An Easier New Year's Resolution to Follow

New Year's resolutions are always about doing things, like exercising, quitting smoking, or otherwise changing your basic daily habits to reach a particular goal. That's why resolutions are so quickly abandoned -- because they require change.

But how about resolving to know things this year? That's a process that doesn't involve actually doing anything different, unless you really want to. Just resolving to know shouldn't be so tough.

After all, when you were little you looked under the bed to make sure the bogeyman wasn't waiting to pounce when the lights went out. Back then you wanted to know, wanted certainty. And there was a good, warm feeling when you realized there were no dangers lurking in the night.

What are you afraid of knowing now? Maybe your resolution this New Year should be to check out those lurking worries -- especially the financial ones. You shouldn't be afraid to take a peek, and I'm going to make it easy!

Know How Much You Owe

Let's start with a simple step, but a huge stumbling block for many people worried about their finances. Figure out how much you owe. Resolve to pile up the credit card bills that will soon start arriving, and open them all at once. Then, simply make a list of the outstanding balance, the minimum monthly payment and the interest rates.

And then you'll know. I'm not going to preach about what you should do. You're smart enough to figure that out. But if you're overwhelmed by those totals, you can get help from Consumer Credit Counseling Services at 800-388-2227.

Know Where Your Money Went

You don't really want to know that either, do you? What are you worried about? Making the same mistakes this year? Here's how to know every penny you're spending this year.

Buy the 2006 version of Intuit's (INTU Quote) Quicken or Microsoft(MSFT Quote) Money software, and pop the disc into your computer. I assume you're already paying your bills online, but if you aren't, go to your bank's Web site and sign up. You can regularly download your bill pay information into the money management software with a click of your mouse.