Resolutions are one way me implement changes in our lives. Financial resolutions are always a good idea and there’s nothing like a fresh start at the beginning of the year. But it takes time to get ready to make budgeting, money management, debt repayment, and savings changes to our spending habits. It is better to be ready to turn over a new leaf successfully, than to force changes upon yourself because of a specific date or event. 

There are four steps we need to go through in order to implement changes or resolutions and create new habits successfully. We are all creatures of habit. Some habits are good; others are worth changing. Many habits have simply become the way we do things – we hardly recognize them as habits, and this makes them even harder to change. The four steps are...