By Dawn Papandrea

Dawn Papandrea is a freelance writer, blogger, and editor specializing in personal finance, parenting, women’s lifestyle & more. Dawn blogs via Contently.com.

New Year’s resolutions always seem to involve losing weight or saving money. Why not combine the two ideas and create a financial fitness plan? Here’s how…

1. Stretch your money. Before you exercise, you stretch to prepare your body for a workout, and doing so can improve your overall movement. Just imagine how your financial situation can improve if you learn to stretch every dollar.

Can you get through the day without spending any money on nonessential things? Take that challenge today, and if you can do it, try to do so one day a week, then increase to two or more. Just like physical stretching, the more you do it, the more limber you become.

2. Don’t over-indulge on cash calories. Just like when you’re dieting with the mindset to burn more calories than you consume, the idea with money is to earn/save more than you spend. Make it a rule that if you can’t afford something today, it has to wait until you save up for it.

3. Sweat out debt. Accumulating debt is not unlike those holiday pounds that seem to pack on with so little effort. To take control of your debt balances, you may need to sweat a little. Whether it’s giving up your restaurant night for a while, or becoming a store brand shopper instead of a designer one, use those sacrifices to help you make more than the minimum payment on your balances so they will begin to shrink.

4. Portion control. Every paycheck, there should be a portion of money that is left over after bills are paid. The question is, are you in control of your portions? Like with food, you don’t want to use up your daily calories all on one big greasy meal. You want to share the wealth, and find a way to prioritize your leftover wages. You should be contributing to your 401(k), for instance. Other areas to consider are adding to an emergency fund, putting away some money each week toward your summer vacation or a new car, etc.

5. A credit crash diet. Many weight loss plans recommend starting with a strict jump start to help give your diet a boost. Along those lines, if your credit spending is out of control, try going on a cash-only diet for a while. Carry only one card for emergencies, and leave the rest at home. Ignore all of those promotional sales emails that land in your in-box, too, as online shopping can be as hazardous to your health as an all fast-food diet.

6. Make better choices. Just as grilled chicken breast is a better choice than fried buffalo wings, you can learn to make better decisions when it comes to your money, too. Do you really need to pay extra for pre-cut vegetables when you can buy them whole and prep them yourself? Can you bike or carpool to work rather than drive every day? Look at what you’re spending your money on, and think about how you can save more.

Being fit is about changing your lifestyle for the long term. The same can be said about your financial fitness. It’s up to you to make it happen. Are you up to the challenge in 2012?