January is Financial Wellness Month

If you’re looking for resolution ideas that don’t involve starving yourself, you might want to consider a resolution regarding your financial wellness. Everyone could probably use a bit of money management skills—if not a lot—these days, so why not resolve to increase your financial wellness this year? Here are a few ideas.

Open a Savings Account

You might think that you don’t have much to put in one, but if you stuck in, say, the $40 you spend eating out every other week, you’d have over $800 at the end of the year! This could come in handy when it’s time to renew your plates, pay taxes, or other needs arise—or you could finally take that vacation you’ve been meaning to take.

Stop Eating Fast Food

Depending on what you buy and how often, this could save you tons of money. Why not resolve to only eat out once a month, and make it someplace nice with healthy options instead of 99-cent heart attacks?

Chronicle Your Spending

For a month—or even a week—jot down every single penny you spend. Bills, gas, groceries, movie rentals, mint java chip mocha, whatever—just write it all down and see what you’re spending your money on. Sometimes this can help provide us with a bit of perspective and alert us to what changes we need to make.

Make Smart Daily Decisions

You shouldn’t have to sweat your money every second—that’s just not healthy—but keep a few things in mind while you’re going about your day. See how much gas you can save by getting all of your errands done at once, wash your clothing with cold water, try shortening your shower by 1 minute—all of these things can help save a little money that will eventually add up.

Nix the Bottled Water Habit

Most of us know that it’s pretty much the same as tap. If you really want filtered water, invest in a filter for your home faucet and save lots of money. They’re not expensive—you can get one for twenty bucks—and you’ll be helping the earth a little, too.

Swap Services

Start exchanging goods and services with friends and family to save some money. From babysitting to housecleaning, cooking to carpooling, you could get most of your needs for free this way.

Buy in Bulk and Use Leftovers

These are pretty simple to follow. Think of how much money in groceries we’d all save if we just ate our leftovers.

Cut Up Those Credit Cards

Do this especially if you’ve got a lot of debt you need to take care of. Overspending—not to mention those outrageous charges—can really harm you in the long run.