It’s time to recover from holiday spending and start saving. As the economy continues to be uncertain for many, it’s important to continue smart spending habits throughout 2010.

Bankrate.com offers 10 smart money-saving tips for the New Year:

1.       Start, or boost, your emergency savings account – The biggest barrier to saving is not being in the habit of saving. The best way to get in the habit is to pay yourself first by directly depositing money from your paycheck into a dedicated savings account.
2.       Get a high-yield savings account – Once you’ve started to save, you’ll need a place to put that money. There are three requirements in determining where to put your rainy-day fund: It must be liquid (meaning you can get to the money whenever you need it), it must be free of investment risk and you must earn a return that preserves your buying power against the erosive effect of inflation.
3.       Find a free checking account –Look for one of the many accounts that charge no monthly service or per-transaction fees, and don’t require a minimum balance. These free checking accounts have long been the hallmark of smaller community banks, credit unions and online banks.
4.      Track your monthly spending– People hate to use the “B” word — budgeting. Call it what you want, but you do need to get a handle on your spending. Doing so does two things: It helps you determine where you can cut back and helps maximize your money-saving efforts.
5.       Pay down high interest credit cards – For many households, the best return on your money is to pay down credit card debt. Whether carrying balances at 12 percent or 22 percent, credit card debt is typically the costliest debt households have. Plowing excess cash into repayment of credit card debt is a double-digit, risk-free return because it reduces the outstanding balance and the resulting interest charges.
6.       Begin or increase contributions to a workplace retirement program – While many employers have scaled back or suspended their matching contributions to workplace retirement plans, such as 401(k)s, this is not an excuse to suspend your own. Even if your employer is contributing at a reduced rate, it still represents free money. If they’re not, the burden is on your shoulders.
7.       Make an IRA contribution – If you or your spouse has earned income, you are eligible to contribute to an individual retirement account. Those under age 50 can contribute a maximum of $5,000 and those 50 and older can contribute up to $6,000. You can open an IRA with a bank, credit union, brokerage firm or mutual fund, and invest the contributions as you choose.
8.       Convert traditional IRA to a Roth IRA –While the income limits restricting contributions to a Roth IRA remain, the income limit restricting eligibility to convert a traditional to a Roth IRA disappears. This means anyone wanting to convert some or all of their traditional IRA into a Roth can do so, regardless of income.
9.       Refinance into a fixed-rate mortgage – Interest rates are at record lows, and eventually they will move higher, much higher. When that happens, the home financing place not to be in is an adjustable-rate mortgage that is subject to a rate reset. Refinance out of an adjustable-rate mortgage and lock in a fixed rate while they are near record lows.
10.   Rebalance your investments – Many investments have rebounded from their depths in March 2009, with the stock market up by more than 60 percent. In other words, your portfolio may look much different than it did during the March lows. Rebalancing is a good habit to undertake, but it is particularly important following a year of huge swings as we’ve seen in 2009.

For more money saving tips keep reading AccuQuote’s blog, become a fan of AccuQuote on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. And don’t forget to check here first to learn about the benefits of term life insurance. By shopping online for free term life insurance quotes, you may be able to save up to 70% on your term life coverage!

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