Tips to not live pay-to-pay

Without knowing all the details of your personal finances it is hard for anyone to offer much in the way of suggestions, but I'll try with a few things to consider.

1) Draw up a proper budget. Work out exactly what your monthly outgoings come to. Don't guess. Deduct this from your income and then allocate a small amount to entertainment and a larger amount to savings. Put the savings in a savings account and in a sense forget about; that is no longer money you have to spend.

2) Do you have a TV subscription (Sky, Virgin etc.)? Cancel it. If you are using up all of your salary each month (or more/) then you cannot afford this luxury.

3) How much are you paying for a mobile phone? As a rule of thumb, if it is more than £10 p/m it is too much. Find a better deal on SIM only or even PAYG. Don't sign up to any contracts where you get a new phone. These are hideously expensive and it would seem you would be spending money you don't really have.

4) Plan your meals for the week within a budget and then shop using a shopping list. Don't buy items that simply catch your eye. It can also be very helpful to do some batch cooking so that you freeze portions for use on evenings where you really don't have the energy, time, or inclination to cook. Don't buy take-aways.

5) Make your own lunch and take it to work. Do this every day without fail (and do the same for breakfast if you buy that on the go too). Convenience lunches are stupidly expensive. You can also use leftovers from evening meals to make lunches from too.

6) Don't buy take-away coffee. It might taste good, but you are paying through the nose for it. If work doesn't provide reasonable facilities for making a drink then take a flask with you. If you like real coffee (rather than instant) you can make a flask of that. Fresh coffee need not be particularly expensive if bought from the right place (see below).

7) Buy supermarket own brand products (unless the brand name is on promotion and works out cheaper) and do most of your shopping at "discount retailers" like Aldi and Lidl. The quality is no worse and can often be better.

8) If you drive a car then walk more when it is realistic to do so. You can save on fuel (not to mention wear and tear on the vehicle - all of which comes at a cost).

9) Allow yourself only a limited amount to spend on going out etc. It is too easy to fritter away money.

10) Check that you are on the best deal for gas and electricity. If not then switch and do this religiously.

11) Do the same with your broadband + phone. Also ask yourself what level of service you really need, e.g. do you honestly need fibre? The answer is almost certainly not, so don't pay for it.

12) Ignore the deals in the weekly MSE e-mail! They might sound like they are a great way of saving money, but actually they are encouraging you to spend more. If there happens to be one that coincides with something you were already intending to buy then that is different, but otherwise, ignore them.

13) Keep a track of all of your spending on a spreadsheet and update it every single time you spend money (allocating all known commitments, e.g. gas, electricity etc, at the start of the month). This way you will know how much you have at any given time. Don't be tempted to spend more and think that you will make it back by spending less next month!

14) Never buy anything on impulse. Think about it and consider whether you really need it and whether you can really afford it. Take some real time to do that, not just a few seconds.

15) Don't go shopping. What I mean is don't go out just to look round the shops as you will most likely end up spending money that you don't need to.

I know that some of these things might sound obvious or patronising, but they aren't intended to be. The most common cause of people's financial stress is lack of careful money management. You need to be ruthless in making sure that you spend less than you have coming in, so that you can really begin to save. This will take willpower and determination, but it will pay dividends.

Once your finances are in better shape then you can afford to indulge in a few more luxuries, but you still need to be sensible about these and keep a close eye on the spending.

I find a lot of people I work with who live pay to pay simply buy a lot of crap that they don't need.

They buy their dinners in rather than making dinners at home.
Takeaways
Constantly 'treating' themselves

So on and so forth. Just a lot of stuff they don't need. Then they complain about having no money.

Depends on priorities. If your priority is to have someone make your dinner for you for example then go ahead. Mine is to make it myself and not pay as much. Just an example but they all add up.