Every month I do a plan. I write down everything I can think of that needs paying. Work out what we get from a wage, benefits etc.
so I always know what’s spare if anything is spare. I do give things up like food if I find it’s costing more. Which tends to be every month at the minute.
It doesn’t give much room for anything unexpected. So when that happens I do tend to use things like zilch and Clearpay to spread the cost.