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Being a weak-willed type, I hate the curse of New Year's resolutions! I'm with Oscar Wilde, who said, "I can resist everything except temptation." So, don't think of these five tips as resolutions; if you wish, consider them as five rungs of the long ladder to financial freedom: 1. Get a 0% card According to a new report from Alliance & Leicester, almost two-thirds of us (65%) haven't saved any money for Christmas. I hope that's because we already have more than enough money to splurge on Xmas, but I doubt it! If you overload your credit card at Christmas and end up paying it off all next year, you could pay a fortune in interest. Instead, why not apply for a credit card that charges you no interest on new purchases for up to a year? For example, Sainsbury's Bank charges no interest on spending for twelve months, which allows you to spread the cost of Christmas until next year, interest free! We have several 0% cards in our Credit Card centre. 2. Start saving for next Christmas How's your savings account holding up this year? What do you mean, you don't have one? You won't have any savings until you get the savings habit. Regular saving is easy once you've got over the initial shock. All you have to do is to find a high-interest account and then set up a standing order to whisk away a fixed amount every payday. If you can save a fixed monthly sum for a year, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and Abbey offer regular-savings accounts paying a fixed rate of 7%. Nice! We have several easy-access accounts paying 5%+ in our Savings centre. 3. Price-check your mortgage With house prices coming off the boil, mortgage lending has dived in recent months. With lenders eager to snap up new customers, now is a good time to put your home loan to the test. Insist on a better deal from your lender. If it doesn't want to play ball, start shopping around, because Best Buy rates come in at under 5%. Learn more in Millions Of Mortgages Are Rusty! You'll find several leading lenders in our Mortgage centre. 4. Start investing in your future If you're one of the lucky workers who receive a Christmas bonus in your December pay, why not put some of it to good use? Start a monthly savings plan into a long-term stock-market investment, which could help you to get a lot richer in the future. For investment beginners, a simple, flexible, low-cost index tracker is a good bet. Save tax by visiting our ISA centre. 5. Slash your insurance premiums One thing that you can guarantee about December is there'll be a lot of parties, and a lot of dull, dark, miserable weather. Instead of plonking yourself in front of the telly on these cold evenings, do a bit of research to reduce your insurance premiums. It doesn't matter when your renewal dates are – it's always a good exercise to test your current premiums against the Best Buys. Start with home, life and motor insurance and, if you have some time left over, do the same for health, travel, breakdown and pet insurance. Make it easy on yourself: get a quote from our Insurance centre. If you get your financial affairs in order now, you can look forward to a happier (and more prosperous) 2005! More: How To Become An Automatic Millionaire | Ten Things You Should Know About Money.