New year new me

January is great, isn’t it? The month where we all give things up in an attempted act of parsimony in the wake of Christmas and New Year excesses.

Dry January, Veganuary and others, have become staples of the calendar for many, but what about financial goals?

The New Year is as good as any to set some.

Savings challenges are an increasingly popular one and come with many variations including:

• The £1 challenge – £1 a day for a year for £365 total.
• The 1p challenge – this is a popular one where you save 1p on 1 January, 2p on 2 January all the way to £3.65 on 31 December. Done right and you’ll net £667.95 in total.
• No spend challenge – tricky, but for money saving aficionados it’s a good one to try. Other than your compulsory commitments (think mortgage, transportation and other bills) try spending exactly nothing for a whole month. This is particularly fun to try after the excesses of December.

There are many variations on these themes, but they underline a more serious point. Although 1 January is a pretty arbitrary date other than for obvious reasons, it marks a point at which many of us reflect on what we’d like the year ahead to be.

For me personally, a year ago my new year’s resolution was to get fit and be ready to climb Kilimanjaro. This year it’s the same, I just have a lot less time to do it!

Whatever your new year goals, financial or otherwise, it pays to make them achievable. Whether it’s climbing a mountain or saving more of your pennies, the reward of achieving that goal should match the effort of getting there.

Whatever that goal may be, we wish you the best of luck in your endeavour.

Dates for the diary, January 2024

So what’s coming up in January? Always a busy time when large parts of the world gets into the swing of a new year.

On 1 January Ofgem brings into effect the new energy price cap level, while the Government’s National Insurance rate cut takes effect on 6 January.

The deadline for entry to PR awards at Headlinemoney is 5 January so get those submissions in asap!

Meanwhile the ONS provides monthly GDP estimates on 12 January while employment and wage data falls on 16 January and inflation is on 17 January. There is no Bank of England rate decision in January, however.

All the best, merry Christmas and a happy 2024 from all of us at MRM and Mouthy Money.