OK with spending on the latte every morning? Then let’s try some other resolutions.

1. Re-shop all of your insurance. Signing up for insurance is often put in the “must get it over with” category – a necessary financial defense move for that “just in case” scenario that you’d rather not think about. But as Stammers points out, things change in the market, and people change every year. For example, one year you might have had a car accident, and the next few have the cleanest record. So why stay with the same auto insurance policy policy if there’s a chance that your new circumstances can save you money? It’s worth a few phone calls to see. (And don’t forget to include your home, life and other policies in that check-up as well.)

2. Examine your bank fees. I spend a lot of my time shredding disclosures and statements about changes in fees, and it’s easy to slip into the habit of ignoring the fine print. But in recent years in particular, many banks have added charges to their accounts. According to Stammers, some even charge people for using their bank card as a debit card – but won’t levy a fee if they use it as a credit card. The $3 fee here and $5 fee there add up: “Leakages,” Stammers calls them. Time to turn off the tap.

3. Direct deposit – into a credit union with no ATM. It was that last bit that caught my attention. The direct deposit tip is up there with the Starbucks one – to build up savings over time, set up a plan that uses direct deposit so that you automatically have some cash removed from your daily use each month. But I liked the credit union with no ATM option because that way, we can’t easily bypass the system and sneak some cash out.

But here’s the big idea – and the one that I think a lot of people miss when they’re thinking about their financial goals: Financial planning isn’t about maximizing returns. It’s about maximizing the probability of reaching your goals by consistently, and continuously, putting money aside for your future.

In short: “You can’t count on investments to make a certain return over time. The only thing you can count on is continuously putting money away,” Stammers said.

So here’s the question that you can resolve this year to ask yourself each day:
Can you save before you spend?