Worried about how you’re going to pay for the holidays? Here’s a plan: Find painless ways to save on things you pay for all year. There are plenty of opportunities, if you know where to look.

“If you treat a few big things as discretionary purchases and shop around, you can save hundreds of dollars,” said Steve Krenzer, president of Experian’s interactive media group, which operates LowerMyBills.com.

Here are five money-saving ideas. Few people will be able to take advantage of them all, but even one or two could help recoup the $431 Americans expect to spend for gifts on average this holiday season.

Refinance your home: Interest rates on home loans have remained naggingly high – between 6 percent and 7 percent – for most of the last two years. But in the last week rates dropped significantly, said Jeff Lazerson, president of MortgageGrader, a Web-based loan company. That spells opportunity for anyone who bought or refinanced a home in the last two years – or anyone with an adjustable-rate mortgage.

Fixed-rate, 30-year mortgages with no upfront fees were going for 5.75 percent early this week, Lazerson said. For someone paying 6.25 percent now on a loan balance of $500,000, refinancing into this loan would save $161 a month, or about $1,930 a year.

Appeal your property tax: Although the slide in housing prices might prevent you from refinancing, the downturn can be a benefit when it comes to your tax bill.

Property taxes are usually tied to a home’s assessed value. If you bought your home when prices were in the stratosphere, then chances are your home’s assessed value is significantly higher than its current market value.

Every county assessor’s office offers a process to appeal property assessments that homeowners believe are too high.

Shop for car insurance: Auto insurance rates can vary from insurer to insurer by hundreds of dollars a year. And shopping one year doesn’t preclude finding an even better deal the next, Experian’s Krenzer said.

State insurance regulators often help with the shopping by providing cost comparisons on their Web sites.

How much can you save? I shopped for myself, and as a result I’ll be switching insurers, saving $823 a year.

Review your cell phone plan: Cost per minute has been trending down. If you haven’t checked rates in a few years, you may be paying too much, Krenzer said. Better yet, you don’t necessarily need to switch carriers or plans to save money.

With a single phone call, Krenzer said, he was able to cut the cost of his own cell phone bill by $50 a month, without switching carriers, changing his phone number, losing minutes or giving up any bells and whistles. Your cell phone company won’t give you its best rate unless you ask for it.

Krenzer saved even more – $100 a month – when he realized that he was paying for unlimited international dialing even though he now has a BlackBerry and is more likely to e-mail when overseas than call.

Troll for waste: Even the most financially savvy among us have some niggling expense that could be cut without much pain. For Krenzer it was his second gym membership. He sheepishly noted that, in better times, he joined two – one close to work and one close to home. Upon further review, he figured one membership was enough, saving him about $20 a month, or $240 a year.

If you think about it, you may have unnecessary regular expenses, such as unused Netflix memberships, premium cable channels that are rarely watched, or subscriptions to magazines that go unread.

Kathy Kristof is a personal finance columnist. Write to Personal Finance, Business Section, Los Angeles Times, 202 W. First St., Los Angeles, CA 90012, or e-mail kathy.kristof@latimes.com.