Ten ways to save without making huge sacrifices

By KARIN PRICE MUELLER
STAR-LEDGER STAFF

Your budget may be reeling from gyrations in the stock market, falling prices in the housing market, rising prices in the supermarket and cost explosions at the gas pump.

You can't control the costs of these items, but you can change the way you spend the money you have.

"Even if this turns out not to be an official recession, most of us are in our own personal recessions," says James Miller, a certified financial planner with Tilson Financial in Watchung. "That is, our incomes are flat or decreasing while our costs of living are increasing. The main areas are food and energy, which continue to rise at staggering rates."

There are many ways you can improve your budget — cutting about 10 percent or more of your expenses — without significantly changing your lifestyle.

1. Dine out, but wisely: There's nothing wrong with enjoying a meal out, but you're going to spend far more than if you eat at home. Start by choosing restaurants without liquor licenses, then bring your own. Restaurants notoriously have a huge mark-up on alcohol, so you'll save a bundle by visiting your liquor store instead. The same goes for soda. Drink water with your meal.

If you do indulge in a drink, pay attention to cost, Miller says. Instead of ordering the melon martini for $12, stick to the house wine for $6, he says. Another big mark-up comes with dessert. Skip the costly calories and have an after-meal treat at home.

There's also the tip. If you eat $50 of food in a restaurant and you leave a 15 percent gratuity, that's an extra $7.50. If you eat out once a week, that's $390 a year in tips. If you take out $50 worth of food instead, you'll save that $390 a year. You also should look for coupons. Many restaurants offer "buy one, get one free" coupons in local shoppers or have nights when kids eat free if an adult meal is purchased.

Expenses for eating out aren't limited to dinner. Skip the coffee store: Your morning latte and bagel, at $4 a pop, adds up to $1,040 a year. And consider brown bagging it. Cutting back just one weekly lunch at $7 to $10 will save you $364 to $520 a year.

2. Grocery Shopping: The average American family spends $8,513 per year on groceries, or $709 per month, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There's more to being a smart shopper than clipping coupons, though that will lower your bill.

■ Take fewer trips. The Marketing Science Institute says shoppers making a "quick trip" spend 54 percent more than planned due to impulse buys.

If you shop three times a week and spend $10 on impulse buys, that's $120 extra a month, says Michael Pirrello, a certified financial planner with Summit Asset Management in Florham Park. But if you only go to the store once a week, you will cut that impulse expense to only $40 per month, saving you $960 per year, he says.

■ Steer clear of prepared meals. You can save by buying the ingredients à la carte and preparing it yourself.

■ Pass on single-serving snacks. They're handy, but much pricier than buying a larger size. Instead of pretzel packs, buy a big bag and some small plastic bags and create your own single-serving sizes.

■ Buy in bulk and pay attention to unit prices. Pirello gives this example: If a pack of 40 diapers costs $13 ($0.33 per diaper) and a box of 144 diapers costs $35 ($0.24 per diaper), you're saving 9 cents a diaper. If you change a diaper six times per day, you can save $16 per month, or almost $200 per year.

3. Modify your hobbies: Hobbies are a key spending point for discretionary dollars. Some ideas:

■ Eliminate the gym memberships for the warmer months and walk or jog outside.

■ If you don't read those magazines that come in the mail each month, cancel your subscriptions.

■ No one says you have to give up golf, but try to book less-expensive tee times. You can even search online for discounted tee times at popular golf courses. Check out TeeTimeWatch.com, EZLinks.com and GolfNow.com.

4. That's entertainment: You can still have fun without busting the budget.

■ Cut back your trips to the movie theater. For a family of four, tickets, a large popcorn and a soda (and how many families of four buy only one?) can cost $55 or more. Rent movies (or try your library for free rentals) and pop your own popcorn instead. At least, try the less-costly matinee.

■ Rather than buy the new best-selling book, visit your local library.

■ Instead of a Broadway show, see a production by a local theater group or high school acting troupe.

■ Consider a demotion from the major leagues to the minors, Pirrello says. The best seats to the Mets and Yankees games this year can be as high as $325 for one seat, he says. In New Jersey, there are eight minor league teams, from Atlantic City to Sussex County, ranging in price from $5 to $15 per ticket.

5. Think energy: The winter season is winding down, so your home heating costs will, too. But you're still using lots of energy.

■ Shut down your computer when you're done.

■ Adjust your thermostat. Try a difference of two degrees, and if you don't notice a temperature change, try another two degrees.

■ Check your car's tire pressure. Low pressure can mean you're burning more gasoline. And watch the speedometer. The faster your car goes, the more fuel it uses.

■ Ask your utility companies about energy savings programs.

6. Samples, please: If your child is sick, you can't avoid the doctor. But you can save on medications.

■ If the doctor wants to write you a prescription, ask if there's a less-expensive brand-name alternative or if a generic will work.

■ Ask for samples. Drug companies frequent doctor's offices and give them samples of the antibiotics and other drugs they're selling.

■ Call your drug plan. Many plans offer discounts on medications if you use a mail-order service instead of your local pharmacy. You can even ask your doctor for a three-month prescription rather than one-month so you don't have to pay the co-pay twice.

Comparison shop. Not all drugs are sold at the same price at all pharmacies.

7. Check your cable and telephone bills: It's easy to get drawn in to 100-channel cable packages and caller-ID, but there are services you can live without.

Eliminate cable from one of your rooms. While you might like falling asleep to HBO and your kids clamor for Nick Jr. in whatever room they're in for the moment, these are creature comforts, not necessities.

While you're at it, pare your telephone service. If you don't have a good package deal for your phone and you're paying separately for features, you're overpaying. For example, if the features are not part of a package, one carrier charges $6.09 for call waiting, $7.50 for caller ID, $2 for call forwarding and $8.99 for voice mail — each month. That's a cost of $24.58 a month, or $294.96 a year.

8. Luxury items: By definition, these are things you can live without. But try cutting back first.

"Instead of having the landscaper cut the lawn once a week and cost you $200 a month, have them come half as often and save $100," Miller says. "Instead of the cleaning person coming weekly or bi-weekly, cut it in half and save another $100."

Another option would be to replace a manicure at a salon with a date with a friend, and give each other manicures. Or talk to your spouse about a massage night.

Dust off that iron and lower those dry-cleaning bills, Pirrello says. At $1.75 per shirt, ironing your own shirts can save you $35 per month, or $420 per year.

9. Manage your debt: If you owe money, you're probably paying too much in interest.

■ Consolidate. Because mortgage rates have come down recently, Miller says you may be able to consolidate your debt into a home-equity loan and get a tax deduction, too.

■ Contact your lenders and tell them you're thinking of transferring your balances to a zero-interest or low-interest card. See if they'll be willing to match the offer.

Say you have a $1,200 balance on a card with a 14.9 percent interest rate, and you plan to pay the balance in one year. You'll pay a total $83 in interest. If you negotiate with your lender and lower your rate to 4.9 percent, you would pay $27 in interest — a savings of $56. That may seem like small beans, but if you're like most Americans and have several credit cards, you could easily save a few hundred dollars a year. And if you can get zero-percent offers, you'll save even more.

■ Avoid late fees on credit cards, which average $39.

10. Insurance: This goes for homeowners, auto and life insurance. If you raise your deductible, the cost of your policy will go down. Call your insurance company so your particular policy can be examined for other cost-cutting measures.

"It's always good to take a look at your insurance every few years," Miller says. "The competition for your business is fierce, so you may be able to lower your payments by switching companies.