David, I just read about the double latte factor and realized my husband and I have been doing this without having a name for it. When we moved almost two years ago our basic cable rates were going up to almost $45 a month from about $35 a month. My husband said he was not going to pay for that. So, we called our local cable company and asked for the basic of basics of cable. They kept quoting the price of $45 a month. After several calls we finally got them to admit that they had a package of the real basic channels for about $10 a month. We also cut our internet from DSL (over $50 a month) to basic for $10 a month with netzero. Works fine. No problems. I love books and renting movies. So, I have a library card. I request new releases as soon as they come out from my library. So no more $3.50 for each movie rental. Books are free to read. If I check one out and feel like I need to have it on my bookshelf, then money is saved until I can buy it. We also cut our home phone to basic for about $15 a month. No caller i.d., no call waiting, etc.. Works fine. I would recommend everyone trying it. I didn’t think I could live without all those cable channels, but I was so surprised to find out it didn’t make a bit of difference. I learned all this from my mom when my dad lost his job and had to take another job that didn’t pay as much. She cut everything to the bare minimum. That was years ago and he makes more than he did at his job he lost and they still feel they don’t need all those cable channels.
