There is hardly any place that you can go where a video game is not being played. From the dentist office to the park, I tend to see them everywhere I go, and so do my kids. Which means, that the begging for video games gets more frequent.
I don’t have a problem letting my kids play video games with some limits involved, but I do have a problem spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars on video games.
Thousands? How is that possible? Well, the consoles themselves can be in the hundreds of dollars, but the real cost is in the games themselves. At $50 a pop, a good size collection of games can quickly add up. And then you have games for different systems. Just two different systems, lets say a hand held and a regular console, with just five games for each system can cost you around $900! I know kids who easily have 20 or more games each for multiple systems.
Don’t worry, there are ways to really reduce that cost.
Get an older system
Many older systems can be had for just a few dollars including games! On Freecycle, you might even be able to get an older system for free. Just remember that today’s older system was yesterday’s must have. There is usually still a ton of play in an older system.
Get upward compatible games
Buy older gamers for your new system. If you have a new system, you can still play some older games on it, usually. Five Below has new Game Boy Advance games that will work on a Nintendo DS. The cost is $5 instead of $50.
Use your library
Our local library offers Wii games for checkout. It costs only $1 a week for a new game, that often includes the accessories that are needed to play it. it is a great way to try out a new game without committing to the $50 cost–think about it, you can get 50 weeks of all new games for the same price.