With the Upcoming Holiday Season, I decided to write an article for people in hopes to saving the readers money and helping you make educated decisions. After all, we aren’t just shopping for ourselves, but for our loved ones. Sales happen all year-round, and this is an appropriate time to write this. It’s going to be long.

Be Patient

If you don’t need it right at that very moment, wait on it if it’s at retail price. More often than not, you will save money by waiting for a sale – on top of that, physical copies of games tend to drop in price with time; the downside to physical copies of games is that they can fluctuate a lot in price. If you play on Consoles, and don’t care about saving 7-8 USD for Overwatch on Xbox One (Price as of writing this), then you can just conveniently download it right from your console while you get yourself something to drink. The best part about it – you can’t lose it!

You have Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Prime Week for Amazon Prime members, Steam sales, Xbox and PlayStation sales. There are countless moments to save on money, so if you have a backlog of games or movies, etc., then it’s not a bad idea to wait for the next game coming up unless you absolutely plan on playing it as soon as possible. And since we are on the topic, new physical games you buy from Amazon are 20% off with a Prime Membership and it is guaranteed to arrive on the day it releases. Definitely take advantage of Amazon Prime if you live in a country that offers this.

Remember, check different websites and compare prices. It’s incredible how, depending on how much money you make, a few minutes of checking the largest online vendors could save you hours of pay! If you have multiple consoles, and don’t really care where you play it, you’ll now have another things you can check for – which console has it cheapest. Sadly, that’s not the case for most as gaming is a very social activity; in reality, most of us will look for games on one or two consoles, at most, if it’s not an exclusive.

If you’re mainly a PC player, I know that many don’t even have optical drives because we can simply just download games. It’s an amazing, and convenient thing to do. GOG is an excellent alternative website to Steam and Origin. If you want DRM-Free games, GOG has sales from time to time. If you’re not a PC gamer, you need to know that Steam Sales are legendary.

Catch it at the right time, and you can treat yourself for months. Or better yet, surprise a friend because you want to let them know how wonderful they are.

It’s all about what YOUR needs are. What works for me won’t necessarily always work for you. By simply checking out different websites and comparing prices, you can be sure to save yourself some money in a pinch. Huge sales are sometimes

Wait for Reviews

How many times have we seen games everyone gets hyped for and then be incredibly disappointed? Has that ever happened to you?

Many times we have been hit with promises and over-inflated expectations. Colonial Marines and No Man’s Sky are two of these games that have had ghastly reception that have lead to many refunds. There was a time when pre-ordering was the only way to make sure you got a game on release date. Now we have enough physical copies to satisfy everyone, with the option of digital downloads.

Unless you’re getting some pre-order bonus that is worth it, or you know the game is something you’re going to enjoy, wait for the reviews. It’s ok to be on the fence. It is always a risk to pre-order, and sometimes the risks don’t outweigh the initial investment.

Sometimes More Is Less (It’s Subjective!)

When it comes to DLC, I really love how they have started bundling DLC into Season Passes. If you’re playing a game you love, then definitely look into getting the Game’s Season Pass. For games, this is priceless wisdom. You’re paying more upfront, but you’re saving money in return. Game of The Year collections are an incredible value for the money. If you didn’t get a chance to get the game on release, then you’ll be in for a treat. Most Game of The Year Collections come with all, if not, most DLC releases. Usually, you save 30% by purchasing Season Passes compared to purchasing every DLC individually.

As for hardware and PCs, sometimes spending an extra 10 USD can lead you to huge performance increases. I definitely learned this while buying microphones. You want to make sure you buy for something that you need. If you not only want, but need quality, then I definitely recommend you make a little extra investment into making sure you get something that will work for you for years. It would be a waste if you purchased something like a camera only to find out you need something with better quality. As I mentioned earlier in the article, YouTube is a great resource. Use it. You can hear and hear quality differences well enough to help you. If you have a shop near you, especially for Cameras and Mics, if you can get your hands and ears on them, it can help you out immensely.

Keep in mind that I’m not telling you to get a something ridiculous like a 1700USD Intel Processor for your PC that you are making. It’s about YOUR needs. So figure them out when investing in hardware like cameras, laptops, and mics so you don’t spend more than you have to. In which case, less is now more. At the same time, keep in mind that sometimes spending a little extra can go a long way.

Take Advantage of Information Others Have Gathered

It can be overwhelming and very time consuming to look for sales and the cheapest prices. Luckily, there are huge communities out there that have done the heavy lifting for you. It’s all a matter of looking up the information and taking it in. What I recommend, above all, is to make informed decisions to make your money take you to gaming paradise.

If you are planning on building a PC or want to learn about hardware, I recommend PCPARTPICKER. In this website, you will not only be able to look at other people’s builds, but you can also put a system together and it will look up the cheapest prices FOR YOU; on top of that, it will also make sure you don’t pick parts that are incompatible with each other. For YouTube, I recommend Linus and Tech Deals. Thanks to these links, I now feel comfortable and knowledgeable enough to build my very first PC and shopper when it comes to other electronics such as Laptops.

Other websites I recommend for your nerdy gaming needs is Cheap Ass Gamer. Through them, you can be sure to find great deals floating on the internet. They even have a twitter account! Slick Deals is another website worth checking. You can even find a good deal on pizza if you look it up. Of course, don’t forget about Humble Bundle – not only can you score big on games you want (or games you love and want to gift to a friend), money also goes to charity. Everyone wins!

Closing Comments

It’s very easy to get stressed when shopping. We will not always get the best deals. We will sometimes not make smart shopping decisions. And you know what? That’s ok. So please don’t stress. Sometimes we’re paying for convenience or to save time. We are all busy people and life is hard. My only hope is that I help people with what I have learned over the years of pinching pennies. These are the resources I use. Of course that list will always continue growing. As long as you keep your options open, and do just a little bit of searching, I’m sure that you too can make use of what I’ve learned.

Of course, I’m always interested in hearing about new ways to make sure I save money so I can put my money somewhere else. Such as, more games or even a special edition of a game I’m really looking forward to (I’m looking at Final Fantasy XV!).