How to make and save money in 2014 A better deal could be the Lloyds Platinum credit card, which offers 24 months free at a cost of 1.5pc. Lloyds and its sister bank Halifax also offer charges of 0.8pc for 15 months of interest-free repayments. The savings can be substantial. Martin Lewis, creator of MoneySaving Expert.com, calculates that someone owing £5,000 on a standard 18.9pc card, repaying £200 per month, would take 32 months to clear the card at a cost of £1,270. Shifting the debt to a card charging a 2.7pc fee would clear it in 26 months, at a cost of just £135. Use your investment allowances fully You have three months before this year's £11,280 Isa limit is increased. Crucially, at that point, anything unused from 2013-14 is scratched, and savers receive a fresh allowance of £11,880 for the following tax year. Make sure you've invested as close to the full amount as possible. If nothing else, move money sitting in a current account or easy access savings account into a cash Isa. Up to £5,640 can be saved there. The best rate is currently a 1.8pc easy access deal from the Post Office. If you've reached this limit or already have investments, put spare money into a stocks-and-shares Isa account with a fund supermarket. You can leave it as cash - there is no immediate need to invest it in shares or funds. This is a sure-fire way to lock in this year's taxfree allowance, with the aim of buying funds or shares later. Most analysts expect the stock market to have another good year. Fund suggestions for the UK include Artemis Income, a solid income-generating fund that follows bigger UK shares, and Old Mutual UK Alpha, which is now managed by the highly regarded stockpicker Richard Buxton. On the flip-side of this picture, the Government will cut the amount of money you can save into a pension for tax relief from April 6. The limit will fall to £40,000 a year from £50,000, and the lifetime allowance from £1.5m to £1.25m. Those who plan to put more than £40,000 into a pension next year should act before April, using as much of this year's allowance as possible. But if your fund is approaching the lifetime limit, or you have a generous final salary scheme, take a step back. According to HM Revenue & Customs the reduction to £1.25m will affect 360,000 pension savers. Make New Year resolutions that pay Whatever you have planned, use it to your financial advantage. First, work out how much money you will save. Next, put that sum of money into an Isa or pension before it is subsumed in your other spending. Quitting a 10-a-day smoking habit could save you £1,369 a year, according to the NHS website Smoke Free. Equally, giving up your Sky or Virgin TV package and watching Freeview or renting films through Lovefilm, Netflix or Blinkbox online could provide a £30 a month saving. If you stick with a costly TV provider, make sure it is the cheapest one. Compare the tariffs with a comparison tool. Likewise, make sure you are on the cheapest possible energy tariff. Again, an online comprison tool will help. Thousands will be joining gyms in the traditional New Year fitness rush. But if there is a park or some countryside near you, think carefully whether that £50 a month is worthwhile. For a light take on the effects that a drink-free January could have, JLT Employment Benefits calculated that your pension could get a £20,000 boost. It took a 22-year-old male, on a £25,000 salary and who consumed nine pints of lager a week. The figure was calculated by using the money spent on drinking each January up until age 68, adding an extra £1,000 a year in retirement income at today's rates. Plug the hidden drains on your finances Most of us manage to accumulate a hotchpotch of expensive - and ultimately unnecessary - financial commitments. From paid-for bank accounts to useless identity theft insurance, cut out the dead wood. An estimated 11 million people pay nearly £15 a month on average for a so-called packaged current account. These provide a range of benefits such as travel and breakdown insurance. However, research by MoneySuperMarket.com has suggested that one in three never uses the benefits. Many policies are riddled with exclusions, or provide cover the policyholder has elsewhere. Another easy kill is insurance against identity fraud or the loss of a credit card. Seven million people are due to receive an average £200 each, having been missold this type of policy: banks should always compensate victims of fraud unless they can prove the customer acted negligently or criminally. Other culprits are credit reference agencies. It does pay to keep on top of your credit score, but £12 a month is too much to pay for it. By law you can obtain your credit report for £2. Finally, it is well worth trawling through your bank statements for rogue payments that you may never have agreed to make.