I'm skint

For everything I shoot down and capture, there's another waiting in the wings so my nett cash gain is negative.

Then things get even harder (ugh).

Apart from playing on easy level (I'm on normal currently); how do I make enough money to pay my bills at the end of the (first) month?

You are aware you can sell alenium and alien alloys right?

Also, try not to splurge your entire budget in the first month.

Could you talk us through what you do in the first month? Where do you set up your first base? What expansion plans (if any) do you take? What territories do you cover? After all, you start with 4 million. Where does that all go?

I agree that getting the money is slow at first, but I find it you keep hold of around $400k without spending it after building your first base / 2 bases you can get through without too much trouble.

I actually bought all the XCOM games again in the steam sale last week as after playing this I just got dragged in for hours without noticing. Seeing as there is only 2 maps and a hugely limited selection of items etc this surely says something about how great the finished product will be.