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
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Despite trying to save and make do where possible last year, I did build up a couple of debts. Really don't want them hanging over me for long so my 2016 financial resolution is to leave end the year completely debt free! Fingers crossed :)

Well today I started off by opening my twins savings account For us to save them money until their 18
We have a Financial Advisor coming round to look into our Mortgage, Insurance, pnsions etc 2016 is a year to make sure we are 1) Making our money work hard for us and not the banks etc 2) Pay off the last £150 of our credit card bill 3) Look at getting a bigger house

I want to spread Christmas 2016 over the year so have started already and plan to buy a present a month.x

I already save up my loose copper so i have decided to try and save up some 10 and 20pences into one of them tins that you can't undo. Hopefully to save for christmas or a little holiday with the kids x

I am going to overpay my mortgage by £100 a month and only buy what I actually need!

I'm going to change from my packaged bank account to a fee free bank account as I don't use half the benefits. I'm also going to have a January where I don't buy anything unnecessary so only food and petrol.Determined to be more frugal in general this year!

stop letting the kids persuade me to buy things we don't need

I'm good with money. I'll continue not using credit, and only spending what I can afford and on the things that I really need. And I'll find a new investment opportunity for my maturing investment.

Ohh and I'll hope that the interest rate will finally raise a bit so it helps out us savers, esp the ones that live on their savings....

Just going to make sure I leave plenty of time to phone around for comparitive quotes for car & home insurance renewal this year

Mine is to actually take part in the financial plans as at the moment DH does it all. I was in charge for around a year back when we were 18 but I got in a muddle, went into debt to sort it out and then got bailed out by parents. It's made me feel overwhelmed at the potential consequences if I get it wrong so DH does it. So this year I am going to
1 Know what our bills are and when they go out
2 Stop locking myself out of the online banking and actually learn how to use it
3 Stop buying food for lunch when I'm in work as it costs a fortune
4 Save save save as we are looking to buy a house end of this year / beginning of 2017.
5 Actually do a budget each month with DH and stick to it!

I have everything in Excel and I've just started the worksheet for this next quarter. Weekly spends, Fortnightly income, monthly bills: it's boring but it works for me because I need to plan ahead.

My goals for the new year are to pay off my store card and save for a new fridge. Last year it was to pay off my catalogue account (tick). I also need to find out if there is a better option than the company pension- as the fees wiped out any gain last year.

My financial resolution is to save more money this year!

Thanks for the chance to win!

I will be saving £50 per month into a seperate account by standing order just for Xmas. And I'll be going through my bills with a fine toothcomb to see if anything can be reduced. I also plan to clear my credit card (there's only £300 on it) by March.

I have a money-saving habit that I adopt from January - March every year. It usually turns into a competition between friends to see who can last through to the end of the 3 months. We agree not to spend money on ourselves, except for the necessities for the family.

I started this financial goal, when I realised that I was often spending money mindlessly on things I just didn't need. I'd pick items up whilst supermarket shopping, not thinking about the cost of the pretty packaged hand cream or matching patterned tissue box dropped into the trolley amongst the baked beans and bananas.

With the costs hidden amongst the grocery bill, the expenditure wasn't noticeable. But when I started to add up these small purchases, and other nice-to-have but not-a-necessity expenditure, such as take-out coffee, pizza deliveries, manicures, lip balms, nail varnishes, petrol station sandwiches, minty fresh chewing gum or celebrity-style magazines - I realised there was a lot of money being wasted, which would be better saved for a more worthy cause; a child-free Spa weekend with my friends!

I've now started and although only 2 days in, it's going well but let's see who can make it through to end of March without breaking

My NY resolution is to live, laugh and love more!

This year I'm going to ask myself if I really need it before buying anything.
If I can stick to it, I will cut my spending by nearly half! I spend far too much money on things we don't really need and treating myself to luxuries and my family to things because I had spare money

I have been to the bank today and got a print out of all Direct Debits and Standing Orders. I had a couple I could cancel- a magazine subscription that would automatically renew and a couple of websites I signed up to years ago (resources I don't use any more) so have saved a few pounds there. I'm also looking at my other bills- making a few calls to ensure I'm getting the best deals for us.

I also am trying to remember to use Topcashback when making online purchases to see how much I can get back from my shopping.

My Financial Resolution is to live within my means. I am no longer going to put things on the credit card and Im just going to save until I can afford them.

I opened a savings account today and set up a spreadsheet to monitor all my expenditure. Going to try to put away at least £50 per month in savings and work out where else I can cut back.

My financial resolution this year is to save more money for a decent mortgage.

I have made a decision to put a little away every month starting the end of January so that next year I'm not totally broke after Christmas and can go to the sales in January

Is to save enough money to finally go on holiday, its been years so im hoping succeed at take my family away on the holiday the deserve.

To try to save money by stopping unnecessary food waste. I'm terrible for not cooking the stuff I plan to.

My 5 year old daughter has never been away on a holiday. I'm not working but try and do cleaning for people when I can. Her dream is to go to Disneyland so I want to scrimp this year until I can make her dream come true!