Share your financial new year’s resolutions with other Mumsnetters - chance to win a £300 Love2Shop voucher, courtesy of Lloyds Bank NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

With a bit of luck the festive period left you with LOTS of happy memories - but we all know that Christmas can leave bank accounts looking a little worse for wear. To help you into 2016, Lloyds Bank would like to know the financial new year’s resolutions Mumsnetters are making.

Here's what they say: "January sales, unwanted presents and resolutions - the new year will bring new challenges, but plenty of opportunities for those who are shrewd with their finances. We'd love to hear Mumsnetter's tips for starting the new year in financial style‎." - Lloyds Bank

So how do you make sure your bills stay in the black? Do you make a spending plan to control your budget? Maybe opening a savings account is the best option? Perhaps you give the credit card a well-deserved rest and pay everything upfront? Or do you have some money-saving habits you force yourself to get back into once the festive season is over?

Whatever your tips, Lloyds Bank would love to hear them.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw, and one MNer will win a £300 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks,

MNHQ
Standard Insight T&Cs apply

I'm sticking to my spreadsheet and only using my credit card for food and petrol. I'm only taking my weeks budget out of the bank then leaving all plastic at home

I am quite an impulsive spender so I have vowed to try and stop this as well as:
-saving for emergencies
-saving all my £2 coins in a £2 tin that I can only open with a tin opener! I am hoping this provides most of our spending money for our holidays
-Always search for better prices when buying an item and use cashback sites. Topcashback is now installed on my browser bar so when I enter a website it automatically pops up if I can gain cash back from that company
-meal planning (I throw away so much food it is obscene)

Fingers crossed!

Bring a packed lunch to work, that is my (broken) resolution

My resolution is to not buy anything we don't need this year....just get the essentials.
We are all stocked up on clothes and electronics - so this year I will NOT be tempted by bargains.
It will be interesting to see what I can save....

I am going to work harder on myself than on my job, because I have come to learn that a job makes you a living but working on myself will make me a fortune (Jim Rohn).

I have set up a standing order for savings which comes out the day I get paid. No more 'ah - i'm sure I will save at the end of the month'. What I have left is all I have to spend!

No more coffee shop coffee is my new year resolution. They are just too expensive to be part of everyday life.

I am just returning back to work from maternity leave and the financial minefield of childcare and looking forward to trying to pay all the bills, clear some credit cards and to get some money saved up again... spreadsheets and planning each month under way... also looking at junior ISA / accounts for the little one to get saving for his future and life insurance ( bigger minefield) to make sure he's got a secure future if anything happens to me. How outlook changes with kids - all about making sure has a stable future and making memories.

We've recently started using YNAB which is a really useful tool but i just need to make sure that i'm sticking to the budgets rather than overspending!

I'm an avid saver and expecting another child has made me need to save more. I use a spreadsheet to monitor our family finances and shop around for the best saving rates for DC, DH and myself. My resolution is to open a new account I've seen and save a set amount per month to help tide us over my unpaid months of leave.

I'm going to be trying to pay some cash into my unloved savings account. No buying lunch and taking sandwiches is one things I can save on quite easily.

I'd just like to save enough to pay for those big ticket items that come along, so I don't need to use credit :)

Don't go shopping with the children. They encourage you to spend more.

I hate to waste food (and money) but there always seems to be unused and out of date products left in my fridge. My plan this year is to plan my meals in advance, create a shopping list of items needed and only buy these things in the shops. Thus hopefully cutting down on food waste and saving money!

My resolution is to be even stricter with the household budget. I'm not expecting to be able to save anything until OH finds another job, but with any luck I won't have to keep borrowing money at the end of the month to tide us over to pay day.

Save up for our wedding so only buy what we need not what we want!!

By budgeting! I've managed to haggle on my tv, phone & broadband bill & reduced the monthly payment by £16 a month in the space of a 5 minute phone call. And we overpay on our mortgage but the TV etc saving will also go to the mortgage. My resolution is to watch what we spend rather than blindly using debit cards without any awareness of our bank balance.

We have downloaded an app called "homebudget" and both of us will be updating our spends and trying to keep withing our set budget

I'm going to start saving for next Christmas now and stick to a budget.

My financial resolution is to invest my savings!! I am due to leave work for maternity on 22nd of January and I have invested my own money on a home study degree to qualify as a RICS surveyor! The remainder of my money saved will be invested into property aided by my current property knowledge and that of the RICS Degree I am working on. With the help of my banking advisor I can invest my savings wisley into property which over time I hope will not only offer a healthy return but provide my children with a good start in life!!

My financial New Year's resolution is to make my savings work harder. I have too much in "old" ISAs earning a pittance

To stop buying things that I don't really need, especially clothes. Going to open a savings account purely for my retirement as I don't have a pension plan.

I plan to buy less cheap, throwaway stuff and instead spend more investing in good quality basic things that will last longer!

To not spend money on food that I know that I am not going to eat.

My resolution is to budget better for spending throughout the year (birthdays, holidays, uniform time, christmas etc).

I have opened three basic savings accounts already and set up standing orders to each - one for birthday/christmas saving, one for things that the kids need throughout the year and one for holidays.

The money goes out as soon as I get paid and I am determined to stick to living on what I have left - not borrowing on credit cards etc.

I am determined to be more disciplined this year!