First, she's double checking all of her credit card bills. After the flurry of holiday buying, her statements are quite lengthy and it can be easy to miss billing errors. Then she's tallying them up and if she can't pay them all off at once, she's going to look into transferring balances to her card with the lowest interest rate. (For more on managing credit card debt, see credit cut-off).

Next, she's going through all of the fabulous gift cards people gave her and checking the rules for using them. Some gift cards have expiration dates and others have inactivity fees that will reduce the value of the card if it's not used within a specific period of time. And many retailers will allow her to register her gift card online so it can be replaced if it's lost or stolen.

Finally, and this is the big one, she's going to make a budget… really, this year she's going to do it (she swears). Her financial guru Hilda Frost offered a few budget-building basics that she's happy to share:

• Create a list of all monthly income and expenses—don't forget to include things like transportation and entertainment

• Do the math, if the monthly income doesn't cover monthly expenses then they need to be reduced—discretionary spending like eating out, or shoe splurges (no one said this would be easy) is obviously the first to be cut

• If income covers expenses, set goals and designate new categories for the excess income, like retirement or emergency savings, a vacation fund, investing in stock market, or new Prada sandals (it's all about personal priorities)

• After crunching the numbers, save receipts and keep track of where the money goes each month to stick to the budget

With her financial house in order, Girlawhirl is looking forward to a year filled with good fortune.

Go Get It!

Hilda Frost can be reached at 212 883 8566

Hilda recommends an easy to use budget from USA Today.