Almost everyone makes New Year’s resolutions, and almost everyone who does breaks them. If you could follow through on just a couple of these tips, you’ll absolutely start off the New Year more financially fit than you ended the previous year.

 

1. Be selfish- and pay yourself first. Is the money you earn spoken for before you get it usually? If you’re paying for expenses with every last cent of your money, you really need to think hard about your savings. If it helps, consider it a must-pay expense every month, and no matter what, make sure you pay yourself that $50 or $100 a month just like it was a creditor.

2. Decide what type of savings you need. Since you’re absolutely going to make sure you set aside a certain amount of money every single month, no matter what, you need to figure out where you will “set” that money. Consider online savings accounts with high interest, or automatic contributions into a mutual fund.

3. Cut back on junk. You know exactly what “junk” is. The gym membership you keep for the day you might go back to the gym to work out. That’s $19.99 a month you’re just throwing out the window if you don’t use it! Do you buy lottery tickets every week? Set that money aside and you’ll have better odds at winning.

4. Send extra money to your mortgage. If you’ve got a mortgage that doesn’t penalize for pre-payments, try to send an extra $50 to $100 with your payment each month towards the principal. You can easily save $50,000 or more. Even sending an extra $20 each month will make a huge difference on the amount you owe.

5. Refuse to pay late. If you fall behind on your bills and pay late fees more because you forget to send the payments before they’re due rather than not having enough money to send- set up automatic payments so you never have to worry about forgetting.

6. Throw away the credit cards. Stop using credit cards all together. You don’t need them. They’re robbing you with interest and finance fees and that money is better spent in a savings account that will eventually let you pay cash for the things you want rather than paying two to five times the original price after you make payments and get charged interest.

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