Cutting Back – Update

Well, it has been almost six months since I swore off buying DVDs and started using Netflix. So what all have I accomplished during that time? I’ve rented 54 movies and 12 seasons of various TV shows (spanning 40 DVD discs). I’ve also watched 9 movies on the internet using their “Watch Instantly” feature. In addition, I can now stream the “Watch Instantly” movie to my Mac Mini and Xbox 360, both of which are hooked up to my big TV. If I lived in a bigger city with faster internet, I could even stream HD movies…which would be awesome.

Overall I’m very pleased with the service and I can usually get about four discs a week. Out of all the DVD’s I’ve received, there has only been two problems: one was broken and the other one was the wrong disc in a season set. Not too shabby in book…especially when you consider how they process and ship the DVDs.

Now it is time to play with some numbers. Say the average cost of a movie I rented retails for $15 and the average cost of a TV season set for $40. Had I purchased those DVDs, I would have spent $810 on the movies and $480 on the TV shows for a grand total of $1320. Please note: there’s no way I would have purchased that number of DVDs in eight months…neither my wife nor budget would allow for that. But with the exception of about 5 DVDs, they are all movies and TV shows I had on wish list.

The total subscription cost for Netfilx has been $164.00 thus far.

I’ve saved a total of $1156 using Netfilx over buying them from retail establishments. I think that’s awesome…especially when you consider the fact that I still have DVDs in their shrink wrap in my library.

How do you improve a turducken? Wrap it in bacon, of course.

Elf Yourself.

It’s Naht a Toomah.

Crazy “Work Wanted” Sign.

IncrediBots.

“The benefits of beer.” Finally, scientific research that needed to be done.