Living paycheck to paycheck? How to stretch your income

Do you spend the last week before payday going through the cupboards to check if you have any old cans of food or packets of pasta, so you don't have to go to the supermarket? Do you hide at home and make excuses not to go out with friends? Do you nervously put off filling the car with gas and hoping you don't run out? Do you try to avoid all of the above by getting out your credit card? And when you get paid do you rush to the shops and buy in a rush of relief, like someone who has just won the lottery? If you are going through this sort of starvation-binge equivalent of money management, you are living paycheck to paycheck.

People who live paycheck to paycheck haven't mastered the art of spreading out their money so that each week's spending is roughly equal. Often they underestimate how much they need for essentials and spend this money on non-essentials early on in the month, and then come up short.

Sit down with a piece of paper and list all your monthly outgoings. First of all, are your monthly outgoings greater than your monthly income? If so, this is a big part of your problem. Go through each expense item by item, and consider whether you can reduce it.

1. Rent/Mortgage. Can you afford your rent or mortgage? If you rent, could you move to a smaller place? If you have a mortgage, check if you can remortgage to get a lower interest rate. If you have a spare room in your house or flat, consider letting it to a lodger to bring in some income, which will help defray your costs. Most people don't bother to look at their housing expenses because they feel it is too much trouble. But there are big savings to be had in this area, so even if you do just one thing, tackle this one.

2. Electricity and gas. Shop around for lower electricity and gas prices - there are now price comparison sites that enable you to do this quickly. Again, most people don't do this because it's "too much trouble", but in reality it will only take around an hour or so to check prices out online and about ten minutes to actually switch supplier.

3. Phone bill. Again, check the different tariffs on offer and switch your supplier to someone more competitive. In this area it is also worth looking at your phone habits. Some people run up massive bills simply talking about nothing - it's almost as though they can't walk down the street without phoning someone and saying "I'm now just outside Starbucks" etc. Stop. It's a grand old waste of money. Try making it a rule that you only phone when you have something important to say.

Basically go through all your expenses, item by item and ditch the unimportant stuff - the various app subscriptions, the Netflix competitors you don't have time to watch, the monthly gym bill you are paying even if you haven't time to go.

You'll soon find you've saved a goodly amount of money.