Consumers were more positive about their finances in December, according to Bank of Ireland.
Its latest Economic Pulse – which assesses consumer sentiment – reveals that two-thirds of people are planning to save over the next year.
Over one-third also think that now is a good time to buy big ticket items such as furniture and white goods.
Dr Loretta O'Sullivan, Bank of Ireland's group chief economist, commented:
"So with the situation where people are a bit more confident about money in their pockets, that then should feed through to consumer spending and we should see that starting to spill over into more spending in the shops across the different goods, be it the big ticket items. Also across department stores, across electrical goods and so on."
While sentiment was measured at 92.4 for the month, up 6.6 on November, global developments over the course of 2016 meant that the Economic Pulse ended the year below where it started.