The Boston Globe recently reported that a lack of high speed Internet connections are keeping many rural homes from selling.

With more than 55% of the nation currently using broadband and many people, including myself, placing it up there with breathing on Maslow's hierarchy of needs, it's no wonder broadband is a deal breaker. Even though close to 90% of the nation is wired up for broadband, many rural homes still lack a decent Internet connection. And apparently many home buyers aren't willing to settle for a slower connection.

While real estate brokers have seen deals called off after potential buyers learned that there was no high speed connection, I've taken a more proactive approach. If my wife and I see a rural house we like, I'll call up the local cable office or go online to a DSL provider to see if the address is able to get a high speed connection. Just last week I saw a nice looking house on the edge of town, but before I could even share it with my wife I found out it was incapable of getting broadband from any provider which made sharing it unnecessary.

The smart people are currently looking for ways to cut their expenses to save money and feel more financially secure. Today I found a way to save $33 a month without even giving up anything. I looked at my cable bill and decided to make a change.

My cable bill is paid each month via a credit card which I pay in full every billing cycle. I wasn't paying much attention, until I saw that my cable bill for the month was $151. Huh? My bill wasn't that much. I took a look, and saw that my bill used to be $135 a month, until I got a mysterious increase in my internet access. I thought I'd give the cable company a call and see if I couldn't get that extra $16 a month removed.

By the time I got off the phone, my monthly bill was down to $118, and it didn't hurt a bit. As I talked over my bill with the customer service representative, I was reminded that I was paying $13 a month for HBO. If I had to guess, I'd say I watch HBO once a month at the very most. Time to give up the HBO that I won't even miss anyway.