Even people with significant incomes find themselves in this situation. A lack of understanding of how money works is one of the more serious situations facing America today. I have a few tips that will help you out.
1) Carry a note pad and write it all down. Every single penny you spend. The length of time you do this is totally up to you and your habits. With some people it takes a week or a month to figure out where most of their money is going. Some people need to carry their notepad at all times as a reminder of where they are spending their money. If you are like most people, you will be amazed at how much money is going out on "little" things.
If you stop for coffee even once a day, you will be inspired to buy an espresso maker and do it at home. One cup of coffee from your local chain at 2 dollars a day will add up to 40 bucks per month. Multiply that by two people if you are a married couple and you could start that emergency fund or junior's college fund. Simply buy an espresso machine and start putting 40-80 dollars per month to work on your future instead of your favorite coffee shop's future. Their future is bright enough without your help.
2) Having a budget is key. You will hear that suggestion a lot. The problem here is most people don't like budgets. In face, many people downright despise budgets. So here is a tip. Leave yourself plenty of wiggle room. Let me explain.
If you have grocery money, gas money, and fun money in this week's budget, lump them together. Some of that hatred of budgets comes from the strict structure of them. So get rid of some of the rigidity. Number three will give you some ideas how.
3) Make saving money fun. Let's look at an example from number two. Let's say you have $150 bucks for gas, groceries, and fun money. You know you need 50 bucks for gas, so you go fill your car up. You have $100 left. You will be amazed how much money you will save knowing that the leftover cash will take you to the movies or out for a drink and an appetizer at happy hour. You will also be surprised when you start asking yourself if you really need to drive places knowing that if it costs you less than $50 to fill up, that's fun money.
4) Pull your spending money (gas, grocery, etc) out of the bank on payday and keep that cash on you. You would be dumbfounded by how poorly you estimate your budget in your head when you swipe your card for everything. I can hear you know saying that will keep receipts and add it all in your checkbook register. If you really do, good for you. For the rest of us, stop lying to yourself. That lasts about two days and your old habits come back. Keep the cash on you and refuse to spend more than that.
5) Make your savings automatic. Once you have your budget squared away, you know what part of the month you have some extra cash. Work with your bank to get some of that extra cash automatically deposited to your savings. If you bank online, you are only a few clicks away from having your monthly deposit set up. Most people say after a few months they have forgotten that money was ever there and it just goes out every month without them noticing. Pretty soon you are no longer living paycheck to paycheck.
There are so many ways to start saving money it's impossible to know or list them all. Fortunately, it only takes a few small techniques to be on your way out of financial stress. The best approach is to learn as many as you can and try them all. Instead of trying to force yourself to do things you hate, just stick with the ones you enjoy doing. You might be surprised with the results.