Frugal Intuition

What are you paying every month for your cable or satellite?  Seriously.  $40?  $50?  $75?  $100?  The cost of these services seems to do nothing but go up and up and up.  They may have a great introductory rate, but after the first 3 or 6 months or year, the monthly price skyrockets.  And you know, it seems like there’s never anything good on.  There is much money to be saved here, folks.

Now I’m not saying that you suddenly have to live in the dark ages before television, where you sit around staring at each other over candle or oil lamp light and go to bed at sundown.  But I am going to suggest some alternatives.

I don’t want to miss my favorite shows!

You know what?  If your favorite show is on a major network, chances are they are putting that show, in it’s entirety, on their website in a streaming video form.  I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve wound up missing something and going back and watching it on my computer.  If you have the right kind of connector on your TV and a VGA cable, you can even turn that TV into a monitor for your computer and watch it on big screen.

But my favorite show isn’t on the network website!

Alternative number two: Blockbuster and Netflix .   Both of these services have free trials so you can try them out.  With the move the last decade towad putting television series on DVD, many of your favorite shows, popular or obscure are available in this format.  And you can find them through one of these programs.  Both work pretty much the same.  You create a queue, load it up with all the stuff you want to watch, and depending on the plan you choose, they send a certain number of DVDs right to your house (so, hey, saves on gas for going to the video store).  Blockbuster starts as low as $3.99 a month for a 1 DVD at a time plan.  Netflix starts at $4.99, also for a 1 DVD at a time plan, plus 2 hours of instant streaming from a separate library.

Now my personal preference is Blockbuster.  Why?  Well I love their Super Saver, Total Access plan, which allows for 1 DVD at a time, 2 per month, plus free in-store (as in your local Blockbuster) exchanges twice a month for $9.99.  Yeah, that’s only 4 DVDs a month, but when you’re watching TV shows, there are often 6 episodes on a disk.  You can supplement your other TV watching time with those online shows I was talking about earlier.  If 2 a month isn’t enough for you, their next plan is unlimited DVDs through the mail, still with 2 in-store exchanges a month for only $11.99.  Doesn’t $12 sound a heck of a lot better than the $40+ that you’re paying now?  That’s money in the bank, folks!

Whichever service you choose (and I’ve used both Blockbuster and Neflix in the past), they have multiple distribution centers around the country, so you’ll rarely have to wait more than a day or two between return of your last rental and receipt of your next one.  The other fantastic thing about these services?  No late fees.  With the cost of renting DVDs in store locally being upwards of $4 a rental for 5 days (And really, who the heck needs a movie for 5 days?  It’s just a ploy so you’ll forget to return it on time and they can earn more money in late fees.  I miss the old classic over night rental.  Watch it.  Take it back the next day.), if you only rent 2 movies a month through one of these services, it’s paid for itself.   Another plus?  No commercials!  One of the prime reasons we buy so much stuff is that we’re brainwashed by tv ads–that’s kind of the point of them.  If you aren’t watching them, you’re less succeptible to product advertising.

An unexpected source of rentals–your local library

One unexpected place that you can rent DVDs (and sometimes games and other things) for absolutely FREE is your local library.  The selection is going to vary from place to place, with some locations having a wider range than others, but this oft neglected resource should definitely be investigated.  Check with your local branch to see what they offer.

Hey, what about video games?

My husband informs me that our local video stores presently charge about $8 to rent a video game for 5 days.  I about keeled over in shock.  Unless you play constantly in your free time, the likelihood that you’ll beat the game in that span of time is slim.  So, I present to you another alternative.  Gamefly .   This is the same kind of thing as Blockbuster or Netflix, but for video games.  If you are a gamer, or if it’s your spouse or kids, this service is DEFINITELY worth looking into.  It’s more expensive than the movie services, but then it’s also more expensive to rent games.  They have two plans.  Their regular plan is $22.95 a month for 2 games a time, as long as you want.  They’ve got a 1 at a time plan for $15.95 a month.  They also have a nifty “Keep it” feature, where you can essentially try before you buy the game.  This is often cheaper than buying games in-store.  They’ll ship you the original case and instruction manual.

Take Home Message

Regardless of your preferred form of entertainment, there is usually a cheaper way to do it.  Don’t be afraid to look outside the box and try some new things.

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