Videogames
Warning: the following money-saving article may not appeal to the non-dorks in the audience, so you all may want to get up and stretch your legs for a while. Now that its just me and my dorky brethren, let me bring up a couple ways to save money on one of our favorite past times: video games.
Over years I've spent a small fortune on video games, and I was gleefully on my way to continuing that trend when I bought my Xbox 360. However after spending upwards of sixty dollars a game a few times I thought it would be good for my bank account to explore other ways to get my gaming fix. After searching around I found two sure-fire ways to enjoy all the games I loved at a fraction of the cost:
Buy Used
Unless you absolutely have to get a game the first day it comes out, there is a huge benefit to waiting a little while and getting a game used. After the first few weeks of a title launch, many of the early buyers have usually finished the game and are ready to move on. If you check eBay you can usually find older games for 25% - 50% off their retail price, and really old games (6 months or more) can be even cheaper. Plus you can subsidize your gaming even more by selling your old games. If you've never sold anything on eBay before, don't worry - accounts are easy to set up and there are few things easier to sell on eBay than video games. They have built-in descriptions on the back of the box or instruction manuals, you can usually find good stock photographs of the covers for your listings, and they're super-simple to ship. Just please, make sure the game actually works before you sell it so you can keep all us cheap gamers happy, and maintain a good seller rating.
Rent
A lot of gamers may not consider this at first, but think about it - how many games do you actually return to after you beat them? Sure, there are some classics like Grand Theft Auto, Madden, or Dead Rising that can be played over and over, but most completed video games just end up gathering dust. This is why renting can be the perfect solution for most of the video games you play. I've tried a few online services, and the one I've liked the best is Gamefly (affiliate link). They have by far the best selection across all of the current and next-gen consoles and handhelds, and the shipping is fast as well. Rental plans currently range from $14.95 per month for one game out at a time, up to $35.95 a month for four games. I currently do the one game plan and I average about two games a month, so I'm only spending fifteen bucks to play games that would cost around $120 retail. Basically the more games you play, the more financial sense renting makes.
Hopefully if you use one or both of these methods, you can stretch your video gaming dollars to the max. That's all for now, happy gaming!