Entertainment is obviously a lower priority for those with little disposable income. This doesn't mean that you can't find ways to keep yourself busy. If you know where to look, you can find free movies, music and games over the internet.
You will definitely want a cheap computer or laptop if you don't already have one. For a few hundred dollars, you can have access to just about everything I'll be writing about in this article. Not only can you easily entertain yourself, but you'll have access to various career-building sites. I'll keep some updated recommendations in the links section.
You will also want a decently fast internet connection. Most metropolitan areas have different tiers of internet speeds. I would stick with at least 20 Megabits per second if you can, but you can go as low as 5 mbps if you need to. If you can afford more, I wouldn't go any higher than 50 mbps. It's very rare that anyone on a lower income will need more than that.
Once you've chosen your speed level, be sure to download Chrome as you're internet browser for your PC. It moves quite a bit faster than Internet Explorer and has a solid app library with everything from free games to ad blockers that can be added directly to the browser.
Now follow this link and bookmark it: http://nesbox.com/. Congratulations! You now have access to tons of free Nintendo and Super Nintendo Games you can play straight from your browser. If you get tired of playing Mario Kart and Mega Man, there are tons of other free browser games to play. I'll post my favorites in the links section as I find them. Also check the Chrome app store for other freebies.
If you want to listen to music at home, you'll have plenty of free options for that as well. My favorite site for this is http://grooveshark.com/. From here, you can listen to just about any album from any artist for free. There are some odd problems with certain artists (like R.E.M. and Pink Floyd for example) but it's a great way to try out new artists. There's also Pandora and Last.FM, which allow you to pick an artist and it will create a station of similar artists. I'm not a huge fan of these, but you may find some use with these.
Podcasts can be very entertaining as well. http://www.stitcher.com/ has a huge variety that you can access for free. I'll put some of my favorites from other sites in the link area. These usually last anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.
Movies and Televisions shows can be a little more difficult to find for free. Youtube has a small collection of full movies and TV shows you can view for free. Follow these Reddit links for updated lists: http://www.reddit.com/r/fullmoviesonyoutube/, http://www.reddit.com/r/fulltvshowsonyoutube. If you look around on Reddit, you may be able to find some less legal options as well but I'll let you find those on your own.
For movies, music and books, don't for get to check your local library. You'd be amazed by the number of good, recent movies and TV Boxed sets you can find in libraries.
In later posts, I'll go over some options for those of you with a little more spending money.
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