I used to work with a guy who said he could never save. I asked him some questions which pretty much told me why.
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Where do you buy your gasoline? He said at (major gas station like Shell, Gulf, etc) instead of the discount gas station like Racetrack. He also was buying premium fuel for his car that didn’t need it.
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Where do you buy your toilet paper and babys diapers? He said at the grocery store. I suggested he get a COSTCO, SAMS card or equivalent, but he said he didn’t wang to pay to shop. I told him that the cost difference buying in bulk would actually pay for that membership and more.
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I asked where his checks were drawn on and where he has his savings. He said at the Bank. I suggested a credit union where he would actuially get some interest on any money he was able to save. Also some of those fees he had to pay woudl disappear (don’t remember what he was getting dinged but I think it was for low balances).
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What soda do you drink. He said the btrand name “Coke” (well we were in Atlanta after all). I suggested he look into the generic soda. Yes some generic sodas are not great but at perhaps half the price, not so bad.
I suggested he keep track of everything he spent for a couple months. Things like eating out at work instead of bringing food, not look at generic items instead of name brands and doing things for convenience instead of evaluating costs were hurting his family.
When I was very young, I would visit my Grandmother “down the shore”. She doled out an allowance for me which I could use on the boardwalk. I would be careful to evaluate which rides might last the longest. I found those swinging cages
and found that if I counted out loud every time I made a complete rotation, that people started to gather around and watch. The operator let me go as long as I wanted because I was actually attracting customers for him.
I don’t recommend it for others, but when I was in college (yes they had colleges back then), I was really broke. I would make a run into town to pick up food for dorm mates who were playing poker. I got my meal for free and gas costs (it was 29 cents a gallon). Anyway, I would sometimes bounce a check. I realized that the bank was betetr at tracking my spending than I was. I stopped balancing my checkbook. I was so afraid of bouncing another check that I forced myself to not keep buying things. I bought the dinged up cans of food, looked for things on sale and so on. I soon started having lots of money in my account. The start was perhaps $100 but it kept increasing as I became cheap. Today I still go though and look at UNIT PRICING of items. For frozen food here, I look at food that is 30 cents per ounce and then decide if I can actually eat those things. Rather than cans of spaghetti, I make my own. When the supermarket had Top Sirloin at $5 a pound I bout the limit I could. I went back a few hours later the same day and bought another limit. I gave others a chance at the sale. I used the supermarket affinity card but made sure the sale price was being honored as I self-checked out.
When I lived on the mainland, I drove across town to shop at Aldi and Big Lots (discount stores). I stocked up on generic items.
It all depends upon you trying to change the way you spend or save. Some suggest you toss your spare change into a jar or deposit that periodically into a savings account.
Over the decades I have invested in individual stock and most have done quite well. For example, I have been in and out of Apple stock many times and made a lot of money. I personally do not own any Apple product, but watched as Apple lovers would stand in line drooling at the though that they would get the next great product before anybody else. It was like a drug to them, so I bought stock. Over the decades in hindsight I probably should have just kept buying it, but I would wait for it to go up and sell and take my profit. At one point I had a $3,000 profit and put it towards an ATV (which actually is a farm vehicle and a deduction).
So make chages to how you spend. Based upon your investigatigation, find the item where you spend the most and see how you can redice that cost if possible. If it is a mortgage you may not be able to, but then look at number 2 on the list. Making a chnage to the highest cost item or to an item most often purchased or paid, you begin to save. I recently cancelled a streaming service and subscribed to their discounted offer saving significantly. I search out and watch free and ad-supported streaming services. If there is a lower price for lower quality I take that option.
Good luck.
Are there any strategies or tools you recommend for keeping things balanced? 
