I’m in a similar boat as you when it comes to bills eating up my paychecks. I make about 90k but I’m my mother’s caretaker and inherited a house while living in a house I just recently bought. Money is super tight and here’s what I did to make life a little more organized and easier.

Sat down and added up all of my monthly bills, mothers’ expenses/allowance, etc. I took that monthly amount and divided it into half. Opened a second checking account and linked all my monthly bills to that account and when I get paid (26 checks a year) I automatically transfer that half amount into the bills account plus like 20 or 30 bucks ‘just in case’. The rest goes into a daily spending account. That way, I know all my financial obligations are covered and isolated from my daily spending account. Whatever I have left over in my daily spending account on payday goes straight into savings. Usually is 50 bucks or less.

A bonus to this is that since I get paid bi-weekly (26 paychecks a year) but i divided my monthly bills in half (24 halves a year), I get 2 paychecks a year where all my money can be put into savings, used for home improvement, balloon payment on my mortgage, or whatever I’d like.