The new year represents a chance to start fresh with a new beginning. That's why we make New Year's resolutions, set new goals and try to develop new habits. While many of these habits relate to health and fitness, like exercising more and getting down to a healthy weight, a lot of people make resolutions to change their habits regarding money.

If you'd like to develop some new money habits, you're in luck. We've compiled a selection of some good money habits to get into this year, as well as ways to help ingrain those habits into your day-to-day life until they become second nature.

Here's how to cultivate new money habits

What is a Money Habit?

The definition of a habit is that it's a routine behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur without a lot of conscious thought. Many of us already have routine habits, from washing your hands after using the bathroom to saying "bless you" after someone sneezes. Money habits are simply habits we have relating to money.

Some examples of money habits might include:

• Buying a diet Coke whenever you go to the grocery store
• Putting the change in your pockets into a coin jar each night
• Reviewing your credit card statement each month

As the year gets underway, you'll have plenty of opportunities to eliminate less-than-useful money habits, like giving in to impulse buys. You'll also have the opportunity to create new habits, like planning out your financial goals or building up your savings.

New Money Habits to Try This Year

Building positive money habits can affect your entire well-being. Here are a few ideas to try this year.

Set a financial goal

If you want to achieve financial success, you need to set financial goals. Your first step? Pick a goal or two this year and make it a SMART goal, so it's:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Realistic
• Time-Bound

This action might seem small, but it's not. When you make your goal a SMART goal, you're creating a roadmap to reach your goal. When you follow it and reach your goal, you get inspired. You get confident and you want to set more financial goals, and that can help you shape your financial future the way you want.

Start setting financial goals today! 

Set it and forget it

Another good money habit to develop is by using the auto pay feature on many credit union's electronic bill pay service to automate your monthly payments. This is an excellent way to take care of bills like:

• Rent or mortgage
• Loan payments
• Internet bill
• Water bill

When you automate your bill payments, you're ensuring they are paid on time. This is an especially good money habit to develop if you're dealing with several bills and feel like there's never enough time to sit down and make sure all of them have been paid.

Of course, you don't have to limit automatic transactions to bill payments. You can also use Direct Deposit to automatically save a portion of your paycheck each time you get paid. This is an excellent way to help you save for a financial goal, whether it's saving for a big purchase like a down payment on a car or building up your emergency fund.

Spend with care

Mindful spending is a powerful financial habit to build. If you don't already have one, build the habit of using a monthly spending plan, also known as a budget. You'll learn how much money you have to work with each month, how much you need to spend on necessary expenses like rent, utilities, groceries and gasoline, and how much you have left over for your discretionary expenses.

Pay off debt

Think about your habits when using your credit card and when considering your total debt situation. Are most of your purchases made with consumer credit cards? What are your current credit card balances and other debt balances? Listing out all your monthly debt payments helps you stay aware and act if needed. If you are in the habit of only making minimum payments on your credit card balances or experiencing collection caresource-centerlls, consider learning about how a debt management plan can help support healthy money habits. 

Tips for Developing new Money Habits

So now that you've got all these new money habits to develop, what is the best way to put them into practice? More importantly, how can you make sure that these habits will stick?

Start small

One of the biggest obstacles to developing new money habits is trying to do too much too fast. When you're trying to get a new habit ingrained, it's best to start small.

If one of your habits is to cut back on your spending, for instance, you might be tempted to completely stop spending money on anything that isn't a necessity. The problem with this approach is that eventually you'll start to miss some of those purchases you made. This will tempt you to start spending again, and if you buy just one thing, you'll remember how good buying things felt, and your new habit will collapse.

Instead, start small by creating a budget that shows where your money goes every month. When you have an overview of your monthly spending, focus in on one area where you want to reduce spending and do it gradually. Maybe you get some coffee for your commute every other day, instead of every day, or maybe you buy some store brand items instead of the name brands.

By starting small, you give yourself some easy wins. You can use those as motivation to scale up your money habits, as well as give you confidence you can reach your goals.

Pair a new money habit with an existing one

Studies have shown that one of the best ways to make a new habit stick is to pair it with an existing one. For instance, let's say you want to make saving regularly a habit. If you already have a habit of reviewing your budget each time you get a paycheck, what you could do is transfer a predetermined amount of money into your savings account every time you review your budget.

Tell someone about your new habit

When you tell a friend or family member that you're trying something new, you're creating a system of accountability for yourself. Eventually, the person you told about your new goal will ask about it, and you'll be more inclined to work towards your goal if you know you'll have to answer to someone about your progress, even if it's informal.

Reward yourself

While several new money habits will eventually leave you in a better place financially, they're not that fun at first. However, you can trick your brain into looking forward to doing these habits by rewarding yourself each time you do them.

For example, let's say you want to create a budget, but you just know it's going to be tedious and boring. What you could do is make yourself a nice lunch or get a drink that you enjoy, and create your budget while you're eating and drinking. Your brain will start to pair the act of creating a budget with the same good feeling you get from eating a pleasant lunch, and if you continue to do this you'll make budgeting a pleasant activity for you.

Got questions about implementing new money habits? Ask us! 

Create New Money Habits With Help From First Alliance Credit Union

Developing new money habits is almost always a good idea. By changing your routine practices to prioritize your financial health, you can start paying off high-interest debt, save for big goals and even give yourself a good credit score. Once you've selected some good money habits, you can implement them by starting slowly, pairing them with enjoyable activities and holding yourself accountable by telling people about your new habits.

No matter what your new money habits are, First Alliance Credit Union has the tools and resources to help you. Our free online resource center is full of information to help you learn better money skills, and you can also check out out our check out our Good Money Moves podcast, which covers all sorts of financial situations from paying off student loans to selecting the best budgeting app for you.

Content courtesy of our partners GreenPath Financial Wellness.