How do you guys balance upgrading more than 2 pieces of equipment?

The game really feels like it encourages you to have multiple loadouts while also being extremely stingy with upgrade materials.

My first playthrough I had a gun and grimoire. Even with the Scavanger perk, I had to ignore my grimoire if I wanted to upgrade my gun and armor. This lasted pretty much until the fourth area where i just ended up buying an upgraded grimoire. Late game you get showered with materials but by then pretty much all my relevant gear is upgraded.

Now I'm on my second playthrough and I decided to start buying all the materials in shops which I didn't do previously. However, it still feels impossible to upgrade all the stuff I use. This time I'm running mace and shield, with arquebus as alternative ranged option. But, between upgrading my main weapon mace and armor, my shield and arquebus are left in the dust at common quality while I'm nearing the end of first area. I feel like my only option would be to just buy them at the highest tier from merchants, but that won't help if I find a unique one I want to use.

Has anyone found a way to balance this? I'm dreading my next playthrough where I'm planning to use dual daggers and bow, no idea how to keep it all upgraded.