New Year, smarter savings: practical tips to start 2026 with confidence

The tradition of setting New Year's resolutions actually goes back thousands of years and has evolved over time. Now, it's seen as a way of motivating oneself to be better, break bad habits, and set new ones. Importantly, these resolutions can be linked to a wide range of areas and aspects of life. From work, family and relationships to health, hobbies and finances, the options are vast. Financial goals are typically one of the most common resolutions with people often looking to be better with their money, save more and spend wisely. However, for meaningful change to occur, realistic and measurable goals need to be set.

Setting clear and realistic goals

Creating very specific, achievable finance goals is a must for anyone looking to make a finance-related resolution. It's essential to define the objectives clearly. With that in mind, it's important to think about things like what the saving goal is, how much is needed, and when is it needed to reach that goal.

There are many different areas and goals that can be saved for. For example, saving for a family trip, building an emergency fund, or simply setting money aside to make much-needed home improvements. Setting measurable goals can help to maintain this motivation and make it a lot easier to track the progression toward the target.

Smart shopping techniques: from second-hand shops to sales

One way to start the process is to make smarter financial decisions throughout the year. For example, when shopping for products or clothing, look to the outlet stores first. Found both in physical and online form, these places are perfect for finding quality items at reduced prices. Another solid option is hitting second-hand shops. These can produce some really great quality items, extending the life of the products. Better still, it's part of shopping sustainably as new clothes are not added to the cycle, but rather older ones get a new lease of life.

Finally, there are always seasonal sales to consider, such as the January Sale or Boxing Day offers. These times tend to see shops significantly drop the cost of their items, providing a great opportunity for shoppers to save and stock up. When focusing on buying what is really needed, and planning purchases in advance, major savings can be made.

Saving with online discount codes

Another way to save is through the use of discount codes and coupons. Online-exclusive deals can help save more money when shopping online. Discount and voucher codes are great for this as they offer a way for users to add the codes during the checkout process and claim additional money off their order. These can be found in many places and are often advertised on the retailer's own site. Additionally, signing up to brand or retailer newsletters will see these discounts sent directly via email.

Other places include a trusted voucher-collection platform such as Discoup.com, which checks and gathers offers from multiple retailers. Discoup even has a dedicated section on its site for Sales and any related discount codes that makes it very easy for UK shoppers to search for a specific deal type, as well as the ability to search for an offer by product or by brand. As such, it makes it very easy for shoppers to find exactly what they need, when they want it.

Cashback and reselling unused items

There are additional money-saving strategies that can be employed by those with a finance-related resolution. For example, using cashback schemes and services can help players earn back a percentage of the amount they spent at the retailer. This can actually build up over time and become a solid way of saving. Another option is to resell unused belongings to get some extra cash. Clothes and electronics can be sold on local marketplaces or online second-hand selling platforms. These small savings can contribute to building betting financial habits for the year ahead.