From looking for firewood to finding the best financial deals: the year of sparkling savings for our team

Even money experts make mistakes about their own finances every now and then – and the Money team is no exception.

Here we reflect on our biggest successes of the past year – and our biggest failures.

Jeff Prestridge

Group wealth and personal finance editor

GOOD LUCK: Keeping my mother's finances relatively in order in 2023. By exercising a durable power of attorney, I have managed to keep an eye on her bank account – occasionally supplementing it with a transfer from a savings account as necessary.

Mom now spends a lot of time at home and depends on family to care for her. It's the least we can do, after all she did for us growing up.

FAILURE: Storing years of belongings on your own, instead of doing the sensible thing and spending time clearing them out.

The result is that I'm spending £161 a month storing a lot of stuff that I'll probably never look at again – except to (eventually) deem it fit for a charity shop, try to sell it online or condemn it to the scrap heap . In a month's time, £161 will become £322 when the initial three-month discount expires.

Adele Cooke

Money reporter

GOOD LUCK: In June, I finally applied for a credit card to help improve my credit score so it will be in good standing when I buy my first home in a few years.

I had already transferred my household accounts to my name, made sure I was on the electoral roll and updated my address. I opted for a cashback credit card and have already earned €111.16. I have set up a direct debit so that I pay my balance in full.

FAILURE: A summer spent enjoying the warmer weather with friends and visiting family abroad left my bank balance a little worse. I've said yes to eating out and visiting family too many times and found myself £200 over budget. This year I am determined to stay within budget.

Rachel Rickard Straus

Money Editor

GOOD LUCK: I bought a clothes dryer. When energy costs started to skyrocket two years ago, dryers gained a reputation as voracious electricity guzzlers. We have decidedly done without it. But the problem? Our laundry smelled.

In the fall it is so cold in our house that it takes three to four days for a pair of jeans to dry on a drying rack. By then they smell of damp. So we spent £540 on a dryer. Yes, a significant expense, but we have one with a heat pump, which is exceptionally energy efficient. A cycle costs about 12 cents – this can be several times with older models.

Without a dryer, we might have saved money in the short term, but it wouldn't be long before clothes – especially towels – would have become unusable. I'm a seasoned money saver, but I'm wary of false cuts. The dryer was our best purchase of the year.

FAILURE: Earlier this year my contract with Three Mobile expired. So what did it do? Double my bills.

And what have I done? Nothing.

I know I should have shopped around for a better deal right away. But life requires so much shopping that it's hard to keep track of it all. Months later I have now finally switched to an ID Mobile contract for a third of the cost and it even uses Three Mobile's network. Goodbye, Three Mobile.

Lucy Evans

Money reporter

GOOD LUCK: 2023 was my first year working full-time, so it was my first chance to build up my retirement pot. I have already increased my contributions by 2 percent, matched by my employer. If I increased my contributions by 1 percent in my 20s, and my employer matched this, my pension pot could grow by 25 percent in retirement, according to financial guidance platform Wealth at Work.

FAILURE: Every year at Christmas and my birthday, relatives give me some money and tell me to buy myself something nice. But nine times out of ten when I tried to spend it, high street stores turned their noses up. Instead, I use my debit card so the money stays in my bag for months.

I should have put my money in a high interest savings account from the start.

Toby Walne

Chief Money Reporter

GOOD LUCK: I cut my heating bills by swinging an axe. I looked for fallen trees in the countryside where I live to power my wood stoves at home.

Armed with a chainsaw and an axe (a long-handled axe) it only took a few weekends to pick up enough slow-burning oak and much more flammable silver birch to last me all year.

I took branches that would otherwise just rot – and saved around €250 a month by not using central heating.

FAILURE: Selling my 1968 Sunbeam Alpine car this summer. Because I was convinced for a long time that a classic motorcycle is a smart investment – while I threw thousands of euros at the old car just to keep it on the road – I decided that the flow of money had to stop.

I got a dealer to sell it on my behalf, for which, after commission, I only pocketed about £5,500. The car cost me a similar price 15 years ago and I spent double that amount to keep it roadworthy.

Jessica Beard

Deputy Money Editor

GOOD LUCK: I finally have control over my savings. For years I have been one of the 'complacent' savers that experts warn me about; I hadn't changed bank accounts in ten years. But when I saw a deal for 6.05 percent in July, I decided to get in on the action. I opened the one-year fixed rate bond at Atom. I have also opened a NatWest digital regular savings account at 6 per cent and pay a maximum of £150 every month.

FAILURE: I pay my energy bills via bank transfer instead of direct debit. It's cost me hundreds of dollars over the years, but I only found out last month.

I noticed on my energy bill that my supplier charged me significantly more than the price ceiling set by the government. When I asked why, I was told that the guarantee only applied to people who paid by direct debit. Because I pay by bank transfer, there is no upper limit to the amount they can charge me. I wrongly assumed that I was protected and that I won't make that mistake again.

Sara Hartley

Head Money

GOOD LUCK: Do you want it or do you need it? That was one of the key questions asked of primary school children during a finance lesson reported by my colleague Adele Cooke earlier this year. It struck a nerve, and maybe it applies to anyone over 50, but this is the year I stopped wanting things. Stuff. That could come as a shock to our local auction house and John Lewis.

I start to think about what I leave behind, what I can leave behind that won't collect dust or take up space in someone else's home. And I started planting a tree in our garden this week, a Christmas gift I won't give back.

FAILURE: To turn a late train into a material victory, my colleague Rachel uses the money returned through the Delay Repay compensation program to buy something specific, something cheerful. Sometimes she went out to eat and other times she bought flowers.

I have not been able to get a cent back. By the time I flee Charing Cross in London, I'm so furious and late that the last thing I want to do is fill out a form, even if it's on my phone. As the clock ticks, my mind is busy with my own delayed schedule. What a pathetic waste of 'free' money I have missed out on this year as my weekly ticket costs £149 (without tube!).