[Myrddin]

When my paycheck gets smaller as a consequence of increased taxes, I'll compensate by dumping DishNet and buying fewer DVD/BluRay releases. Starbucks? Bye bye. VerizonWireless...fewer minutes, less services. We watch less than 3 hours of "over the air" TV in a given week. Typically a new episode of ER (last season running now) and local TV news.

[Windcatcher]

You can REALLY cut down on your entertainment budget with a capture card:

- Hauppauge PVR-350 capture card (example)
- DVD burner
- Sage TV DVR software

And then capture and burn off cable whenever something strikes your fancy. Sage TV pulls down the listings for free up to two weeks out. See something you like? Click, record. Queue up as many as you want. You’ll find your hard drives filling up faster than you can burn your movies to DVD, but that’s a good kind of pain...