I don't have cable or TiVo, and this internet situation of mine is about the cheapest it gets, but I had to pay for a home phone at the same time, which is something, but still only $25 more a month. If I had a roommate, it'd be quite cheap. The only magazine subscription I have is one that I got suckered into at Best Buy and haven't figured out how to cancel. I certainly don't even read it.
And don't I know about the car situation. But the original plan was to have it last me about 6 months (which is now) and then buy a better one, one more like the most perfect car I ever had. Cheap and reliable. It was a 98 Ford Escort, which had been a mission car (in a mission that actually took care of its cars, North Chicago). 46,000 miles on it, for $4600; my car payments were roughly $100 a month, and I never had to do more than basic oil maintenance on it.
Back when I first moved here, my brother convinced me to buy this car from him, and though it's been great for getting me around, I basically ended up paying him what I would have given for a downpayment, and now that I'm broke, trading in the Jeep probably isn't an option. That's the thing: I knew it would involve some repairs, but I didn't want to keep it long enough to deal with the big ones. Now I have no choice, really. And that sucks. Especially when the mechanics think they can gouge you. Oh, I have no doubt the system should be replaced eventually, but what he was saying to me--that power bleeding it would blow out the master cylinder--isn't really true, and he was trying to sell me something I didn't strictly need.