Bargain Gaming #1: Discount Shops for Merchandise!

We all like to save money. If we can buy things for cheaper, that ultimatley means we can buy MORE things. :)

That's why I've started this new blog feature - BARGAIN GAMING, or Gaming on a Budget. I'm going to trawl discount shops, car boot sales, charity shops, online sites and anywhere else I can snap up a gaming bargain. Whether it's for consoles, games, peripherals, clothing or merchandise - I like to save money too, and I'm going to show you how. 

So, I had some cash in my purse while I was in town and decided to look around some of the UK's leading DISCOUNT SHOPS. Discount shops meaning, anywhere that sells things in bulk, or food products that are soon to expire, or packaging written in another language - or whatever they managed to buy for cheap from a warehouse.

The shops at my disposal were:
- Poundland
- Poundworld
- Bargain Buys
- 99p Stores
- Home Bargains
- B&M

(And just a side-note - B&M stands for "BARGAINS & MORE", not Bargain MADNESS. "Bargains AND Madness" makes no damn sense! Educate yourselves!)

My purchases ended up coming from Poundworld and Bargain Buys - but I'm not writing the other shops off yet - sometimes they have random one-off things in - it's all about patience.

So, how much did ALL OF THIS cost me?

As you can see, we have got:

- a Super Mario Yoshi figurine

- a Pac-Man & the Ghostly Adventures figurine

- a big Om Nom from Cut the Rope plush

- a pack of Cut the Rope Nommies

- a Skylanders wash mitt

- a Minecraft "Secrets & Cheats" guide book

- and a Princess Peach K'Nex Mario Kart 7 set

Prices I found online for these things were:

- £3-£6 for the Yoshi figurine; I have also seen them in game shops for around £3.50

- £2.50-£7 for the Pac-Man figurine

- £6-£8 for the Om Nom plush

- £3-£6 for a pack of Cut the Rope Nommies

- £2 for the Skylanders wash mitt, which also seemed to be available in a £7 gift set with some shower gel

- £5 for the unofficial Minecraft book, bear in mind, it's unofficial

- £12-£16 for the Princess Peach K'Nex set

But how much did I pay?

£10. TEN POUNDS. For ALL OF IT.

The Princess Peach set was £5, everything else was £1 each.

Want to see me show it all off and waffle on about stuff? Here's a video:

Car Boot Sale Treasure Hunting

The Sunday before last I went to Redcar boot sale with my fiancée, my dad and my gaming nana who plays Bejeweled. I've recently been getting back into some really retro games from the 80s and early 90s to distract myself from the horror that is the Xbox One. Seriously, try it - if you ever start feeling sad or disappointed about the Xbox One, break out your old SNES or original Game Boy and play some awesome retro stuff - all your troubles melt away. :D

Anyway, in addition to mooching online I thought it would be a good idea to have a trawl around the local car boot sales - for some reason there's like 10 different ones held every Sunday around the area where I live, so after casually mentioning it to my dad - he jumped to it. :D

Most of the stalls were just crap, old kids toys and baby clothes - but there were a handful of stands dedicated purely to video games and the odd table that had a small pile of games hidden amongst the old tat - so Shelly and I were competing to see who could spot the games on the stalls first. There was one dude who actually had a SNES for sale and a stack of cartridges of all kinds and we had a long discussion about my new NES. He said he buys wholesale lots on eBay for cheap then sells the stuff for a profit at the boot sales.

At first I didn't think I was going to come out with anything at all - but on the contrary. This is my haul for the day:

 

After I got home, Shelly and I decided to see if I got some good deals - so we searched eBay and Amazon, finding items in identical condition (i.e., boxed, cart only) - and this is what we found:

 

God Of War (PS2):

I paid £1. It's sold online for £5.

 

South Park: Chef's Luv Shack (N64):

I paid £4. It's sold online for £5.

 

Toki: Going Ape Spit (Mega Drive):

I paid £2. It's sold online for £7.

 

Kirby's Pinball Land (Game Boy):

I paid £3. It's sold online for £12.

 

Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant (Xbox 360):

I paid £3. It's sold online for £18.

 

Mario & Yoshi (Game Boy):

I paid £3. It's sold online for £3.

 

Mega Games 3 (Mega Drive):

I paid £3. It's sold online for £3.50.

 

With every game, I either paid the same or better. :D

Also, I plan to finish Crash Bandicoot: Mind Over Mutant, get the 1000G and then sell it onto CeX for £22 exchange value. PROFIT!