The beginning of a new year is a great reason to decide to embrace fresh ideas, and act to improve your life or the lives of others. Making savvy New Year’s resolutions is easier than you think. To make a change, simply choose something and get started.
If your New Year’s resolutions include saving money, staying healthy and helping others, here are a few no-fail New Year’s resolution ideas that will put you on a winning trajectory to make 2015 the best year yet!
Resolution #1: Save Money
You don’t have to give up much of anything to save money on products, services and entertainment you enjoy every day. Consider these money saving life changes that can become your New Year’s resolutions.
Cut the Cord
This is something that most people can easily do with a Mohu HDTV antenna. These antennas are all easy to setup and use, and give users access to free TV in HD, eliminating the need for cable or satellite TV’s expensive service fees.
I cut the cord with cable TV and now save $100 a month. I have helped friends and family to cut the cord and wrote a book entitled: Simple Guide to Over-the-Air Free TV to help even the non-technically inclined among us to do it too.
Lose the Traditional Landline Phone
Many people have dropped their home phone service in favor of using only mobile phone service.
I use Virgin Mobile’s Beyond Talk plans for my family’s cell service. It’s super cheap and uses the Sprint network to provide stellar service.
Virgin Mobile has lots of no-contract plans to choose from starting at as low as $20 a month. Lots of high-end phone choices too, many on sale at major retailers and on the Virgin Mobile site.
Boost Mobile, Tracfone, StraightTalk, and fellow Raleigh, NC-based Republic Wireless (among others) also offer no-contract deals worth considering, but be sure to go to their sites to see if phone service is available to you before you switch.
Another way to save on phone service is to use a VoIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) device like the Ooma Telo.
Resolution #2: Be Healthy
New Year’s resolutions to lose weight and get fit are common, but people who dramatically plunge into new routines at the start of the year often fail because their goals are too lofty.
Think ‘small and consistent’ for real change.
Move More
This doesn’t have to mean hitting the gym three times a week, it can simply mean parking your car at the edge of the parking lot and walking a bit further to get to the entrance of the store each time you go.
Thoughtful, incremental changes add up to healthy perks over time. Benefits including weight loss, improved cardiac health and a positive mental attitude, can be attributed to simply moving more.
You can get a pedometer and keep track of your steps per day, or just make a conscious effort without the pressure to perform. Either way, moving more is a savvy New Year’s resolution that can lead to healthy lifelong changes.
Exercise your Mind
We all get into a mental rut from time to time, but the best way to get out of that rut is to resolve to keep learning.
There are lots of ways to do this, but one of the simplest is to explore online resources. Articles and videos abound on a plethora of topics, and all this education is free!
Here are a few of my favorite sites for FREE online learning:
If you have iTunes, it’s also possible to view many FREE lectures on all kinds of topics, available from top universities including Harvard and Stanford in the Podcast area of the iTunes Store.
Resolution #3: Help Others
Even if you can’t find time in your busy schedule to volunteer locally, you can make a New Year’s resolution to help others. Here are two easy ways to make a difference and pay it forward.
Start a Petition
If you have an issue you are passionate about sharing and want help implementing a change, consider starting an online petition to get signatures. It’s easy to do, and it’s FREE!
Click Daily to Donate
You can also make simple clicks per day to help those in need. I make it part of my daily routine after I check emails in the morning to go to this site and where it says ‘Click Here it’s Free’ at the top of the page, I do.
After you click you’re taken to another page and if you choose to, you can check the results to see how your click is impacting the overall effort. You can also continue to click to donate by clicking on other headings such as Breast Cancer and Alzheimer’s to make daily donations that make a difference.
Andrea Polk hails from Oregon and is a wife, mother, writer, Amazon Top 50 Reviewer, and more. She’s also the author of the Simple Guide to Over-the-Air Free TV as well as the avid deal-seeker behind SavvySleuth.com, where she scours the web for the best online deals.
