Upgrade Your Life While Downsizing Your Budget

SAN DIEGO — Cricket Communications, a leading provider of innovative and value-driven wireless services, has teamed up with personal finance and savings expert Robert Pagliarini to offer easy tips to help people stretch already-tight budgets. Pagliarini is the author of The Other 8 Hours, Six-Day Financial Makeover and a certified financial planner.

"As the economy struggles to recover, people are looking for new ways to save money," said Pagliarini. "But no one wants to cut all of the fun and entertainment out of their lives, especially with deeply personal devices like cell phones and electronics."

Cricket has partnered with Robert to offer creative money-saving tips that can help save families hundreds of dollars each month.

PERK System - List all of your expenses and decide which ones you can "Postpone", "Eliminate", "Reduce" and those you must "Keep". Don't let the simplicity throw you. It's easy but incredibly effective and helps you prioritize and get your spending in line. The rest of my tips focus on expenses you can "Eliminate" and "Reduce."

"Budget" Nights Out – A night out can be much needed, but dinner bills, movie tickets and parking fees each month can quickly start to resemble a mortgage payment! Don't skip the night out completely, but consider eating at home before the movie. You can even invite your friends over for a cooking night – and they can return the favor the next time.

Small Cutbacks, Big Savings - Don't forget about the small everyday expenses you rack up – they add up to big savings. If you can cut out some coffees and brown bag your lunch a few times each week, you can save $150 a month.

Technology That SAVES You Money – It seems counter-intuitive, but there are ways to cut your costs with new gadgets and services. You can slash your cable bill by using video subscription streaming services, online DVD rentals and a HD antenna… you still get 90% of what you watch through cable/satellite providers for one-fifth of the price.

Cell Phones - The average family spends well over $1,000 a year on wireless service, and that's BEFORE you start adding in costs like extra lines and fancy phones for the kids, apps and song downloads. For anyone who has ever given their kid a smartphone, you know this can be a recipe for a financial disaster.

The easiest, most pain-free way to save money is to stick with a fixed cost, pre-paid plan like Cricket's where you can save hundreds of dollars each year, without sacrificing all of the fun apps, games and music that you can't live without. Cricket has the latest devices with a no-contract plan that includes unlimited talk, text and data for less than half what you'd end up paying at a larger wireless provider.

For more information about Cricket's flexible service plans and device lineup, visit www.mycricket.com.

About Cricket
Cricket is the pioneer of simple and affordable unlimited wireless services with no long-term commitments or credit checks required serving approximately 5.7 million customers. Cricket products are available nationwide. Cricket offers wireless voice and broadband Internet services over the latest technology, high-quality, all-digital 3G CDMA2000 1X and 1xEV-DO wireless network. Cricket's nationwide wireless voice service plans include unlimited anytime minutes, unlimited U.S. long distance, unlimited text and picture messaging, unlimited text to Mexico, unlimited Mobile Web, unlimited directory assistance, as well as a variety of calling features and feature-rich mobile applications such as popular games, ringtones and wallpapers. For more information on Cricket, visit www.mycricket.com. Cricket is offered by Leap Wireless International, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, Calif. For more information on Leap, visit www.leapwireless.com.

About Robert
Robert Pagliarini is a man on a mission. He is obsessed with improvement and making the most of the "other 8 hours" — the 8 hours not spent sleeping or working. He's also obsessed with empowering others to live life to the fullest by radically changing the way they spend their other 8 hours.

Robert is the author of The Other 8 Hours: Maximize Your Free Time to Create New Wealth & Purpose and the No. 1 bestseller Six-Day Financial Makeover. He has appeared as an expert on 20/20, Good Morning America, Dr. Phil, ABC Morning News, and in The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, Money Magazine, and many others. Robert is the president of Pacifica Wealth Advisors, Inc., a boutique wealth management firm specializing in sudden money recipients. He is a Certified Financial Planner and has a master's degree in financial services.

SOURCE Cricket Communications, Inc.