THREE WAYS TO CUT SPENDING WITHOUT MUCH PAIN

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Three ways to cut spending without much pain
By MARSHALL LOEB
MarketWatch
July 17, 2008 5:27 p.m.

Cutting spending doesn't have to be painful. It doesn't necessarily mean that we have to do without all the things we want. There are plenty of places in our everyday lives where just being smart and careful will yield up some extra dollars.

From the August Consumer Reports magazine, here are three ways to cut spending:

1. Cheaper auto insurance. Most people tend to stay with their car insurer for a long time, but they could be missing out on saving hundreds by shopping around once and a while. To find a better plan, start with the National Association of Insurance Commissioner's, www.naic.org, then click on NAIC States and Jurisdictions to find your state's insurance department. Here you can find comparative premium quotes based on standard customer profiles. Other sites to check where you can compare premiums include www.insweb.com and www.insurance.com.

NOTE: NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF INSURANCE COMMISION IS COMPOSED OF NUMEROUS COMPETITIVE COMPANIES IN INSURANCE INDUSTRY.

2. Be smart about buying food. According to the Department of Agriculture, the average family of four can cut down its grocery bill by $190 a month by shifting to a lower-cost mix of foods. That's a lot of money to save just by changing food-buying habits. You can adjust your habits by planning menus around sales on fresh poultry, fish, meat, dairy, and produce, and by making use of leftovers. Avoid costly prepared foods. And start shopping in lower-cost stores: Costco, Trader Joe's and Wal-Mart, to name a few.

3. Cut your credit-card balance. If you have a credit-card balance, you're paying annual interest charges all the time. For example, a balance of $2,200 on which you pay 15.2% interest, means you are paying $28 per month. Eliminate that balance, and you'll save $336 a year. Of course, eliminating your balance is not easy. First you need to stop charging, then start paying more than the minimum.
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