Money is easy to get for me, but I've been playing awhile. Now they pay me $1100 at town hall to catch bugs or whatever, and the cave is very profitable.
The trick is not to bother with furniture (except a cheap bookcase to store things) or enlarging your house until your income is up.
Making sure you check in a few times a day for the town hall assignments helps, too. Also, fruit trees are a good investment, I'm making 1000-3000 a day selling fruit.
I recommend enacting ordinances to save money in the store and on town projects, too.