Fancy a 25 per cent pay rise? Money expert Martin Lewis can’t quite promise that, but if you’ve never sorted your finances, he reckons doing a blitz can sometimes save you an equivalent amount over a year. So in a reverse money diet, here are his ten top money-saving new year vows to cut your bills.

I resolve to...check my tax code to see if I’m owed £1,000s

THE recent tax code fiasco means at least five million people in the UK are paying the wrong amount of tax – and most have overpaid. This is all about tax codes, the little piece of information that tells your employer how much it should take from you.

A little code like “647L” seems innocuous, but can have a massive effect on your finances.

So look on the back of your tax notice and check it’s right. If not, you could be giving the government far more than needed.

Better still, dig out this year’s code right now, and use the free taxcodechecker.com to see whether you’re likely to be owed big money.

The biggest success I’ve seen using it so far is £3,600 back.

I resolve to... stop my car chugging so much fuel

THINK of your car’s accelerator as a money pump. The harder you press it, the more you spend. This isn’t about not driving as fast, it’s about not accelerating as hard. By keeping the revs lower, speeding up gradually and thinking about road positioning, most people can lower petrol costs by a staggering 20 to 50 per cent.

Just try it for one tank of petrol to see the impact.

Better still, surprisingly, it adds very little to journey times, as often we’re simply accelerating, only to brake again a minute later.

I resolve to... give myself a financial health check

THE most important financial test of all is a simple one. Do you spend more than you earn?

If so, you’ve got a serious problem. It means either you’ll eat up all your spending or rapidly build up debt. If not, then you can relax a touch, and know that you’re financially stable.

To find out requires a real budget, by that I don’t mean willy-nilly looking at a month’s expenditure.

That misses out things like Christmas, summer holidays or buying a sofa – I mean looking at your finances across a year.

To help, I’ve designed a free tool that’ll do the health check for you; go to mse.me/budgeting

I resolve to... see if I’m entitled to any benefits/tax credits

WHILE the Government is planning to cut the social security net, that hasn’t happened yet – and many people both in work and out of it are missing out. A quick way to see what you’re due is do a five minute benefit check up at turn2us.org.uk

I resolve to...stop the energy companies taking my money

THE typical home on a standard tariff in the UK pays £1,250 a year for its gas and electricity, but would pay only £950 on an online billed tariff. With price hikes again hitting at the start of this year, now’s the time to sort this out and save around £300.

So do a comparison and see how much you can save as soon as possible. Not only that, but by comparing and switching the right way, through special links, you can get around £30 added cashback on top or even a crate of wine – those links are listed at mse.me/gas

I resolve to ... prepare for next Christmas now

BUY your cheap wrapping paper, cards, Christmas decorations and even presents right now while they’re cheap. Christmas costs an average £600 per family. To try and pay this out of one month’s salary is a nightmare. So put aside £50 a month now and you’ll have the money ready without any risk of borrowing.

I resolve to... cut my debt costs for the long term

IF your festive spending has left you with a mountain of credit card debt, and you’ve got a good credit history, apply for a cheap balance transfer card.

While going for short-term 0 per cent deals is the most common move, actually most people are better off going for a “life of balance” card.

Here, you shift your debts to a new card, and lock-in at a low rate until all the debts shifted are repaid. For latest best card info see mse.me/bts

I resolve to... do the supermarket Downshift Challenge

EXPERIMENT with dropping a brand level on everything you buy. If you buy premium brands, eg, Tesco Finest) try a normal brand, eg, Hovis). If you buy Kellogg’s, try supermarket own. If you buy supermarket own, try the “value” or “basics” range.

This alone will cut your bill by a third. Yet you may not like all the cheaper things. However, I’ve done this experiment many times in TV shows, and consistently in blind tasting, most families can only tell the difference on half the stuff, even if you only cut that out it’s a £750 a year saving. Look for the downshift challenge calculator at mysupermarket.co.uk

I resolve to... reclaim, reclaim, reclaim!

THIS year is the time to try and recoup all the cash that’s been unfairly taken from you. It may be you’re one of the hundreds of thousands who are in too high a council tax band and can get huge back-dated payouts, or that you’ve got unused Tesco vouchers you can get back.

Perhaps you had a loan, credit or store card in the last six years and were mis-sold expensive Payment Protection Insurance (PPI) with it and are due a reclaim. The biggest so far is £36,000 back. See mse.me/reclaim for a full list and help.

I resolve to... not auto-renew my car insurance

IF you just auto-renew your car and home insurance, STOP! You’re wasting a fortune, and can do so much better as a new customer.

Car insurance costs are shooting up this year, for some as many as 40 per cent, but by simply combining comparison sites you can slam that down. For those willing to really put the work in, even bigger savings are possible.

The record cheapest I’ve seen is just 96p for a year’s fully comp – see mse.me/carins