledger for a month
A paper notebook with coin in and coin out is enough. After four weeks you will know your own economy better than any guide can describe it, and the case study on the home page shows how one such month went.