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Research has shown, however, that how much you save is actually little to do with how much you earn, rather it is more about your willingness to adjust your personal lifestyle to spend less.
Shake off the expensive ghost of Christmas and save money in 2011 with these 5 easy tips: 1.
Clear Your Credit Card Debt British credit card holders now owe an average of £2,200 and with retailers seeing the most dramatic slump in sales for two decades, it's now payback time.
Credit cards may be a convenient cash-flow management tool but only making the minimum payment each month will keep you in debt for years.
Consider that over three years a debt of £2,200 will cost on average £545 in interest; another option for managing this debt could be to take out a low-cost loan at 6%, saving you £336.
2.
Consider a Pay-As-You-Go mobile Do you really need all the minutes and texts that come with your contract mobile? If you're currently paying £50 a month for your mobile, that works out at about £1000 of your annual salary.
Pay-as-you go deals are now becoming increasingly competitive, with handsets available for as little as £30 and tariffs offering benefits such as free texts and music services each time you top up.
If you have teenage children running up huge bills on their own handsets, you could try switching to a capped contract that cuts the service once the agreed usage is reached.
3.
Make money out of your Clutter If your cupboards are full of clothes you haven't worn or gadgets you haven't used, why not sell them to somebody who will? Start a competitive auction on eBay, advertise on classified sales websites such as Gumtree or even go to a good old-fashioned car boot sale.
4.
Cut the cost of your fuel bills Boilers account for around 60% of our yearly energy bills and most homes are still being heated by G rated systems over 10 years old.
The latest boiler technology offers a 90% increase in efficiency, meaning that upgrading to an A rated boiler should see your household heating bill drop by about a quarter, a saving on average of £225 a year.
5.
Sort out your Shopping List Not only does food shopping take up a significant part of our monthly expenditure, the majority of this cash goes to just a few supermarkets; Tesco takes £1 in every £8 spent by UK shoppers.
Invest in the local economy and save yourself some money by going on a VAT-free diet! Cut out the groceries hit by the VAT increase such as confectionery, drink and snack items and head down to your local market to pick up fresh produce.
Planning your meals is also one of the most effective ways to cut down on wastage and your food bills, so dig out the cookery books and only buy what you need.
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