I went on a new printer mission a couple of weeks ago for my home. I had an Epson printer for a few years, but lost my power cord after my move (which of course I found after I bought this new printer). I have a laptop that I like to use on my lap while watching TV in the living room. But if I ever wanted to print something I’d always have to plug in the USB port to the printer in the next room. Wouldn’t it be great if I had a network printer? But those costs hundereds if not thousands of dollars – right? So went to my local electronics store a low-and-behold a wireless printer! (Well, they haven’t made wireless power yet without cooking yourself to death) And what’s more, it’s sub-$100! I picked up a Brother MFC-490CW Multifunction printer. I had my reservations thinking wireless might be slow and not reliable. However I found just the opposite. It was easy to setup and a breeze to print, scan, copy, etc. Plus there’s no wires! Looking at the ink prices, they’re pretty cheap too – (yea eBay!). I highly recommend this product to anyone looking to free themselves yet not do away with any of the advantages of this type of system.

Lately I’ve upgraded my TV from the tube to the LCD. Nice. But wait – now I need new furniture to replace my bulky entertainment center. Ooh – now I need better sound; yep 5.1 dobly digital sound. Well, standard cable just isn’t up to par, so now I have to go get a HD cable box.

Upgrading to the HD “lifestyle” is like a Jeep. It’s a never-ending money pit. Good luck catching me buying Blueray, well at least not yet.

But here’s one money saving tip – eBay! I went to cox to pickup the HD box, something like $6/mo. But wait to hook it up via the HDMI cable, it’s another $60 upfront! No way! Go to eBay, search for HDMI Cable (at least ver 1.3) and wam-bam, six bucks. That’s a $52 savings for a stupid cable! Granted you may not get the pretty packaging, but who cares. eBay! Audio cables, video cables, all cheap cheap cheap, and they work the same.