The following is a guest post contributed by Liz Goldman for Wonga.com – the UK payday loans alternative.

If your finances were out of shape in 2011then this is the year to improve your financial health. Finally the time is here to reduce your credit card bills, slash your mortgage and make sure your savings are sweating interest.

Here is a 2012 personal finance health checklist to ensure your finances run smoothly.

1. Keep Your Vehicle in Good Condition

Taking good care of your car can mean savings of hundreds or even thousands of dollars from maintenance and insurance premiums. Regular servicing of your car’s key parts ensures fewer accidents which in turn leads to lower premiums. You will also save on costly repairs and potentially having to buy a new vehicle, too.

2. A Safe Home

There is an easy way to lower your home insurance costs that is not known to many – just install alarms, window bolts and secure locks and you will probably be offered better home insurance rates.

Do regular safety checks on smoke detectors, locks, wiring and plumbing to avoid costly accidents.

3. Buy Online

You can get some great deals online, so shop regularly at online stores to save money. Items such as books, DVDs, electronics and jewellery can all be bought for less. You will also save on gas and the temptation of eating out. Look for free shipping offers and use price comparison sites for the best possible deal.

4. Improve your Credit Score

Mortgages, credit cards, and personal loans are expensive financial products we all rely on, so improve your credit score and save money with lower rates of interest. Pay bills on time, ensure your credit file is correct and clear any debts. Checking your credit file regularly is a good idea to help remove any errors and get good deals.

5. Identify potential pinch points and plan ahead

It is important to plan ahead to those times in the year when you know finances are likely to be tight – for example birthdays, vacations, weddings and so on. A short-term solution to help improve your finances in these situations might be to use a payday loan provider or to ask a friend to help out.

6. Tax

Make sure you are paying the correct rate of tax and be sure to write off any tax deductible expenses. Contact a professional if you are unsure about any aspect or need assistance with paperwork. Maybe you are paying more taxes than needed and you don’t even know it!

7. Control your “Wants”

It is important to identify your “wants” (things you want to have like a new TV, holiday, Playstation 3) and your actual “needs” (essentials such as food, shelter and clothing). Embrace your finances with a clear and open mind, identify what you really need and budget for any “wants”. If you are finding it hard to be disciplined, open a savings account that can’t be easily accessed and transfer a small amount each month. Pick an expense that you don’t need like going out, and put that money into the account. You’d be amazed how fast it adds up.

8. Don’t Keep Up with the Joneses

Don’t bother trying to impress people by leasing a sports car or buying the latest gizmo. Few people will actually notice. Save the money instead and use what you already have. Remember to bear this Ethel Barrett quote in mind: “We would worry less about what others think of us if we realized how seldom they do.”

9. Savings

Regularly check your savings account against competitor’s interest rates to make sure you are getting the best deal. Research online and use financial product comparison sites to help you. Carefully check your saving account’s terms and conditions for any withdrawal penalties if you choose to switch or close it down.

Perhaps you’ve seen payday cash advance loan stores on street corners or in shopping plazas. Maybe you have found cash advance loan companies online. And there is a good chance you’ve heard someone criticize payday loans as an expensive way to get financing because the interest rates were too high.

But if you are in a situation with a fledgling business that needs a little bit of money, particularly if your credit score is suffering from the recession, you need to get past superficial impressions. What you should know is that millions of people use cash advance services to patch through a shortfall in money. They might use the money to pay bills, or to buy essential items on sale (a sale that will end before their next payday). In the case of entrepreneurs, an infusion of anywhere between $100 and $1500 (in some states there are no imposed limits) might make the difference between success and failure.

First, a primer: payday loans (a.k.a., cash advance loans) are borrowing against a portion of your next paycheck. The more you make the more you can borrow (up to state limits). The payback is generally automatic, a withdrawal from your bank account on your next payday. It’s simply a way to get money for a short term, at a time when that money can make a difference. Credit scores do not matter, nor are there restrictions on how you use the money. But there are three things you should consider:

• You decide if the money will help your business in the short-term – Would a $500 cash advance enable you to upgrade computers, purchase inventory or run a marketing campaign? Only you can decide.

• Choose your lender wisely – Online payday loans only make sense to the time-strapped working person. If you don’t have time to read the loan terms of six or eight or ten lenders use an aggregator that does that for you.

• Keep it a short-term cash advance – Those interest rates that people criticize regarding short-term cash advance loans ? They are usually citing an annualized rate. It will be much, much lower if you repay the loan in a few weeks or a month.

A payday cash advance loan can help you out when you only need a short time loan to make ends meet or to finalize a business deal. Would you take a short time loan if it would help you make more money?

Saving money can sometimes feel like an uphill battle. One minute you have a steady savings routine and then the next, life happens, bringing you back to empty pockets. This scenario can happen to the best of us, only building up frustration and anxiety.

Much like any chore, saving takes a lot of discipline and calls for some form of pattern in your day-to-day. Whether it is a New Years resolution or diet, we start off strong and eventually dwindle down into old habits and shopping sprees.

For some people, it appears adding money to the piggy bank is second nature. So while you’re struggling to set a saving precedent, your pals are free of debt and on the fast track to buying a new home, and you sit there asking yourself, “Where did I go wrong?”

Crash saving, much like crash dieting, can be hazardous to your health and your wallet, experts say. Whether you are cutting food or money, certain savers will cut back so much they are allowing themselves to live a life of misery.

“Monotony and boredom can easily niggle away at the best intentions of any extreme saver and drive them back to their old spending habits, in the same way that a fad dieter will go back to eating their favourite treats with a vengeance,” writes John Suter in a post for Life Optimizer.

Forcing yourself to eat the cheapest foods or calling it an early night in hopes of saving extra cash can be tiring, leading to a negative and exhausting approach to saving money.

According to Suter, one can find relief in financial balance by taking your monthly budget and cutting back on areas of high expenditure. For example, only going out a few nights a week, rather than every weekend, or replacing expensive dinners with something less stressful on your wallet.

“By balancing your savings against your spending, you do not then deprive yourself completely, making it much easier to continue saving in the long-term,” Suter writes.

I for one am no master of savings, but I’ve managed to come across a few techniques of my own to make holding onto your money a little easier.

Here are a few quick tips on saving money:

Create a budget

Look at your bank statements and see where all your money is going. Once you’ve pinpointed your high expenses, moderately cut excess spending from your monthly budget.

Stay organized

Keep track of your daily debt and credit card use.

Out of sight out of mind

Open a completely different bank account for your savings to limit temptations and money transfers.
I know these three steps may sound like a broken record, but I find them to be positive lifestyle changes that can at times go unnoticed.
So chin up, it may be tough at first but once you have a routine going and find balance, your uphill battle will turn into a walk in the park.

About the Author: This is a guest post by Phil Wilcox who writes on behalf of ClearDebt.co.uk – they provide advice on personal insolvency and getting an IVA.

Let’s face it: almost everyone goes through a financial crisis at some point or another, and finding ways to deal with such situations is essential if you want to come out unscathed. If you have ever wanted to know what to do in the event of a financial emergency – whether it is due to a sudden illness or car trouble requiring immediate and costly attention–you have come to the right place! Here are some ideas on how you can weather the worst of the financial storm and come out none the worse for wear in the end.

1. Evaluate Your Financial Situation

The first thing that you should to when faced with an impending financial crisis is to sit down and think about your situation. Failure to identify the problem and pinpoint areas that need to be worked on will likely result in a more stressful situation, and that is the last thing that you need when short on cash. Going head on into fixing your financial troubles without making a plan first can result in even more confusion and the eventual failure of your attempts to get yourself out of a financial mess.

2. Determine The Nature Of The Financial Emergency

Is your emergency caused by a sudden illness of a family member? Have you been rendered broke by a natural calamity? Or have you lost your job like so many other people in the country? All of these different scenarios require different approaches, and identifying them will better enable you to formulate a clear plan of action.

Whatever problems you have – there is probably someone in the world who has already gone through the same thing. Use the internet to find these people and ask them what they did to survive.

3. Prioritize Your Spending

While you will ideally want to make sure that all of your outstanding debts and monthly bills are paid up, you do have a bit of leeway in terms of prioritizing your payments.

Top on your list of priorities should of course be food and shelter, with utilities coming in a close second. You will also ideally want to set aside some money for medical emergencies. Such expenses are the first things you have to take care of when budgeting for your expenses, and you may have to sacrifice less essential expenditures such as cable TV and broadband Internet in order to be able to pay the more essential bills.

4. Negotiate a better deal with your creditors

This piece of advice may go against every grain of your being, but the first person you should get in touch with in the event of a financial emergency is your lender. Lending companies only stand to gain from you paying your debts, so they will be surprisingly willing to help you find a solution, whether it entails lowering your interest rates or extending your terms of payment. Waiting too long before you get in touch with your lender is definitely not a good idea, since the company may be far less likely to help you out than if you had approached them early on.