Happy New Year! Do you set New Year's resolutions every year? Kathy Sweedler, University of Illinois Extension Educator says, "I find setting resolutions to be relatively easy; it's achieving the resolutions that can be hard!"

However, Sweedler has a few tricks to share that will help you set resolutions – especially financial ones – and make them happen. First, research has shown that people who write goals are more likely to achieve them. "So, find a pencil and get ready to write your resolutions," recommends Kathy Sweedler.

Second, writing SMART resolutions will help you achieve them. A SMART resolution is:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Agreed upon
• Reasonable
• Timed

"Let's consider a resolution to save money and practice writing a SMART resolution," suggests Kathy Sweedler. "Perhaps you'd like to save money for a new refrigerator because your current one is making very odd noises. The first part of a SMART resolution is to be specific about what you want to do such as: 'I want to buy a new refrigerator'."

Next, the resolution needs to be measurable; estimate how much money it requires to accomplish your goal. For example, "I want to buy a refrigerator that will cost about $850."

Another important component of a SMART resolution is having agreement among all people involved. Thus, take time to talk to other household members who need to agree upon this resolution, and perhaps make changes in their spending, recommends Sweedler.

When do you want to accomplish this resolution? Obviously, you'd like to buy the refrigerator before your old one breaks! Set a date for your resolution. Assume that you have four months to save money. Your resolution now reads, "I want to buy a refrigerator that will cost about $850 by May 1, 2009.

Now that you have a specific, measurable, agreed upon, and timed resolution, you're ready to decide if it's a reasonable resolution. If you need $850 in four months, then you need to save $212.50 a month or about $50 a week. Is that a reasonable amount for you? Or, is that too much money to save each week? When you have a financial resolution that is both specific and timed, you can decide if it's a reasonable resolution for you.

If saving $50 a week doesn't seem reasonable, then you need to adjust your resolution. Do you need more time to accomplish your resolution? Or, could you pay less for a refrigerator?

If it's a reasonable amount, track your progress towards your resolution. Each week or so, check if you are saving enough money to meet your resolution. A handy, downloadable worksheet to help you write resolutions is available at the Consumer and Family Economics website at http://www.ace.uiuc.edu/cfe/money under Goal Setting.

This is one simple example of a SMART resolution. You can use this same technique to write resolutions about saving for retirement, paying down debt, or accomplishing finance-related activities such as writing a will. What will be your resolutions for 2009?