How you going with your New Year Resolutions? Didn't make any? Made some and broken them? Made some and struggling? I ask because one of mine was to raise some much needed and well deserved money for the charity Family Lives (I’m a trustee) and I wonder if we could help each other.

The problem with so many resolutions is that they are negative. The outcome might be eventually positive – get fitter, lose weight, be more positive – but the initial action feels like deprivation. You know that giving up a choccie biscuit a day, getting off the bus one stop ahead, having one or two lattes and day instead of two or three will be good for you. But  this presents itself as depriving yourself of something you like – a treat, some comfort, a reward. OK – so this is my idea. For a short month make your resolution a positive by putting a container in plain sight and paying in the pennies you save when you do some of those helpful and healthy initiatives. Just a few pennies a day for a month can add up. And friends, family and colleagues may be moved by your pitiful but resolute and admirable state to slip in a sympathy coin now and then. At the end of the month pay in your donation here. However small!!! It all adds up.

 If you want to know what Family Lives can do with your donations

• £10 helps a bullied child too scared to go to school to talk to our trained advisors online
• £25 helps train a volunteer call taker, so they can be there for a mum who has just found out her daughter is self-harming
• £50 pays for a parent, tormented by their violent teenager, to attend a Family Lives support group

Want to know more? http://familylives.org.uk

Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity.