Many people look at the New Year as an opportunity for a fresh start. Some set goals to lose weight, quit a bad habit or finally finish that home remodeling project. One often overlooked area for New Year’s resolutions is your car. Here are five auto-related resolutions you can make that are easy to achieve and may save you money.

Owning a home isn’t a new idea and has historically been associated with financial stability, but with the recent recession that has spanned across multiple countries buying a home has gotten a bad rap. One reason home ownership is still a good investment is that interest rates on mortgages have hovered around the lowest historical average these past few years.

The more things change, the more they stay the same. We’ve all heard that one before, and strange enough it’s often true. As things in my life shift, making it difficult to figure out where I’ll grow roots for many decades to come, I keep one goal in mind: to own a home of my own.

I’ve been hemming and hawing over writing a 2013 goals post primarily because 2012 was such a complete loss- at least when it comes to my finances. My only glimmer of success was my biking goal; I did end up averaging 80 miles a month. My blogging goal was tepid, if I can even call it that.

Sparsely populated, central California from Interstate 5 is a long road with few interesting pit stops, except maybe one; Harris Ranch. Harris Ranch is just that, a ranch, though large at 100,000 acres. Had it not been for the huge sign off the exit in Coalinga, and the restaurant, bar, and hotel, I wouldn’t have known about this particular family-run ranch or that acres and acres north of that exit belonged to them as well.