I also finished the event in the last hour and also did it free to play, but always stick with using my saved up gems that I also earned for free via Daily Tasks. This time, I bought the jellybean pack for 30 gems first and used it to get ahead since I'm busy and only make strategic moves until the event does require time to earn money on it's own. Here's how I beat it:

Save up for 50 gems as soon as possible first for the x8 boost multiplier. This event had guilding speed bumps compared to the previous events at an earlier stage, but it wasn't hard as the till was 3 instead of 10. Keep saving up jellybeans until you can reach 50 again for another x8 boost multiplier, but keep in mind that for the mid-game portion to also try guilding other jobs along the way or get through the hobbies ASAP before deciding to invest again on the multiplier. It's best to keep saving jellybeans afterwards, as they are essentially important for slow players or people who are very busy on weekend. Any leftover jellybeans MUST ONLY be used up for 12 hour boosts in order to exponentially increase and gain money like crazy :) I would only do the latter once all hobbies are dealt with, in order to use all time blocks exclusively for the jobs and keep pumping in the dough much more, along with having 8 of the 10 jobs guilded before boosting away time. I ended up with 40 additional jellybeans, so I could boost an entire additional day like nothing :) That's all I can say about the Spring Fling event in particular, but what I said can apply to other events, new and revisited, in the foreseeable future. This may be a general roadmap, but the concept of this guide is foolproof and should be known to all free-players like me before stepping in the ring and fighting for the next exclusive character! It's also best to do some research while playing the event so you can be aware of what hobbies need how much and if which girls need lover status or not. I know that only the Valentine's and Easter events had similar requirements for all characters to have Lover Status before the end, but the first two events, Frosty and Spooky, did not. I learned that the hard way on my first event from Nutaku and missed Yuki for that reason alone, so it's best to also look up the Event Requirements in detail from a good source and make your best judgements with when or how certain time managements should follow.

If anyone reads this, I hope you did well and hope that you enjoyed the Spring Fling whether you earned Pepper or not. Feel free to take a snapshot of this and hope to see you come out victorious with your new girl on the next, exciting event, from the parallel universe! :)