Those carefree days when Britney Spears caused traffic jams as she drove aimlessly around Los Angeles with a paparazzi battalion in tow are gone, replaced by low-key outings with her parents -- and the occasional Oscar winner.

The under-close-supervision popster grabbed dinner Tuesday night at the Paradise Cove Beach Café in Malibu, Calif., with dad-cum-co-conservator Jamie and mom Lynne, who tried to block shutterbugs from getting a clear shot by holding a red coat over her daughter's extension-covered head.

Brit looked surprisingly put-together in a white sundress and her go-to cowboy boots, although she remained stony-faced during the camera crush.

And here's hoping the 'rents picked up the check, because OK! reports Spears' spendthrift ways, like her cruising, may be a thing of the past.

"There's going to be some serious belt-tightening," a mole tells the magazine, which says her new team of advisers is trying to ensure her current fortune will provide a "comfortable" life for her and sons Sean, 2, and Jayden, 1.

"Britney was never worth nearly as much as many thought she was," maintains the insider. "Those figures of $100 million or more were so off the mark."

How off? OK! figures her coffers are filled with about $40 million.

Among the concessions to thriftiness allegedly in the works: Britney, who is reportedly on a $1,500-a-week allowance, will give up her $30,000-a-month Malibu mansion; her monthly entertainment and vacation budget will be trimmed from $100,000 to about $10,000, and the $16,000-a-month she spent on ill-fitting clothes will be cut in half.

"It's taken a huge team to bring some normalcy out of the chaos that existed," explains the source. "This team will have to be in place for years."

Britney Spears in her Mercedes earlier this year

Brit's minders are also clearing out the automotive clutter from her driveway. TMZ.com reports her conservators have received approval to unload several of her cars, which include a relatively new Mercedes, a Mini Cooper and an SUV. No word on which vehicles will get the heave-ho.

In between having her life rebuilt by others, Spears found time last week to join Mel Gibson (yes, that Mel Gibson) and a few of his pals for dinner at a Russian restaurant in Los Angeles.

According to People, this was the latest in a series of post-psych-ward meetings between Brit and the craggy-faced filmmaker, who has kept a low profile since his 2006 DUI bust.

"Mel and his wife Robin clearly saw a woman in crisis and wanted to extend themselves in any way possible," a source tells the mag. "There are no expectations, there is no agenda. It's simply an act of human kindness ..."

PageSix.com, however, believes Gibson hopes to convince Spears to warble a few hymns at his church.

"Apparently, he is trying to get her to start attending his church [Church of the Holy Family] in Malibu," asserts a Spears "family insider." "We heard he asked her to sing at one of the weekly sessions there."

Meanwhile, a spy tells E!'s Marc Malkin that the recent bull session over borscht was "all about sobriety ... Just a friendly dinner. They have mutual friends."

As for Britney's much-hyped guest-starring turn on "How I Met Your Mother," the episode is set to air March 24 and will include her uttering the soon-to-be classic line, "Can we have sex and then go shopping?" to Neil Patrick "Doogie Howser" Harris.

Set those TiVos, people.

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