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Netflix is a fantastic website, but you really need to know how to work the system. The first step involves picking the right plan. They let you borrow up to five movies at a time, but they also offer the option of renting just one movie at a time. There's no point in signing up for the more expensive option if you only plan on watching a handful of movies throughout the month.

Then you need to make sure that you keep your queue filled at all times. I personally have over 50 movies in mine at any one time and I have friends with queues of over 200 movies. This guarantees that you'll always have movies coming to you as soon as you send them back and that you won't have to constantly check your queue and add in more movies.

Next you want to take some time out of your day or week to watch the movies when they get there. Then go ahead and put them back in the envelope and stick them in your mailbox. It sounds funny to think about it that way, but this is actually something I need to work on. I tend to keep movies for several weeks and even a month simply because I don't have the time to watch them.

You should also take advantage of their Watch Instantly feature. This lets you watch television shows and movies right on your computer screen, without waiting for them to arrive in the mail. At any given time they have up to 1,000 things for users to watch instantly. The only downside is that if you have a slow connection speed, it might take awhile for the movie to load. Also, they don't list television shows like they do on the DVDs. Instead of putting four episodes on a disc, you have to load each episode separately, which is a little time consuming.

If you have an XBOX game system, you should also take advantage of the XBOX Live program. You can pick this up at Wal-Mart, the gas station, online or from dozens of other retailers. The cost varies, but it's usually $8 or less per month and if you purchase the longer membership, you can get it even cheaper.

When you have XBOX live, you can actually connect your 360 to your internet and connect that to your Netflix membership. Then you can watch all those Watch Now features right on your television. It also lets you setup an Instant Queue, where you pick all the Watch Now shows and movies and add them into a separate queue. Each one then appears on your television and you can pick them instantly.

Netflix is fantastic, but it gets even better if you use these tips. My friends and I now have viewing parties where we watch movies right on my 360. It's a great way to bring friends or the whole family together for a few hours.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Eblin.
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