Have you made your New Year's resolutions? I've rarely been successful keeping mine. One problem is that they were always too vague. ("Get fit." "Eat right.") Or maybe they were too stringent. ("Work out at the gym every day." "Save $50 every month.") I've decided to try again, but to give myself some leeway in how I approach resolutions.

I've broken them down into categories -- brain, body, financial, others -- with

choices for each one. All I have to do is pick from the menu a couple times a week. While not a perfect plan, I'll at least be heading in the right direction. Perhaps an activity or two will become a routine.

Brain: Tackle the crossword puzzle in the newspaper. Check foreign-language tapes out of the library. Read a book by an author I don't know. Subscribe to a new monthly magazine. Expand my vocabulary. (I've signed up with www.wordsmith.

org, and they promise not to sell my e-mail address, so I won't get spam.)

Body: Get up and exercise during TV commercials. Join a walking group or walk a neighbor's dog. Eat broccoli (that's a tough one).

Financial: Save all my change in a jar -- at the end of each month, half of whatever is in the jar is mine to spend as I please. Cut coupons and use them. Shop the thrift store when possible.

Others: Visit a retirement center and play cards with the residents. Take a non-driving senior shopping or to a doctor appointment. Volunteer to wield a paintbrush at a Habitat for Humanity house. Shelve books at the library. Help another senior set up an e-mail program.

Have you made resolutions for the New Year? They might be easier to keep if you try my painless menu plan.

Matilda Charles regrets that she cannot personally answer reader questions. Do not send any material requiring return mail. Write to her in care of King Features Weekly Service, P.O. Box 536475, Orlando, FL32853-6475, or send e-mail to letters.kfws@hearstsc.com.

(c) 2006 King Features Synd., Inc.