In todays time there's a lot of legal ways to stream series compared to how it has been in the past. You have sites such as Crunchyroll, Hulu, and Netflix who all bring you legally licensed shows to watch (usually for a pretty small fee)
However despite using the above services I still try to support the creators by buying physical copies of at least 2 series a year. It's a small number I know but DVD's are expensive and BluRays are worse.
So I challenge you (when your budget can afford it) to support the creators. There's no forum based reward in this challenge other than you showing your favorite series creators some extra love and hopefully they'll keep making great things!
My plans this year are to finally buy:
-Clannad After Story set
-Guilty Crown set
Bookmarks