The Internet: If you live in the city, or even in an area where there are a few wifi hotspots, do you really need to pay a whole ton of money to have a home network? I’m not saying you should hack your next door neighbor’s network (ahem, you know who you are) but you could actually benefit from hanging out in Starbuck’s with that deluxe half-caf-double-decaf- fancy-schmancy-frappe-mocha-cappuccino-sans-foam and meet some interesting locals while you’re at it. But if you don’t have access to these things, trying to decipher the name of that drink was totally pointless, and you should just stick to what you’ve got like I do.

Video Games: Don’t pirate video games. Bad Idea. Trust me. Believe it or not, the stuff you learned in preschool has a life application here. If you hang out with a group of pretty close friends, it’s pointless for you each to buy that brand new secret-agent-mushy-zombie-war-fps for $99.99 and your left leg. There are multiple approaches to this one. You could just keep playing the original Left 4 Dead instead of buying every single sequel. Or, you could take turns buying new games and share like good little kiddies. You could even pool your money and start a game fund. I really don't care. But you get to play them with your friends either way. But don’t pirate video games. Really.

Computer Programs: You already spent your left leg on that video game, and now you can’t afford Deluxe Photo Editor Pro Plus. Well, here’s a secret. There are super cool people all over the internet that don’t believe in having to pay for computer programs. You just have to be wise about who’s legit and who isn’t. For example, instead of Photoshop you can use Gimp. Instead of insanely expensive DJ software, you can use Pacemaker. Instead of Pages or Word, you can use OpenOffice. If you don’t mind looking at advertisements, you can get some form of pretty much anything free and legally.

Textbooks: This year I paid about $500 for all of the mandatory school supplies. They're expensive, and it doesn't look like anyone's really going to do anything about it any time soon. Can’t you just trade used textbooks with your friends? Nuff said.

Hot Water: Okay, so that's taking it a little too far. There really isn't much of an alternative to heating your water. But lots of people take it for granted. Without hot water, we'd have to take cold showers and scrub our dishes twice as hard.

See all the cool stuff you get when you have some julimagination?