How Should You Spend Money and Rerolls Each Ante?
In Balatro, treat each Ante (one full cycle of Small Blind, Big Blind, and Boss Blind) like a budget cycle. Interest is bonus cash paid after a round: by default, you earn $1 per $5 saved, up to +$5 per round (and some vouchers can raise that cap). Rerolling means paying the shop reroll cost to refresh the random cards for sale. Your default plan is simple: buy enough power to clear the next blind, then protect your next interest breakpoint.
In early antes, do not chase perfect shops. One reliable scoring Joker plus one support piece is usually better than spending everything on rerolls. If a purchase drops you below an interest tier, ask one question: will this help me survive the next two blinds? If yes, buy it. If no, skip it and bank cash. New runs usually fail from weak economy long before they fail from missing a flashy combo.
Simple Spending Priority
Use this order in most shops: 1) immediate survival for the next blind, 2) permanent score scaling (Jokers, upgrades, or cards that grow your base hand value), 3) economy tools that make future shops stronger, 4) nice-to-have quality upgrades. Before a Boss Blind, you can spend more aggressively because that round is make-or-break; after the Boss, shift back to saving for interest.
Set a reroll cap before each shop so you do not tilt-spend: 0-1 rerolls early if your core is not built, 1-3 rerolls mid-run when you know your direction, and deeper rerolls only when your economy is already stable above key interest tiers. If the shop already offers a card that clearly improves your current plan, take it and leave. In Balatro, disciplined cash management beats high-roll rerolling more often than not.