As an avid gamer, you get excited when the latest game launches or the hottest accessories hit the shelves. Sometimes, you get a little too excited and put a big dent in your finances.
Is there a way for you to embrace your hobby without jumping into financial trouble? Of course, there is!
Overspending on Your Hobby
There’s nothing wrong with supporting your hobby, but you shouldn’t be spending so much on it that it starts to have a negative effect on your finances. You shouldn’t be racking up a balance on your credit card that you can’t pay down or draining your savings just because you want to keep up with gaming. That spending habit could backfire.
What happens if you have to deal with an emergency expense? What will you do if your car needs fixing, or you have a roof that needs patching? You can’t wait until your next paycheck to deal with these problems.
You shouldn’t be racking up a balance on your credit card that you can’t pay down or draining your savings just because you want to keep up with gaming.
If you don’t have the funds to cover an emergency, you should consider applying for a line of credit. Go to the website CreditFresh to see whether you meet the qualifications for a line of credit or not. If you do, you should apply. You could get approved for the open-end credit tool, which can help you manage emergencies in a short amount of time.
To avoid this disaster again, you should try to manage your gaming costs better. That way, they won’t mess with your finances. Here are four ways to do it:
1. Make Gaming a Part of Your Budget
You should always include “fun money” in your monthly budget. It acknowledges what you want to spend your money on while giving you some boundaries so that you don’t overspend and hurt your ability to pay the bills.
What if you don’t have a budget? Well, that’s a problem that you need to solve right away! Start by downloading a top budgeting app on your smartphone and filling out the information. Then, you can figure out how to adjust your expenses to match your income.
2. Beware Microtransactions
Microtransactions are one of the many ways that video games trick you into spending money without thinking twice about it. You’ll click your way through the purchases and then realize how much you spent when you look at your credit card bill a few weeks later.
Even it seems like a small purchase in the grand scheme of things, you should skip it. These things add up.
3. Wait
When a big game first hits the market, the price is going to be high. Of course, you’ll be tempted to jump on the bandwagon right away, but you can save yourself some money by waiting for the price to go down.
Plus, this is a practical move from a gaming standpoint. Lots of new releases still have bugs that have managed to slip through the cracks. Giving the creators some time to patch up these problems means that you’ll get a better quality product when you wait long after the launch.
Microtransactions are one of the many ways that video games trick you into spending money without thinking twice about it.
4. Sell What You Don’t Use Anymore
Plenty of stores will let you return used video games for store credit, which you can then use to get a brand-new game. And if you can’t do a store exchange, you can always try to sell your old game online. Any profit you make off of the sale can be reinvested in your hobby. Let your habit pay for itself.
Your finances aren’t a game. If something goes wrong, you can’t quit and restart. It’s time to change your spending habits.
Feature Image – Credit: Gustavo Fring via Pexels
