My financial resolutions for 2009, #8 in a series

Editor’s note: We asked our resident money experts to share their financial resolutions for the year ahead. Here, the eighth entry in our series:

I made an early start on my financial New Year’s resolutions. Late last fall, after the economy turned scary bad, I started saving money in little ways, such as bringing my lunch to work more often. And I made some bigger changes, like doubling the amount I have automatically transferred to my savings. Now I plan to:

Pay off my car loan. I have one year, two months left on a four-year loan. Paying it off will allow me to put an additional $400 or so away in savings.

Cut my clothing expenditures. On shoes, to be exact. That girl-shoe addiction thing runs in my family, but I thought I lacked the gene. Then in my late-30’s it kicked in. Luckily I steer clear of stores when they’re crowded. So when I pass by the mall, I shall picture the lot full. I shall picture the lot full. I shall picture the lot full.

Decide what to do with the some of the extra money. By spring or so, after I’ve bulked up my emergency fund, I’d like to do at least one of the home updates I’ve been putting off, hoping that local businesses may be in the mood to do some deep discounting. The contenders, in least to most expensive order:

1. Replace a 30-plus-year-old gas stove. If the burners start, they sometimes just pop off. And the oven knob has rotated so its starting spot now points to ‘Clean’ instead of ‘Off.' When I bake I have to guesstimate the temperature I’m setting. I suppose an alternative is to set a new Food Network Challenge show in my home.

2. Replace my homely vinyl tile kitchen floor with wood. I had some contractors look at it a year ago to give me estimates. They managed to chip a couple of the tile corners, by accident surely, which makes looking at it more annoying, and crossing it occasionally painful.

3. My long, steep, cracked cement driveway needs to be redone. In winter it’s more expensive to de-ice than asphalt, and it’s tough to find someone who will agree to plow it. It also causes multi-day muscle aches when it has to be shoveled because Mr. Plow can’t or won’t attempt to climb it. — Amanda Walker, senior project editor