At one location we were offered the opportunity to write a New Year's resolution on a piece of confetti paper that would drop on Time Square during the ball drop that year.

But, as with "getting organized", most money resolutions fail because they are so vague.

Succeeding with your resolutions may simply be a matter of being smarter about them.

New Year's Eve is often a time to reflect on the year before - on our accomplishments, challenges and successes. You may hear those enthusiastic New Year resolutions from your friends and family. Use the New Year as a time to clean out closets, empty storage units and breathe new life into items by refinishing furniture or updating existing pieces of clothing.

So with your resolutions this year I want you to change those brain cells into thinking how simple you can make things happen!

Quit smoking, losing weight, going to the gym, not eating junk food, becoming a vegetarian, whatever your goal may be, remember one thing.

Among those traditions of attempting to lose weight and kick a smoking habit, many British people will take the another, less time-consuming route and join Cancer Research's "Dryathlon" or "Dry January", raising money by skipping alcohol for a whole month; not only a great detox but doing something good at the same time. We'll be setting goals, encouraging each other to stay on the wagon and ultimately making it easy to make these changes. Though many such people make a New Year resolution to have a better financial year and save more, they hardly abide by it.

If going to the pub with your friends makes you happy, there's no harm in that. Intuitively, you stand a much better chance of sticking with your resolution if you make some kind of concrete plan. Start small and make resolutions you think you can stick with and are attainable. If the goal is to eat healthily, think about how you'll be slimmer, have more energy and be more productive, for instance. Too many people give up on their goals at the first sign of trouble. If you want to make it to the gym every morning, place a packed gym bag by your door so it's ready to go.

Have a seat amongst your files and take a good hard look at the things you need to do to help you break down those brick walls. Instead of just going on a diet, be specific with what you want to improve and build a plan.

You're likely to fall off the wagon a few times along the way, so if you sneak a smoke after two weeks of abstaining, don't beat yourself up for your failure. The best you can do is to try and reduce drinking, if you are a heavy drinker.

But according to a recent survey, only 8% people achieve their New Year Resolutions. So you already start to enjoy the desired outcome in your mind. Believe me, it was one of those paint sets that had every possible color under the sun.