New Year's financial resolutions
These ten great resolutions from iVillage members should see you get out of the red and into the black this year
1. I work on an hourly basis, but my hours change each week, so my weekly pay cheques vary. When I write out my monthly budget, I'm going to use only the lowest amount of my pay cheque as income - if I earn more than that, I'll set it aside.
2. I'm finally going to contribute to my child's university fund - he's four years old and I haven't done that yet!
3. I'm going to start a holiday-savings account so every two years my family and I can take a trip.
4. I'm going to start a miscellaneous savings account so when I need to get a birthday present for someone or get new shoes, etc., I won't have to spend the money I have set aside for bills, food, etc.
5.When I go to the shop and use money off coupons, I'm going to write out a cheque to myself (for my own use) for the exact amount I saved in coupons. I hope that doing this will encourage me to use coupons more.
6. I'm going to use just my VISA debit card and pay it off at the end of the month. I can rent cars with it and use it for paying bills. So there'll really be no need for any other credit cards.
7. I want to cut down on restaurant bills. I'm going to try to limit the times my husband and I go out to eat to two or three times a month, instead of two or three times a week. (I've been looking at my spending for the past two months, and I'm just shocked at how much we spend on eating out as opposed to buying groceries.)
8. I resolve to continue putting money in savings. I have finally started `paying myself' first when I get my pay cheque, and I also put money into my husband's savings when he gets paid. It's not a lot, just 2.5 percent of our take-home, but it's going to add up. This year our savings - not our borrowings on credit cards - paid for Christmas!
9. I want to save money by giving up smoking. My husband and I think we can save about £175 a month by stopping together.
For more savings ideas on money saving tips chat with fellow iVillagers on the money matters message board. Take a look at some of the LIVE discussions taking place right now on the board:
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Created: 27/11/2003 Updated: 29/11/2006
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