New Year, new ways to give your finances a lift

JEFF PRESTRIDGE:

WALK AND CYCLE

MY life has been transformed since I bought a Polar Loop wristband that monitors how many steps I walk or run each day and the calories I burn.

Not a day ends without having done my obligatory 15,000 steps (Clare Balding lost weight doing 10,000). In fact, I’m so obsessed that I will sometimes pace up and down my flat before midnight in a bid to breach the magical 15,000.

Of course, it’s health enhancing but it’s also good on the wallet. I now walk when previously I jumped on a bus and I cycle when before I endured London’s claustrophobic Tube system.

Me and my Polar Loop are inseparable. We even sleep together.

SALLY HAMILTON: GETTING A TWO TOGETHER RAILCARD

TIRED of driving, my husband Angus and I intend to let the train take the strain more in 2015, especially when visiting our daughters who are studying at universities at opposite ends of the country.

Train travel is not cheap although you can book ahead to get the best deals. But we have also applied for a Two Together railcard, one of the family of railcards that offer a third off fares.

This relatively new card is aimed at couples – friends, family or colleagues – who travel together. It costs £30 and we have just snuck in a ticket purchase for our New Year trip to Edinburgh that has saved us £87 – so a net saving of £57 if I include the one-off cost of the card. You can buy one online at twotogether-railcard.co.uk or you can purchase by phone and at most staffed railway stations. A winner.

LAURA SHANNON:

BOOSTING MY PENSION

I CAN no longer pat myself on the back for simply having started a pension. Now I actually have to take action and boost my retirement savings at a time in my life where it will make the most valuable difference to my future.

When Christmas is over it is time to increase my contributions from the low 3 per cent I have started with to a still modest but improved 5 per cent. With employer contributions and tax-relief on top, I’ll be saving in the right direction.

TOBY WALNE:

WOODBURNING

BUYING a woodburner in the New Year means making fires, wielding an axe and stacking logs while making money.

Actually, you can knock 30 per cent off your fuel bills with a woodburner and it can pay for itself within five years, according to stove manufacturer Charnwood.

Some pundits even believe it can add as much as 5 per cent to the value of your home. Unfortunately, I think all these economic reasons are really just an excuse to justify this latest must-have lifestyle accessory.

Of course you do not just buy a stove. You need a fireplace and a chimney – and that is just the start. Fitting includes lining the chimney, installing a flue and putting a pot on top.

Lots of fun but these extras all add up.

It could prove a winner. But then again, it might burn a hole in my 2015 finances.