How much do you guys spend a month on gaming

[aaron]

i've definitely been guilty of the buy/purge cycle. i'm sure we've all been there at some point or another to some degree. trying to limit my collecting scope at the moment but i'm sure i'll purge at some point in the future.

i spend probably 2-400 a month on games, but i try and use my paypal account (filled with money from selling games on ebay and bst) for those purchases. i have a paypal debit card that takes money straight from that account so if i'm buying something at a store, or online, i can just use that money without having to transfer it. i never use credit cards to fund gaming purchases.

[mas]

Yeah guys I never use my credit cards. That's just crazy and adding more money. If your good you can spend like 20.00 and pay it off when you get home then cool. I'm just going to really try hard to budget myself to 30 every other week. I think 30 should get me a good wii game or a 360 or a nice gem for the genesis. And I also want to say thanks for keeping my Ass in check if i go overboard lol.

[TSTR]

I tend to go on binges, especially if there is some kind of sale or I've got a bunch of credit/coupons hanging around. Then I don't buy anything for a while, sometimes even a month or longer. Then another binge will hit. Rinse and repeat.

[alienjesus]

I'm really struggling to keep down the number of games coming in versus the number being beaten right now. It's a symptom of having a full time job - less time to beat stuff, but more money to spend on it.

Plus my collecting is so wide it doesn't help. I want to pick up all the Nintendo classics as I'm a bit of a Nintendo fanboy. So I can focus my collecting there. But I also need to keep up with the new Nintendo stuff of course.

Oh, but I love me some classic Sega. Best get on that too. And I'll pick up the odd interesting Playstation game I like aswell, lots of cool japanese stuff there.

Speaking of which, I love me some handheld gaming. Never been a better time to pick up PSP and DS games. I'd best get on that. And I don't want my new Vita sitting unused. I'll pick up something for that too.

...And this is how I end up not playing most of the stuff I buy for months or even years.

[8bit]

^^ Ha! I thought I was reading about myself there. Too funny and true!

[aaron]

I'm really struggling to keep down the number of games coming in versus the number being beaten right now. It's a symptom of having a full time job - less time to beat stuff, but more money to spend on it.

Plus my collecting is so wide it doesn't help. I want to pick up all the Nintendo classics as I'm a bit of a Nintendo fanboy. So I can focus my collecting there. But I also need to keep up with the new Nintendo stuff of course.

Oh, but I love me some classic Sega. Best get on that too. And I'll pick up the odd interesting Playstation game I like aswell, lots of cool japanese stuff there.

Speaking of which, I love me some handheld gaming. Never been a better time to pick up PSP and DS games. I'd best get on that. And I don't want my new Vita sitting unused. I'll pick up something for that too.

...And this is how I end up not playing most of the stuff I buy for months or even years.

yeah, i feel you, man. i am focusing on a couple systems for "collection" purposes, i just got into arcade hardware (like an idiot), and i'll buy stuff to play regularly on PS3/PS Vita/Steam. i find that limiting my scope is the best way to keep my costs down.

what does not help, however, is deciding to limit your scope to some of the most expensive systems to collect for.

[alienjesus]

Some of you guys sure spend a lot. On a month I splash out, I can max out at about £150 (I think I've done this maybe once or twice in my entire life, generally just after christmas - and obviously sometimes I splash out a bit more than that if a new console is involved). Most months I spend somewhere between £50-100 on average (upper end of that if I'm buying a new release or two this month). This has been my most expensive year of gaming ever I think, and I'm averaging £135 per month for the year. Thats including my £300 Vita splash out in january, which adds an average of £50 a month to that total.

I keep meaning to pick up less games at a higher price - acquire some of the slightly more pricy classics I need such as Super Metroid or Paper Mario. My issue is less overspending on games, and more buying more than I can play.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

Without work I have been limited to about $30 or so a month. I'm certain that once I'm employed I'll probably spend about $100 or so a month because I like buying new releases as close as I can to when they come out.

[TSTR]

I just realized I forgot to put a $ value in with my reply. It's hard to do an average, but I'd say somewhere around $50 a month.

[dsheinem]

I don't know about folks like AJ, but the Games Acquired thread has really helped me keep a better rein on game spending. I'd recommend everyone give it a try as a place to keep track of spending on a monthly basis.

I managed to actually end 2013 on a profit by slimming down my collection (by about 52 games in total) and ditching a lot of stuff that I didn't really ever intend to play or could cheaply replace with a legit digital version. I am trying to not spend more than the amount I was in the black last year so that this year I can basically make it a "break even" total over two years of tracking my spending. To do that, though, I had to A) seek out, buy, and part out lots and B) be comfortable slimming down some of my collection in ways that made sense to me.

Another idea is to have a specific account for gaming funds. This might be PayPal (which is convenient for online stuff) or it might be a separate bank account where you siphon off a set amount every paycheck via direct deposit or auto-transfer (e.g. 5% or $30 or $100 or whatever). It requires some modicum of self control and planning (e.g. I know I want a certain game in X months or I know I will spend money in the Steam sale in June, etc.), but really it is probably the best way to avoid the temptation of just spending frivolously and ending up in a situation like mas is describing where you have little cash on hand for other things.