Thats according to Marcel Lukas, who is assistant professor of finance at Heriot-Watt University and has been analysing the habits of people who have set savings goals which last.

Data from the money management app, Money Dashboard, suggests New Year savings resolutions typically last only 12 weeks, with February being the peak month for squirrelling away cash.

Indeed, in the second month of the year, the average person sets aside just over 100 compared to 80 in April and 50 in November.

Why do savers fall off the wagon?

Money Dashboard recruited Lukas to analyse what successful savers do to ensure they dont veer from their goals and it would appear regularly checking finances was one crucial factor.

However, much depended on the time of life savers were at too. For example, people in their 30s were hugely influenced in their spending and savings habits by their family.

In September, analysis of the app revealed, back to school costs resulted in a dip in savings. Black Friday and the lead up to Christmas as well as summer holidays also had a similar effect.

But the ones who were most successful in achieving their goals not only checked their money situation regularly, they also set themselves budgets.

The analysis revealed people using Money Dashboards budget function spent less on the category they wanted more control over for example dining and drinking.

Lukas said: It sounds obvious but setting a budget really does make a significant and long-lasting difference.

He added: Secondly keep a regular eye on your finances. Another common money weak-spot Ive found from my analysis is the tendency to overspend just after pay day.

This often causes problems at the end of the month when people need to dip into overdrafts, or even pay day loans.

Indeed, his analysis revealed a strong correlation between people checking their accounts with high frequency and being less likely to over-spend when they get paid.

We also see that when people stop checking on their finances regularly, they fall back into old bad spending habits, Lukas added.

Successful savings techniques

If you are looking for some savings inspiration, there are lots of smart methods you can use to help you. These include the weekly savings challenge where people put aside 1 in week one of the year, 2 in week two and so on until, by week 52 the sum of 52 goes into the pot.

Savers who stick to this method will make 1,378 by the end of the year.

And there are several variations on this technique, including saving the sums in reverse starting with 52, and working your way back or saving 1p on day one of the year, 2p on day two and so on.

Confused.com has set up a website with a number of money saving challenges like this which allow people to get into a regular savings habit.

A spokesperson for the organisation explained there were features on banking apps such as Monzo which allowed savers to create pots which they could use to save this money into.

The app puts the money away for you which is handy for those challenges with larger amounts to save or those that ask you to put away money every day which you can easily forget, he added.

Some people set up a daily or weekly reminder on their phone to ensure they remember to save the required amount.

Meanwhile, others opt for an old fashioned pot or piggy bank which means they can enjoy seeing their cash build up.

Read more here:
Money motivation: How to stick to your New Year's savings goals - The Money Pages