@xenoslaywright I remember feeling exactly as you did. Money was tight and I just tried to learn off of free content on CGCookie. But the more I came back, the more I wanted to know.
I eventually just saved up for the yearly membership and waited for a discount/sale period where they offered “the Full Cookie” for a slightly better price and I bit the bullet.
I you cannot afford the yearly membership then I would even suggest just making a plan of what courses you are interested in learning and then buy a month membership once you’ve saved it up and do download all the videos for the stuff you want to learn. That would be the best bang for your buck and you could watch the other courses offline.
One course typically takes me a month because I am a blender hobbyist……and I am really not that good overall at learning 3D so simple topics take me some time. I mostly model at night when kids are in bed and my brain/creativity level is pretty much dried up for the day. But I push through it.
Just because you aren’t a paid member doesn’t mean we other member’s can’t give a helping hand when possible.