Cut the cord and say goodbye to cable

• More households are using content distributed by Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon and others.
• One couple spends about $8 a month on television, minus Internet connection and DVD rentals.
• Pick the service that best fits your lifestyle or you might spending as much as you did with cable.

Like everyone else, Audra Sharifi Isfahani and her husband James McCollough wanted to trim their costs in this down economy. They figured if they cut their satellite television service, they could save money and spend more time hiking and skiing.

Premium publication:Get USA TODAY's Home magazine for great DIY ideas

"We were sitting on our butts every night watching these TV shows because we were paying so much for them every month," says Sharif, 31, an Albuquerque auditor.

Two years ago, the couple joined a small but growing cadre of "cord cutters" and "cord avoiders:" people eschewing premium cable and satellite services to watch TV on their own terms. Instead, they stream free online content to their TVs and mobile devices; pick up no-cost, over-the-air channels with outdoor antennas; and use Internet-ready televisions, media players and game consoles that come with Netflix, Hulu Plus and other low-cost built-in subscriber apps.

Not counting the cost of their high-speed Internet connection and DVD rentals, the couple now spends about $8 a month on television—and a lot more time outdoors.

They are among the growing number of U.S.-outlier households using interactive entertainment or over-the-top (OTT) content (content that is not provided directly by a viewer's cable or telco network) distributed by Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon, Google, Apple, Microsoft and others.

Be content with your content

Pick the video-streaming service that best fits your lifestyle. If you subscribe to too many, you might find you are spending as much as you did when you had cable.

• Hulu: Watch the five most recent episodes of many popular TV shows, available for 30 days after their original air date. Recent movies take a while to pop up on Hulu. For full season runs, upgrade to Hulu Plus. Hulu, free; Hulu Plus, from $7.99/month.
• Netflix: Tune in to previous seasons of TV shows and older shows, like "Murder, She Wrote." Newly released films take a while, sometimes months, to become available to watch instantly, but there are plenty of old films and classics. From $7.99/month.
• Amazon Prime: Get unlimited instant streaming of thousands of movies and TV shows with Prime Instant Videos. $79/year.
• iTunes: Many titles are available on iTunes the day they are released on DVD. Some episodes are free. From $1.99/episode; $2.99/movie; more for HD.

This article was excerpted from USA TODAY's Home magazine, available now on newsstands or through USA TODAY's online store. The special magazine features articles on home improvement, décor and entertaining.