Part 7 (2/2)

- Order appetizers as your meal. At many eateries, appetizers are a cheap and tasty alternative to ordering a main dish, and they're often plenty big to fill you up.

- Share food. Portion sizes in American restaurants have grown enormous over the past few decades, so try splitting an entree. Many restaurants charge a few bucks extra for this, but it's much less than paying for a second main dish.

- Watch what you drink. Restaurants make a big profit on soft drinks and alcohol (meaning they're a bad deal for customers), so if you're looking to save money, skip the drink order. Water may be boring, but it's cheap and good for you.

- Order in sequence. When you order everything at once, it's easy to end up with too much food. If the restaurant lets you, order and eat your appetizer before you order your main dish. That way you can plan the rest of our meal based on how hungry you are. (If you order this way, be sure to leave a bigger tip.) - Take food home. One excellent way to stretch your food dollars is to plan to take leftovers home. (Some people ask for a box when their meal arrives so they can divide the portions immediately.) A $12 enchilada plate only costs $6 per meal if you also have it for lunch the next day.

- Eat lunch, not dinner. If it fits your schedule, enjoy your meals out in the afternoon instead of evening-you'll often pay much less for the exact same food.

- Skip (or share) dessert. If you crave just a bite or two of something sweet after a meal, try splitting a dessert. Or some people keep a bar of chocolate (or other sweet treat) in their purses or cars for such occasions.

Greens from the garden Once you begin to master your grocery shopping, you'll find that you sometimes want more than the supermarket can provide, like fresh herbs at a moment's notice or strawberries that don't cost $3 per pound.

Food fresh from your yard is convenient and generally tastes better than what you find in the supermarket. If you have a suitable spot for a garden, growing your own food is a fun and rewarding way to save money. Here are some pointers for starting your own vegetable patch: - Plan ahead. Decide what you'd like to grow and figure out how much time and s.p.a.ce you're willing to devote to the project. A container garden (tinyurl.com/container-garden) might be a good place to start. Or try square-foot gardening (tinyurl.com/SF-gardening), which lets you maximize food production in a small s.p.a.ce.TipYour public library probably has lots of great gardening books, including some tailored to where you live. Two excellent ones are Square-Foot Gardening (Cool Springs Press, 2006) by Mel Bartholomew and The Bountiful Container (Workman Publis.h.i.+ng, 2002) by McGee and Stuckey. You might also want to check out You Grow Girl (), a blog about gardening.

- Start small. When planning your garden, don't be overly ambitious. If you want to test the waters, try herbs, which are easy to manage and much cheaper to grow than buy.

- Choose productive plants. It's frustrating to plant a bunch of seeds that don't yield anything. If you want a rewarding and productive garden, do some research to find out what grows well in your area. One excellent resource is your state's extension office (pany boasts that $50 in seeds and fertilizer will yield $1,250 in produce (tinyurl.com/burpee-claim). Burpee CEO George Ball told the Wall Street Journal Wall Street Journal that $1 in seeds will produce $75 worth of beans. that $1 in seeds will produce $75 worth of beans.But how much does a garden really save? My wife and I set out to answer that question in 2008. For 12 months, we tracked the costs of seeds, fertilizer, water, and electricity. We carefully weighed every fruit and vegetable we harvested, comparing costs with local supermarkets and produce stands. We also logged the time we spent working in the garden.At the end of the year, we tallied the results. We'd spent 60 hours working on our crops and $318.43 on seeds and supplies. We harvested $606.97 worth of food, including $225.74 in berries, $294.59 in vegetables, $66.63 in fruit, and $20.10 in herbs.We repeated the experiment in 2009. This time, we spent $351.37 (and 63.5 hours) and harvested $809.74 worth of food. So we didn't get the kinds of results Mr. Ball claims, but we doubled our investment in just a year. That's a better return than mutual funds-and tastier, too. For more about the Get Rich Slowly garden project, check out: tinyurl.com/GRSgarden.TipSaving on food is always a popular topic at Get Rich Slowly. If you crave more tips, here's 3 years' worth of articles on the subject: tinyurl.com/GRSfoodlist.

Pay Less for Power The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the average family spent $372.08 per month on utilities in 2008. You can't do without light and heat, but as the following sections explain, you can cut utility costs, adding more money to your cash flow.

The electric company Michael Bluejay has a great website about saving electricity (tinyurl.com/saving-electricity), where he describes how electricity works and, more importantly, gives real-world examples of how you can use less energy (and thereby save money). The best tactic, he says, is ”dealing with the biggest electricity-guzzlers rather than worrying about items that don't use much electricity.” This chart from the Department of Energy shows how the average American household used electricity in 2005: [image]

Source: pact fluorescents.

- $75 a year by getting rid of your TV.

- $60 a year by putting your computer in sleep mode when you're not using it.

TipA programmable thermostat is an easy way to reduce utility bills. It lets you turn off the furnace automatically when you're asleep or not home. The government estimates the average homeowner could save $180 per year by installing an Energy Star programmable thermostat (see tinyurl.com/ES-thermostat).

If you're gung-ho about cutting your power bill, Bluejay recommends the Kill-a-Watt electricity meter (tinyurl.com/killwatt), which measures how much energy an item is using so you can identify your home's power hogs.

TipLiving Green: The Missing Manual has a whole chapter about saving energy. has a whole chapter about saving energy.On The Money: Level Payment PlansUtility bills can make it hard to budget: You might pay $250 for natural gas in December but only $50 in July. Fortunately, many utility companies now offer level payment plans level payment plans.When you sign up for such a plan, the company looks at how much energy you used over the past year and divides the total amount by 11 to get a fixed monthly payment. You pay this fixed amount for 11 months, and in the twelfth month you settle up, either paying more (if you used more energy) or getting a refund or credit (if you used less). At the end of each year, your monthly payment rises or falls based on recent usage patterns. (Some utility companies make adjustments more than once per year, but the same principle applies.)To make budgeting really easy, sign up for a level payment plan and and automated billing. Then you only have to deal with your utility bill once a year; the rest of the time, it's paid automatically. automated billing. Then you only have to deal with your utility bill once a year; the rest of the time, it's paid automatically.

If you're in the market for a new dishwasher, clothes dryer, or other major appliance, be sure to visit the Energy Star website (pact fluorescent bulbs along with the audit!) Contact your power company and ask for a referral.

The phone company If your family has a home phone line in addition to a cellphone or two, you're paying too much. Choose one or the other. More and more people are ditching landlines and discovering they don't miss 'em.

Most major cellphone companies give discounts to employees of specific companies and students of specific schools. To see if your school or company qualifies, visit: - Alltel: tinyurl.com/alltel-discounts - AT&T: tinyurl.com/att-discounts - Sprint: tinyurl.com/sprint-discounts - T-Mobile: tinyurl.com/tmobile-discounts - Verizon: tinyurl.com/verizon-discounts A quick check of these discount programs could save you 20% or more on your phone plan; plus, you might be able to score a great deal on a new phone.

But that's not the only way to save on phone service. When was the last time you checked to be sure your monthly plan matches your usage? If your plan doesn't have enough minutes, you can get hit with exorbitant fees; if your plan has too many minutes, you're paying for something you never use. Either way, it's time to change plans.

And be sure to check out prepaid phones from providers like Tracfone (), NET10 (), T-Mobile (tinyurl.com/TM-prepaid), and Virgin Mobile (tinyurl.com/VM-prepaid).

With prepaid wireless, you can buy an older, name-brand phone for 10 or 20 bucks. You then pay in advance for as many minutes as you want. When you use them all, you simply ”top off” as needed. Light phone users (fewer than 200 minutes per month) will almost certainly save by giving up a monthly contract. Even if you use 400 minutes or more each month, there's a chance that prepaid could cut your costs. (If you need a phone with the latest features, prepaid wireless probably isn't your best bet, but don't rule it out.) TipFor more on prepaid phones, check out this article from The Red Tape Chronicles The Red Tape Chronicles ( (tinyurl.com/MSNBC-prepaid) and this one from Greg Karp's ”Spending Smart” column (tinyurl.com/karp-prepaid).On The Money: Slas.h.i.+ng Recurring ExpensesSaving money on one-time purchases is great, but if you really want to boost your cash flow, try cutting costs on things you pay for every month.For many services-cellphones, fitness clubs-you pay a flat fee that grants you a certain amount of use (or in some cases, as with cable TV, unlimited use). This means you often pay for things you never use, like extra cellphone minutes, cable channels you never watch, and days you don't go to the gym.You may be able to save money by paying only for what you use instead of sh.e.l.ling out a recurring fee. Each situation is different, but it's not hard to run the numbers.For example, pull out your most recent cellphone bill. Divide the total amount by the number of minutes you used to find out your per-minute cost. Then visit a prepaid wireless company's website and see what it would cost you to pay as you go. You may be able to save a lot of money.If you don't actually use the service you're paying for, it's easy to make the call. Don't go to the gym? Cancel your members.h.i.+p. Only read the newspaper once a week? Stop getting it delivered every day. Cutting a recurring expense is a one-time task, but it pays you back with improved cash flow every single month. Plus it's one less thing to worry about.

The cable company The Internet may just kill cable television. Not only can you get amateur (and some professional) content on YouTube, you can also watch network programming for free or cheap-often from the networks' own sites. Three great alternatives to cable are: - The iTunes Store, where you can buy episodes of your favorite programs or subscribe to whole seasons. If you miss Mad Men and just have to see it, this is a great choice.

- Hulu.com offers a variety of current TV shows, like 30 Rock and Family Guy, as well as a growing library of cla.s.sic programs from years gone by. This is the place to go if you want to watch Adam-12 or The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Hulu also has a limited library of movies.

- Netflix isn't just a DVD-by-mail company anymore. They also let members watch old movies and TV shows directly in a web browser.

In early 2007, I dropped my cable from a $65.82 deluxe monthly package to a plain-vanilla basic rate of $12.01 per month. To make up for some of what got cut, I started buying some shows through the iTunes Store and watching others on various websites. Since making the switch, I've paid an average of $27.90 per month for TV shows (including basic cable), a savings of $37.92 per month-that's more than $450 a year!

Cutting cable isn't for everyone. If you're a big sports fan, for example, it may be hard to find the games you want online. But slas.h.i.+ng-or cancelling-your cable plan is a great way to save money.

TipIf you want to explore the world of web-based TV, check out this amazing list of online options: tinyurl.com/byebye-cable. (It even includes sources for sports.) Doctors and Drugs Few things can blow a budget like unexpected medical bills. Even if you save and invest, unforeseen health problems can smash your financial plans to bits. And a medical crisis can be devastating for those who don't have their finances in order.

If you have health insurance, here are three steps you can take to make sure you're not paying more than you have to: - Understand your policy. Insurance rules can be confusing. Take the time to read your policy to be sure you grasp the basics. At the very least, know how your plan works in the case of emergencies. Any time you have a concern about coverage, call your insurer and ask questions.

- Read your bill. Don't a.s.sume your medical bills are accurate. Take time to read them, and ask about anything that seems wrong. n.o.body cares more about your money than you do, so take charge of the situation.

- Strike a deal. Always ask for a discount. Some places will offer them and some won't, but it never hurts to ask (see the box on Frugal Tactics Anyone Can Use Frugal Tactics Anyone Can Use). You may be able to save big bucks by picking up the phone and negotiating with your provider. (For more on negotiating, see Why Frugality Matters Why Frugality Matters.) If they do agree to reduce your bill, be sure to get the details in writing.

NoteIf you don't have health insurance, your situation is more complicated, and sadly there's no such thing as Buying Health Insurance: The Missing Manual Buying Health Insurance: The Missing Manual. These three articles are a good place to start: tinyurl.com/GRSsolo-insurance, tinyurl.com/KIPsolo-insurance, and tinyurl.com/WSJsolo-insurance.

Another great place to save is at the pharmacy. Here are some ways to cut costs on medications: - Use older remedies. Don't let ads for new drugs fool you: In many cases, the most effective choice is a tried-and-trued medication that's been on the market for years. The drug companies want to sell you the new stuff because they make more money off it.

- Buy generic. When a drug's patent expires, other companies can make similar products to compete with the original manufacturer. This increases compet.i.tion and drives prices down.NoteGeneric drugs are just as good as their name-brand counterparts. The FDA requires that all generics have the same dosage, safety, strength, quality, and performance as the ”real thing”. You can read more about generics at tinyurl.com/FDAgeneric.

- Shop around. Don't a.s.sume that a given drug will cost the same at different stores. At the Freakonomics blog (tinyurl.com/NYTdrugs), Stephen Dubner reports that price differences can be extreme. He cites one case where Walgreens was charging $117 for 90 tablets of generic Prozac while Costco was charging $12.

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