How I keep my tit together.
Aside from the obvious "cut costs everywhere" ordeal, the easiest way for me to manage money is to always know how much I have, how much is due to come off for scheduled bills (eg. rent, power, gas, bus card, phone, internet, MMO subscriptions, credit card payments, whatever) and when I'm next getting paid. That way I know exactly what I'm playing with for the rest of the month and I can have a better idea over how much I can spend on any given day. I check this roughly every few days. If I'm unsure and I don't have access to my spreadsheet at home, I don't spend much if anything at all.
Basically I've made it a habit and a duty of mine to know exactly where my money goes and when.
Also, despite it costing extra for delivery, I get my groceries online when I can because you can see exactly what you are spending and can shop around a lot easier. I always spend more when I do big grocery shops at the store than I do when I shop online. It's so much easier to see what's coming out of your account.
If you buy food/drink/etc, don't overspend on things and then not use them (eg. things that expire or just things you don't end up using). A good way to do this is to think "breakfast, meals, snacks, drinks." Then when you look through your shopping basket, check over things that will expire fast and think over whether you expect to eat them anytime soon. Check to see if you have too many of one thing and too little of something else - people often spend a lot of money on expensive snacks and not much on less expensive meals, or vice versa. Finally, fruit. People moan and moan about how much it costs to eat healthy, but damn, have you seen the price of bananas? They're so damned cheap compared to even crisps and biscuits. It's great!
Drink more water. This will save you a very large amount as other drinks cost a lot of money compared to water, which is free. Diluting juice is your next best bet.
