
It’s time once again to start making your list of New Year’s resolutions. And while “get in shape” is at the top of most people’s lists, you have likely also included “save money” (in one form or another) as a very close second. In fact, you’re not very liable to follow through with any of your resolutions, despite your good intentions (as you may recall from years past) unless you make some sort of change in your methodology.

Immediately following the season of giving is the season of paying, and if you’re like most people, you have probably racked up a bit of debt in your quest to make the holidays special for family and friends. So rather than finding yourself in the same boat a year from now, why not set aside the resolutions to lose weight (you know that only lasts about five minutes), clean the garage, plant a garden, and so on, and instead commit to setting a budget that will give you the money you need to pay off debt, keep up with bills, and save a little extra to hire a cleaning crew and gardeners (and still have some money left for next year’s holiday season)?