[There are over 100 million sites on the Internet. 100 million! You might think you know about all the important ones (CollegeCandy, Gmail, Google, TFLN…), but there are thousands of other sweet sites out there (like Homeslyce, BadDateTV and Beauty Story) and more showing up every day! We get it – it’s not easy or fun sifting through the crap and porn to find those gems, so we’re gonna bring the gems to you. Just sit back, kick up those feet and allow us to introduce you to the diamonds in the internet rough.]

I love the convenience of watching TV shows online (besides that whole “burn my thighs” thing), but it can be a hassle sometimes when the season or particular episode isn’t available on a particular site, forcing me to hunt across the internet for the show I want to watch. Which, turns out, is only available in Japanese.  Luckily for me, I’ve discovered a handy site that makes everything a whole lot easier (…and in English).

Clicker is a super-extensive catalog of every TV show episode available to watch online.  To use it, simply type in the name of the TV show you want to watch in the search bar (or browse the site’s multiple categories), and Clicker will search it’s catalog of over 5,200 TV shows (and over 280,000 episodes!) from sites all over the web to take you to its Clicker profile page.  Once you’re there, you simply choose the episode you want, and follow the link to watch it!

Some of the links take you to places where you can purchase or rent the episode for a fee, like Amazon and iTunes, or subscription services like Netflix (which is the only option for some shows, especially ones on premium channels). However, there are TONS of shows available for absolutely free!

What a great way to save some money.  If you’re on a tight budget (and who isn’t these days, really?), watching TV on the internet is a great alternative to having to pay for cable.

Or maybe you already pay for cable, but don’t feel like you’re getting your money’s worth because your roommates keep hogging the TV in the living room to watch 90210 and Vampire Diaries busy social life keeps causing you to miss episodes of your favorite shows.  You might be thinking of getting a DVR box or TiVo, but those come with pretty hefty additional monthly fees.  You can get around paying those by catching up on the shows you missed through Clicker instead!

Just think of how much money you’re going to save (and how much of your sanity when you can watch what you want in the privacy of your own room) by using Clicker to watch TV online!

But, if I had to choose?  Yeah, I’d go for the food.  Oddly enough, more and more people are choosing the opposite route and plunging their money into cable boxes rather than their grocery budget.

According to a Reuters/Ipsos poll, in this time of deep financial distress, people are cutting back on food purchases in order to hold onto their cable TV subscriptions.  In fact, grocery bills are being cut faster than even cell phone services!  Is there something wrong with this picture?

I guess I get it. If you don’t have a job or money to hit the town, what else is there to do besides watch TV? You aren’t going to sit in the dark staring at the wall…. but cutting back on food – most likely the nutritious kind – just so you can catch a little MTV? Well, it all just seems so backwards.

To each their own, I guess. I mean, people probably think I’m crazy for refusing to go store-brand on my Oreos (sorry, but they do NOT taste the same) or giving up my Starbucks addiction, but those are things I just can’t live without.  Who am I to judge?

What about you? What do you refuse to give up when faced with a budget crunch?

Now don’t get me wrong, there are still some shows I’ll watch.  After all, I am a self-diagnosed What Not to Wear addict, and, like many other College Candy writers, I adore Jon & Kate Plus 8.  Not to mention I now dress up while grocery shopping, all because of Take Home Chef, Curtis Stone.  This sexy Aussie can ambush me and make me dinner anytime.

But, it ends there.  Lately, I can’t even watch show previews on TLC, because even they freak me out.  The Learning Channel either needs an overhaul (starting with this guy), or a new name.  Our suggestion: The Scary Channel (dun dun dun).

Now TLC, I do have to thank you for one thing.  Some of your shows are cheap birth control.  I mean, 18 Kids and Counting makes me want to join a convent and never have sex again!  While I adore Jon & Kate Plus 8, you should have stopped there, because the multiple birth/Brangelina’s competition shows now take up the majority of your scheduling time.

But then we have the pedophile’s wet dream, Toddlers & Tiaras. There is nothing scarier than a mom reliving her youth by putting lipstick on a 2-year-old. Yes I know these pageant moms exist, but I don’t want to see their doll-like children paraded around on screen. Doing sexy poses. In bikinis. (I feel icky.)

Then we have the medical mystery shows which really freak me out.  First, there’s the My Shocking Story series, featuring the half-man, half-tree; then there’s the multitude of Half-ton (insert descriptor) shows.  And let us not forget the show, “Woman With Half a Body.” Interesting? Yes. While I ate dinner? No thanks.

The scariest of all – and the one making me reconsider my cable package – is April’s all new, “I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant” series. Seriously? WTF, TLC? Why?

On one hand, you know you should hold back on all the spending because you should be saving. On the other hand, you are young, you are in school and you just want to enjoy yourself….with these on your feet.

The good news is, you can do both. Watching your budget is like watching your weight: if you deny yourself everything, eventually you are going to go crazy. For me it was a Burberry trench coat, two new pairs of jeans, and a large pizza with a side of garlic sticks (and Ranch dressing).

After denying myself any sort of shopping (or fattening treats) for months, I just couldn’t stop myself. The jacket was beautiful and the pizza was heavenly, but I definitely regretted both decisions later. Especially after receiving my bank statement in the mail. And trying to squeeze into those jeans.

Budgets are difficult because they’re different for everyone. We all have different needs and, more importantly, guilty pleasures. For some it’s Starbucks. For others it’s manicures. For me, it’s shoes and bags.

When books and magazine articles say that you should only be spending this amount on your living situation, X percent of your salary on dining out and close to zero dollars on “luxuries”, for example, it is unrealistic to expect that to work for everyone.

A more realistic way to budget – one that I have been doing for the past couple of months – is to tailor a budget to what fits you (and all your guilty pleasures). Choose the things that are important to you and make adjustments around them so you don’t feel like you are denying yourself. So, if Venti Non-Fat-No-Whip-Sugar-Free-Caramel-Lattes are your thing, get em, but make sure to save money on other things: cut back on your restaurant eating, buy only used books, or reduce your cable package (since you probably don’t watch all of those movie channels anyway).

Remember, though, that while you are allowing yourself a little indulgence every now and then, you are still trying to save. So you can’t buy every single new bag that comes out every season. You can, however, live your life and do the things you want to do, without feeling guilty (or broke).