New Year’s resolutions can seem difficult to keep once the reality of everyday life sets in and you are back in the same old routine. However, if your finances were in dire straits at the end of 2011 and you struggled to afford your Christmas presents, it is probably worth trying to plan a budget and stick to it for the year ahead.

The first step in planning is assessing how much money you currently have in your account. Do you have a savings account which you can readily transfer money into on a monthly basis? If not it is definitely worth setting one up and shopping around for those with the best interest rates. If things are really bad you might consider taking out short term loans after carefully selecting a good deal.

For those of you in permanent full-time employment, it is relatively easy to work out how much money you will have coming in based on your wages. Whether you get paid by the hour or you have an annual salary, take some time to look back over your pay slips and think about the regular income that you rely upon. How much money is taken off for example in tax and national insurance or a student loan and what are you left with after this? Your spouse or partner’s income can also be included in this if you have a joint bank account that you both contribute to.

Now that you know exactly how much you have to work with, your monthly expenditures have to be taken off. Everybody has payments they make regularly for mortgages or rent, council tax, television licenses, broadband and other essentials. Costs for childcare can be expensive, particularly for those with several children who are not yet in school. Even if your child only needs afterschool care this can add up.

Once you have completed these steps you should have a realistic idea of how much will be left over for additional expenditures such as food, ad hoc bills or car fuel, to name just a few. One good way of figuring out how much you need for these types of costs is to try and keep receipts for all your outgoings, at least for one month. That way it will be simpler to budget and attempt to save some money at the same time. You may realise for example that you are spending a massive amount on those coffees you buy every day, an easy thing to cut out of the routine.

Finally, the benefit of saving will be that you can start making plans for that holiday you’ve always wanted to go on but could never afford. Make sure you set some money aside for a regular weekly or monthly treat, this will make it all worthwhile!