The Citizens Advice Scotland (CAS) study found 15% of people said it happened "most of the time" or "always".
Nearly a quarter (23%) had gone without food at least once in the previous year.
CAS said its findings showed that debt was "just a fact of life" for most people.
Almost half (48%) of the 1,501 Scots who took part in the survey had been forced to borrow money or use credit to buy food.
A fifth needed help to pay their rent or mortgage - a figure which jumped to 29% when it came to utility bills.
The report also found that more than half (55%) of the people quizzed would be unable to pay a sudden bill of Â£100 without borrowing, using savings or cutting back on essentials.
For a Â£250 bill, this rose to 69%, and for Â£1,000 it was 83%.
Nearly four in 10 (38%) felt they were "living comfortably" on their income.
CAS policy manager Keith Dryburgh said the study showed that debt was not just an issue for people on low incomes.
He said: "Many working Scots on reasonable salaries occasionally need to borrow money to get them from one pay day to the next.
"While many of these people would not regard this as a crisis situation, our research also finds that many people are vulnerable to financial shocks, like being unable to pay a sudden bill without getting into debt or using savings.
"More than half of Scots are not familiar with their rights as debt consumers.
"Given that debt is so pervasive in Scotland, we are keen to make sure that people know their rights in relation to debt and also know what options they have if they want to manage their finances better."

In a 2005 letter, the prince referred to "the most pressing and urgent problem" of tuberculosis (TB) in cattle, which was "caused and spread" by badgers.
He wrote: "I do urge you to look again at introducing a proper cull of badgers where it is necessary.
The Labour government later rejected a cull in the English countryside.
The revelations come from private letters sent by the Prince of Wales to Labour ministers a decade ago, which have been published after a lengthy legal battle.
Prince Charles wrote: "I, for one, cannot understand how the 'badger lobby' seem to mind not at all about the slaughter of thousands of expensive cattle, and yet object to a managed cull of an over-population of badgers - to me, this is intellectually dishonest."
In reply, Mr Blair said he could "personally see the case for culling badgers" but did not want to prejudge a decision by environment ministers".
The coalition led by David Cameron gave the go-ahead for pilot culls in England in 2013.
These are expected to resume for a third year in the Southwest this year and may be rolled out to other areas of England.
Other letters written by the prince reveal more details of his interest in agriculture.
He appealed for support for farmers and British-grown produce, and raised his "anxiety" about the country's lack of self-sufficiency in foods such as meat and vegetables.
He also mentioned "the enormous problem of climate change", praising "the remarkable leadership role" the government was taking in this area.

The United Airlines flight UA2081 took off from Edinburgh Airport at 14:22 but declared a second emergency a short time later.
It comes a day after the same aircraft diverted to Edinburgh from London Heathrow with a fuel leak problem.
There were no passengers on the plane. Edinburgh Airport officials said there had been no impact on operations.
The plane landed back at Edinburgh at 15:30, after circling the airport for 10 minutes.
An United Airlines spokesman said: "United Airlines flight UA2081 from Edinburgh to Chicago today (July 13, 2016), which was being repositioned and was not carrying any customers, returned to Edinburgh Airport after take-off because of a mechanical issue."
More than half of Scots have run out of money before pay day, according to a new report.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
Prince Charles asked the Blair government to consider the culling of badgers, historic documents reveal.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A plane bound for Chicago has been forced to make an emergency landing for the second time in two days.