The 2009 list of Thrifty People - The Result

I have a pretty easy life (around 3-4 hours work a day with no commute) and have insomnia, meaning there's plenty of free time in the day, but how on Earth can you find the time to play this many games? I've got Banjo and Mirror's Edge to work my way through, and I'm finding too time-consuming.

So how are you managing your 40 hour days? One things for sure, I won't be playing any of you online.

I'm in for this too but I'm going to be a little more restrictive. My budget for the year is £100 but that has to be new cash spent, not trades or money gained from selling stuff I already have. I've a huge pile of games to play and hope to ebay those out as I finish them. I've also got a £20 Game gift card and a £15 iTunes voucher so they don't count either. I'll be cancelling my Lovefilm rental this month too so that should save some. I'd really like to get more from the stuff I already own. Also with last years big price cuts I'm going to try not to pre-order anything this year and try and pick it up cheaper a month or so down the line.
I'm still amazed by how much Hugo spends on games though.

Day two of 2009 and no money has been spent on games \o/

My £500 limit is looking good.

suzzopher wrote:Day two of 2009 and no money has been spent on games \o/

My £500 limit is looking good.

Way to go Suzz.

chalkitdown wrote:Jesus Christ.


The recession obviously hasn't hit the Hugo household.

I think it must be a Hugo Manor.

plaido wrote:

Something Fishy wrote:I'm going to tery my best to keep within this limit too.

I'm not buying another game until KZ2 and Halo Wars come out and i'mplanning to buy nothing at launch this year. Not hard to wait a month for a price drop so that's what I'll do.

I'm going to let myself actually enjoy the stack I have before buying more for a change.

Same here. After paying £38 for Fallout 3 & Fable 2 on launch day, only to find weeks later that you get both for £40, I'm not getting any more at launch.

Wait until the price drops & shop around - thats gonna be my modus operandi for 2009.

We'll save a lotof money for a small amount of waiting. Mad not to really. I reckon i'll enjoy what I have more this way too.

I inadvertently stocked up on games just before '09 - I reckon I'm good for sticking beneath £300
Everyone should keep a log and we can compare.

After what has happened this year I can't see me buying too many games on launch day. Street Fighter IV and Uncharted 2 will be the only day one purchases unless Mass Effect 2 lands this year.

Rex Kramer wrote:

suzzopher wrote:Day two of 2009 and no money has been spent on games \o/

My £500 limit is looking good.

Way to go Suzz.

I bet Rik is already on about 2 grand worth of new games

suzzopher wrote:After what has happened this year I can't see me buying too many games on launch day. Street Fighter IV and Uncharted 2 will be the only day one purchases unless Mass Effect 2 lands this year.

I was thinking I had no day 1's this year but you just reminded me about Mass effect. That'll be the only one.

I think my son is saving up for Dawn ofWar 2 , so that may be one for him on day 1(he still plays the first all the time).

Buffs: comparing is a good idea, we cna encourage each other. I think often the hype that grows when everyone buys games on day one and go "best thing ever" (before they get bored a week later) is what lures me into buying quite often. If we're all holding off then that won't be an issue and we can al save money.

This will be like Gamers Anonymous. All of us trying to stop our habbit

Rex Kramer wrote:I'm in for this too but I'm going to be a little more restrictive. My budget for the year is £100 but that has to be new cash spent, not trades or money gained from selling stuff I already have. I've a huge pile of games to play and hope to ebay those out as I finish them. I've also got a £20 Game gift card and a £15 iTunes voucher so they don't count either. I'll be cancelling my Lovefilm rental this month too so that should save some. I'd really like to get more from the stuff I already own. Also with last years big price cuts I'm going to try not to pre-order anything this year and try and pick it up cheaper a month or so down the line.
I'm still amazed by how much Hugo spends on games though.

It will save you money renting games from there ironicly.

irishguy2008 wrote:

Rex Kramer wrote:I'm in for this too but I'm going to be a little more restrictive. My budget for the year is £100 but that has to be new cash spent, not trades or money gained from selling stuff I already have. I've a huge pile of games to play and hope to ebay those out as I finish them. I've also got a £20 Game gift card and a £15 iTunes voucher so they don't count either. I'll be cancelling my Lovefilm rental this month too so that should save some. I'd really like to get more from the stuff I already own. Also with last years big price cuts I'm going to try not to pre-order anything this year and try and pick it up cheaper a month or so down the line.
I'm still amazed by how much Hugo spends on games though.

It will save you money renting games from there ironicly.

It kind of won't though as I have a pile of games I haven't played so I don't really have time to play the rental ones.

I like the idea of regular updates so we can all support each other (or laugh at others wild expenditure), maybe post monthly purchases and a running total?

I predict that Hugo and Rik will out buy the rest of us by some margin in 09.

They are the ones who have yet to admit to having a problem

Rex Kramer wrote:

irishguy2008 wrote:

Rex Kramer wrote:I'm in for this too but I'm going to be a little more restrictive. My budget for the year is £100 but that has to be new cash spent, not trades or money gained from selling stuff I already have. I've a huge pile of games to play and hope to ebay those out as I finish them. I've also got a £20 Game gift card and a £15 iTunes voucher so they don't count either. I'll be cancelling my Lovefilm rental this month too so that should save some. I'd really like to get more from the stuff I already own. Also with last years big price cuts I'm going to try not to pre-order anything this year and try and pick it up cheaper a month or so down the line.
I'm still amazed by how much Hugo spends on games though.

It will save you money renting games from there ironicly.

It kind of won't though as I have a pile of games I haven't played so I don't really have time to play the rental ones.

I like the idea of regular updates so we can all support each other (or laugh at others wild expenditure), maybe post monthly purchases and a running total?

I would do that

Are people accounting for trade in's so if you spend £100 and then trade one of the games you just bought in for £20 you have now spent £80? if so i think £300 should be a very easy target to attain i would say.

I'm sure I'll surprise some this year, I seriously doubt I'll spend anywhere near as much as last year, £100 a month on average should cover it.

HSH28 wrote:I'm sure I'll surprise some this year, I seriously doubt I'll spend anywhere near as much as last year, £100 a month on average should cover it.

That is still £1,200

Something Fishy wrote:

suzzopher wrote:After what has happened this year I can't see me buying too many games on launch day. Street Fighter IV and Uncharted 2 will be the only day one purchases unless Mass Effect 2 lands this year.

I was thinking I had no day 1's this year but you just reminded me about Mass effect. That'll be the only one.

I think my son is saving up for Dawn ofWar 2 , so that may be one for him on day 1(he still plays the first all the time).

Buffs: comparing is a good idea, we cna encourage each other. I think often the hype that grows when everyone buys games on day one and go "best thing ever" (before they get bored a week later) is what lures me into buying quite often. If we're all holding off then that won't be an issue and we can al save money.

Still reeling from Resistance 2 I take it.

I've managed to spend an incredibly small amount, fifteen quid for Fable 2, twenty quid for Left 4 Dead, a present of GTA for fifteen quid. And that's it, I'm looking at my games collection and that's all I can see. I've been going through my old, unfinished games and redoing all the absolute fantastic games that needed a second play through. And then I've got Disgaea too which takes a couple of minutes here and there and sometimes an hour or so if I can't sleep.

Best year ever, and reading the threads like Resistance 2 and other ones, I can tell some games won't appeal to me or it'll only be good in multiplayer and things like that. I had all the big games of this year on my list to buy and I'm glad I've not touched Far Cry 2, Mirrors Edge, Littlebig Planet, Resistance 2, Gears of War 2; I just can't justify the prices for the flaws in those games that I'll know will be detrimental to my enjoyment or the fact that I have to pay extra to get a better game out of Gears of War 2. I'm still happy to wait for their price drops this year even further.

I've made sure I'll not be part of the hype train. I think the only game I can possibly get on release or non-discount price is Killzone 2 as I doubt it'll drop in price for a very long time.

I should be able to manage less that £300 this year easily even if I decide to by a DSi as I have loads of games still unopened.

I'm glad to see that there's a few people wanting to do something similar. Obviously, the £300 limit was just my own personal limit as I felt that would be a challenge for me.

Maybe Hugo will find limiting himself to £1200 will be just as much of a challenge.

If you want, I could always update the first post with each persons budget and how much they have left to spend.

Let's see how long we last. I have this feeing that some people (probably myself) will nearly have spent their annual budget within the first half of the year!