lol, seems like a lot of you guys have no idea what your doing or how to play this game.
You don't need auto saves, there's plenty of bathrooms around to save at.
Make it a point to make sure you complete the case files.. you don't get those done you'll get stuck and time will end, thus ending the game.So if you center the game around the say 2-3 Case file, blah blah.. then you can adjust to get survivors, or say fuck em and let them die. You want to beat the game go for the case files.
You get money buy playing the slot machines, theres money on the ground, bust open slots and atms. Or even play the TIR multi-player mode, you win money and it can go to your campaign game.
Make it a point to have some health with you at all times. Keep 1-2 jugs of OJ or Milk with you. and Strong weapons like the sword, axe, shotgun. and you should be good.