According to several polls, saving money is one of the top ten most popular New Year’s resolutions.  Have you made your financial resolutions for 2010 yet?  If not, here are eight great ideas for you to save money this year.

Double Duty Resolutions
You can save money by carrying out some of the other most popular resolutions:
 
 -Lose weight.  Eat less, you’ll see lower grocery bills.  Additionally, don’t eat out as much; home-cooked food is cheaper and healthier, and it’s easier to control portion sizes.
 
-Get organized.  How often have you ended up buying an item all over again because you couldn’t find it in your house?  Or paid late fees because you lost a bill? That’s happened to me.  Develop a system to keep everything in its place.  Try this site for lots of helpful free organizing tips.

Fly Lady

– Stop smoking.  At around $4 a pack, a pack-a-day smoker would save $1460 in this year. Add to that, cheaper life insurance, better overall health and perhaps lower doctor bills. If you still can’t quit, at least consider switching to a generic brand, and save yourself over $350 a year.
 
-Get fit.  It will cut your medical bills, and possibly other associated expenses.  For example, if you’re in shape, you can walk more places instead of driving your car everywhere.  You need not join an expensive gym; walking or running will get you in shape.  If the weather’s bad, try mall walking.  And you can equip your home gym for under $100, according to Consumer Reports:

Consumer Reports

Other Great Ways You Can Resolve to Save in the New Year

-Take up a new hobby or activity.  A lot of folks head to the mall when bored, and end up spending money needlessly.  If that happens to you, do something else cheap or free.  Visit the library. See your friends or family. Head to a public park.

– Save on insurance. If you haven’t reviewed your policies in a while, you may be surprised at how much you can save.  Check with your agent to see if you can scale back your coverage, or combine policies to get a discount.  Make sure you’re getting all the savings you are entitled to, such as safe driving discounts.
 
-Manage your finances.  You can try: www.mint.com, which tracks all of your accounts in one place and offers budgeting tips.  If you prefer using spreadsheets, check out Microsoft Excel’s many free and excellent budget worksheets that are available as standard templates.  I used one of them to create my monthly spending plan.  (in Excel 2007, click “new” and then “budget” from the list of template types).

-Always shop with coupons.  Before you buy anything online, check Mr. Cheap Stuff coupons and save at many popular online retailers. 

http://www.mrcheapstuff.com/stores/

Photo courtesy of Flickr