New Year's resolution money ideas: the loveMONEY team's New Year resolutions

What changes are the loveMONEY team looking to make in 2017?

It's that time of year when all take a moment to reflect on what we want to do differently in 2017. So what are the loveMONEY team's New Year's resolutions?

Anna Jordan

Save for a house

Though I’m a little late to the party, I’m going to start saving for a house this year.

I can’t afford to stash a great deal away, but hopefully there’ll be a half-decent amount of cash to put towards a deposit by the time I’m ready to move out of London.

The first task? Finding the right place for my savings. Wish me luck!

Compare savings with loveMONEY

Dom Eames

Update my will

Although I am pleased to say I did get a proper will set up a few years ago, this now needs updating as I have moved house.

It’s a fairly easy thing to update but the cost of not doing so could be far greater for my family.

Review my retirement planning

Like many people who have worked for several companies I have ended up with several pensions but have not paid much attention to how they’re performing and whether they’re invested in the right things.

Now I’m at the wrong end of my forties I need to start paying a lot more attention to this.  

Lauren Weymouth

Organise my savings

I’ve been meaning to do this for years, but of course there have always been better things to do.

Right now, I have three cash ISAs, all of which are in old accounts where the interest rates have dwindled considerably. I know I can get much better rates and higher returns, so it’s time for me to sort this out and look at transferring my ISAs elsewhere.

Open a Stocks & Shares ISA today via loveMONEY

Stop using contactless to pay

I’m constantly tapping my card for small purchases here and there, mainly for ease and speed. But it took me a while to realise that paying via contactless was actually the reason my outgoings seem to have soared.

Little did I realise, contactless payments don’t appear on our bank statements until much later into the month. This means I have been checking my balance and finding it is still relatively healthy, spending more money and then suddenly seeing a huge drop by the end of the month when all of those ‘small’ purchases have been processed. It’s back to old school Chip ‘n’ PIN for me.

Niamh Ollerton  

Budgeting for the London lifestyle

I moved to London around 18 months ago, and as you can imagine, the added strain of high rent, and higher living costs have taken a toll on my finances and savings. So this year I'd like to make some changes and budget better. 

I love a night out and eating out, but they're quite expensive in London, so I'll be cutting back but I also want to save a bit too. I'm going to try to up the amount I save from  £100 to £500 each month.

Switch banks

I’d also like to change banks and to reap the benefits which come with doing so. 

I'm with Santander at the moment, and I have been for six years (it was actually my first-ever debit account). 

I never saw the point in switching, but the account just isn’t working for me anymore thanks to changes to the interest rate and account fee.

For my next account, I wouldn't mind a little windfall with a switching bonus (that's why HSBC looks very tempting right now).

Compare current accounts with loveMONEY

Reena Sewraz

Waste less food

I wasted far too much food last year just by not being organised enough to use it all before it went off. It's a shameful thing to do but it's also impacting my finances - so it has to stop.

This year I’m going to focus on planning my meals for the week before I go shopping to cut down on the amount I throw in the bin, which should make me a bit richer too.

Take more risk

I’ve been using my current account to earn interest on my savings for a while now but the rates aren’t as good as they once were.

With rates in the doldrums generally I’ve realised I need to take a bit more risk if I want to boost my returns. So this year I’ve resolved to try something a bit out of my comfort zone like peer-to-peer savings and see how much I can earn.

Compare peer-to-peer savings with loveMONEY

Simon Ward

Ramp up contributions

I want to continue to increase my pension and ISA contributions so I build up a healthier pot for my later life. My workplace pension contributions, in particular, could probably be higher.

Take stock of JISAs

I also want to look at my children’s Junior ISAs and see if I can switch them to get decent returns but with lower fees as I suspect they’re paying more than they need to.

Open a Stocks & Shares ISA today via loveMONEY