How much do you guys spend a month on gaming

[mas]

I do feel better that almost all of us spend 100 or more in a month in gaming/hobby

[J T]

My weakness is in convincing myself that by buying games on sale now, I'm saving myself money in the future from when I would eventually buy the game anyway. The reality is that I wouldn't buy the game in the future much of the time, and I have more interest in games than I have time to play them. Thus backlog.

My finances are not in dire straits or anything, I just have a glutinous amount of games and no time to play them. I need to find a way to get on the hype-train for games I already own and then convince myself to install and play them, rather than browse sales and add to the pile from the latest discounts. I'd save money and have more fun.

[J T]

I do feel better that almost all of us spend 100 or more in a month in gaming/hobby

You're comparing yourself to fellow addicts. Don't place too much investment in us as a social reference for modeling reasonable spending.

[Hobie-wan]

I do feel better that almost all of us spend 100 or more in a month in gaming/hobby

Considering I've had friends that have sometimes spent around $100 in an evening at a bar, which of course they get far less enjoyment from later, I'm not concerned with my habits.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Not counting a small transaction I just had on these forums I plan to spend $0 in July.

[mas]

I'm almost excited to commit myself and see how far I can go the distance. No one has ever gone the distance with creed before and if that Bell rings and I'm still standing then I know im not just another bum from the neighborhood..... Sorry was having a rocky moment

[dsheinem]

@Dsheinem:
That is an awesome way of keeping track. But what about if I don't sell games anymore and just keep games?

Well, again, I started with an allotment of spending for the year so if my $ IN column is empty (I sell no games) I try to limit my $ OUT column to no more than what my monthly limit is. So, if you give yourself $100 a month, make sure that you don't push the $ OUT column past that limit. If you start to, you've forced yourself to sell stuff to balance it out to be back within the limit you've set. It's a way of penalizing yourself, I guess, if you go over.

I'm wondering why I cant save any money or wonder after two weeks I only have 20.00 in my account.

Because if I can save 450 a month till xmas I wont be hurting and next year ill be very comfortable, not rich but ok to where if I take the kids out I wont be hurting

To be frank: if you have kids that are living in an environment where there might be only $20 in the family bank account at any given time and they aren't going to be able to get food/go out and enjoy life/etc. because you've spent the family budget on games...then you have a bigger problem here than simply bad buying habits that effect you. Stop buying games NOW. Build up a reserve that CAN'T be touched for games in case of a family emergency. Go for several months putting all your "game money" into a new savings account that can't be drawn on/transferred easily. Force discipline upon yourself and don't buy fucking Mega Man DLC.

If you can't do these basic things and you find yourself slipping back into a habit of buying games then you really should seek some kind of professional help with what can likely be classified as an addiction. I hate to be harsh, but I think you'll find that you feel much better WHEN you purchase games again knowing that A) other responsibilities are covered fully and B) you are working within a safe budget.

Time for some major changes, man. Best of luck.

[Retrogamer0001]

I used to be really bad a few years ago (200-400 a month) but I've gotten it down to between 50-80 a month now. Some games I have pre-ordered are +129.99, but that's not the norm and are special editions. All in all, I've been doing pretty well compared to the last few years.

[Cronozilla]

My buying habits are very sporadic, mostly because I know I can't afford it. If I could, I'd be hitting up game stores, ebay, craigslist, etc, every day.

As it stands, it's probably about $50 a month, on average. Some months I buy nothing, some months I'll get some cash (for video games) and that'll be more.

July will likely be in the "more" category, considering my birthday is in the middle of it.
I imagine I'll be spending in October too, since that's when the Portland Retro Gaming Expo is. I'll spend entirely too much there.

But a "big" month for me, is like $150. The only times I might hit $500, is if a system came out.

[laurenhiya21]

For me, it's a bit random. For most months, I spend $0 on games. Some months I only spend a little, and some I spend a lot.

Since I don't have a job, it's a bit random when I can or can't get games, since it depends on when someone throws money at me haha. I save most money I get anyway since it would be nice to actually have some when I graduate from college... also I tend to feel bad if I spend a ton on games haha.

At least I have a huge backlog anyway so it's not really a big deal to me (not to mention many good free games, and having a nice boyfriend with a job :>)