As the credit card bills pile up, it's time to take stock. Fiscal wellbeing can be yours in just 12 months, writes Laura Slattery

Good intentions, both realistic and unrealistic, spew forth from penitent revellers not long after the new year has been counted in.

But as far as personal finances are concerned, it can take an entire year of form-filling, careful filing and to-do lists to get on top of things and finally become the organised person you want to be.

JANUARY: Look after your health

Many of our resolutions will revolve around the desire to improve our health. But if that plan fails, we may incur medical expenses. The right health insurance policy could keep us financially healthy if nothing else.

Consumers who have had the same health insurance policy for years may not be aware of the newer generation of plans that either include or offer as an optional extra cover for everyday medical expenses such as GP visits, dental visits and a variety of outpatient costs.

January could also be a good time to review health insurance options because Vivas Health is running a 50 per cent discount offer on kids' premiums, creating potential savings of up to 32 per cent for a two-parent, two-children family.

FEBRUARY: Clear debts

Haven't shifted stubborn Christmas debts yet? Consumers who used their credit cards to satisfy pester power and give in to the general excesses of the festive season will by now be accruing up to 17.9 per cent APR (annual percentage rate of interest) on the money they spent if they haven't cleared the debt.

Credit cards are really designed for short-term debts only. It is not a good idea, therefore, to still be paying off last Christmas when the shops are putting up next year's trees.

If you have run up a large balance, the Irish Financial Services Regulatory Authority advises that you should apply for a card with a low introductory offer in order to save on interest payments. Some cards offer 0 per cent interest on balances for six months, giving cardholders a cushion of time to pay off their balances.

MARCH: Sort out tax affairs

What better way for married couples to follow up the romance of February 14th than with a bout of correspondence with the Revenue Commissioners?

March 31st is the deadline for married couples who are subject to joint assessment in their tax affairs to nominate the assessable spouse for 2006.

Otherwise the Revenue will simply assume that the assessable spouse is the spouse who had the highest earnings the year before.

Joint assessment is the default setting for married couples who have informed the Revenue of their wedding.

March 31st is also the deadline for married couples to claim separate assessment, which they might want to do for convenience if one partner is self-employed and the other is a PAYE employee or because they want to keep their tax affairs independent.

But getting married won't lead to income tax savings if both spouses are working and pay tax at the same rate.

APRIL: Save for the children

This is the month in which the Government's child benefit promises in the previous winter's Budget turn out not to be a mistimed April Fool.

From this month, parents can expect an extra €8.40 per month for the first and second child and an increase of €7.70 for the third and any subsequent children. And parents with children under the age of six will shortly receive the first of their quarterly €250 Early Childcare Supplement payments. Families with two children under the age of six will thus have an extra €183 a month.

This money is intended to help parents pay for childcare and other child-related expenses. But parents who either don't have childcare expenses or already have enough income to cover them might take the opportunity to put the extra money aside in a long-term savings or investment account to pay for their children's future education expenses.

MAY: Get SSIA fever

On the 31st of May, the first Special Savings Incentive Accounts (SSIAs) mature, giving someone who has been contributing the maximum €254 a month permitted under the scheme a nest egg of roughly €20,000-€22,000 to lovingly cradle.

Cars, holidays, home improvements... all of these should be shunned in favour of sensible pensions and investment options, financial advisers recommend. Banks, brokers and life assurance companies have repeatedly called on the Government to introduce tax or other incentives that would make it worth it for SSIA holders to re-invest the proceeds into a pension, rather than embark on a mass €16 billion spending spree.

And, according to wealth managers Acumen & Trust, it's not just the lump sum that should be prudently put aside. Rather than break free of the shackles of monthly saving, SSIA holders should keep up their good habits.

"If you currently pay the maximum €254 into your SSIA, you could continue to pay this amount into a pension once your SSIA matures without noticing any difference in your monthly outgoings," says David Robb, a director of Acumen & Trust.

Thanks to the income tax and PRSI relief available on pension contributions, a couple could invest over €900 each month in a pension and it would only cost them a net €507 - pretty much the same value as their combined SSIA contributions. But before SSIA holders get too excited, they should remember that only about 10 per cent of account holders will get their hands on their SSIAs in 2006. The rest don't mature until 2007.

JUNE: Buy travel cover

With school holidays approaching and airport queues mushrooming for peak season, the summer months could be a good time to double check that you have adequate travel insurance. Anyone who takes more than a couple of holidays a year will be better off buying a worldwide multi-trip policy rather than forking out for single trip policies each time.

Online providers Getcover.com, Justcover.ie and Simply Mortgages as well as Blue Insurances, which distributes its policies through travel agents, all offer discounts to holders of private health insurance, as does VHI to its own members.

JULY: Read the small print

The financial regulator's consumer protection code is scheduled to come into effect on July 1st. The code cracks down on unsolicited pre-approved credit offers, the mis-selling of expensive payment protection insurance policies in conjunction with loans and over-enthusiastic promoting of debt consolidation loans, which can end up being more expensive in the long term.

But the new list of rules for financial firms is only half the story. The regulator is also keen to get across the message that consumers must take responsibility for their own choices: shop around for financial products to save on cost, ask questions, read the small print and avoid making rash borrowing decisions.

AUGUST: Review your finances

"People are more likely to get their car or boiler serviced than go for a financial health check," says David Robb of Acumen & Trust. But a good financial adviser can help people, especially high net worth people, pinpoint exactly the combination of investment and protection policies that are suitable for their needs. They will also be able to help identify if their existing policies are adequate. Consumers can check with the financial regulator if their adviser or broker is authorised.

They should also ask their broker how many different companies do they hold agencies with and what commissions they are paid in order to ascertain that the advice they receive is based on a broad range of products and is not biased.

SEPTEMBER: Switch mortgage lenders

Economists are predicting that interest rates will climb in 2006. But some homeowners may be able to offset the effect of the rate increases by switching to a lender offering a lower interest rate.

Many established homeowners are repaying their mortgages on standard variable rates, which are substantially higher than the newer breed of tracker rates.

The difference between a standard variable rate of 3.75 per cent and a tracker variable rate of 3.35 per cent might not sound like much, but on a €250,000 mortgage being repaid over 30 years, it works out as €56 a month.

This year may also see more competition and innovation in the mortgage market as National Irish Bank and Bank of Scotland Ireland are due to launch new loan products.

OCTOBER: File a tax return

The deadline for filing the 2005 tax return, paying the balance of tax owed for 2005 and paying preliminary tax for 2006 coincides with Halloween on October 31st. Electronic filers who use the Revenue Online Service (Ros) usually have an extension of a few weeks, but self-assessed taxpayers run the risk of having frazzled accountants hanging up on them if they leave it until the last week in October to gather their receipts.

NOVEMBER: Make a will

Nobody likes thinking about death, least of all their own. But it's a very sensible if morbid step to approach a solicitor about making a will. Otherwise the law will dictate how your assets are divided.

Making a will is especially important if you have children or other dependants. If you have children under the age of 18 and you haven't made a will, a one-third share of your estate will automatically be divided equally among them and tied up in a trust until they come of age, creating a potentially awkward situation for the surviving spouse.

Cohabiters are another group who should have a will in place.

If you have purchased property together as tenants-in-common, rather than as joint tenants, on your death your share of the property will revert to your next of kin if there is no will, which is usually your parents, rather than your partner.

This again can lead to a messy state of affairs and can be easily prevented by drawing up a will.

DECEMBER: Reap your reward

The last month of the year is not a popular time for starting saving policies or clearing debts or paying tax or claiming tax refunds.

But if all of these have been taken care of in the previous 11 months, it will make it easier to take part in December's more traditional activities: splurging, counting shopping days and keeping the Republic's retail sales healthy.