Are you struggling to make ends meet after Christmas? Well you’re in very good company; many of us have not only overspent at Christmas but also have to deal with the rising cost of food, energy and insurance.

However, you don’t have to start 2012 on a downward spiral! There are many ways in which you can curb your expenditures, giving you the time you need to get back on your feet.

Here are our top tips:

Sell Anything You Don’t Want

You could unlock the cash in some of your unwanted items. EBay is excellent for this as you can sell pretty much anything and be certain that someone somewhere will want it!

You can also sell gold for cash. So many people have old or broken jewellery they can’t bear to throw out. A lot of these same people don’t realise that they could get a great payment for sending their unwanted scrap gold to a good gold buyer. Did you know that the gold price rose 10% last year and has risen every year since 2001?

Pay less for your energy

We don’t just mean shopping around, although this is a really useful way to make sure you’re not paying too much for your gas and electricity.
Try doing the following things and see what you can save:

Fill your kettle only with the water you will be using in that instance. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that it takes more energy to heat a full kettle of water than it does to heat a cupful. Seems simple but can save the pennies and it all adds up over the week and the month.

Use the “Quick Wash” option when washing your clothes. Your clothes are just as clean, washed quicker and you use less energy.

Get a collapsible unit to hang your clothes on instead of tumble drying them.

Turn your hot water off until you need it.

Monetise your website

Things like Google Adsense can really up your income if you have a good enough site. Don’t have a site or blog? Start one. Write about what you are passionate about and you will connect with people who are passionate about the same thing. The more followers and traffic your blog/site gets, the more attractive you are to advertisers. Go on, get writing!

Hopefully these tips will help you start 2012 in style!