How do I move a wordpress.com hosted blog to my own hosting?

Question:
I have a wordpress.com blog and I want to get web hosting and move it to my new host. How do I move a wordpress.com blog without losing my posts?

Answer:

Before you go out and get a domain name and web hosting, click here for the exact steps you need to move a WordPress.com blog to your own web hosting account.  It will help you keep your expenses low.