I can buy what I want, when I want. But there are few gotta-have games for me. The most recent one was the Lunar Remastered Collection. I love those games and wanted to play them on contemporary hardware, so that was a no brainer. I also don’t buy a bunch of games I will likely never touch just because they’re on sale.

Even do I don't need to be thrifty (yet), it does stay in the back of your mind. I do all the groceries in the household so I'm very well aware how much our grocery bill has gone up in the last couple years.

But it mostly affects big purchases, car is good enough for a couple more years, postpone big home improvement projects until the tarif nonsense is sorted out. Gaming is still a minor cost when it comes to all other expenses, but it does have the effect to stop and think for a second. Do I really want this now or is it just going to sit on the shelf for who knows how long.

I mostly buy games day one to support the devs as I've been one myself. If it's something great than I want to support them with a full price purchase. However my 'criteria' for that have become more strict. Part of that is because of the higher prices.

No trouble (yet) but more aware / more cautious of what I spend would be the correct poll response for me.

It's also the effect of getting older. You still think in terms of what things used to cost in your formative years in your 20s and the disparity to now keeps getting bigger all the time. Plus video games having had stable prices for so long only further cemented the idea of $50/$60 games. I don't know if I'll ever get used to spending 150% to 200% for new games now.

It's been a bit tighter lately with the mortgage rates soaring, but I have been managing. I wait for patches and fixes to complete the games anyways, so by the time I get around to them, they tend to be discounted and I save money as a secondary effect.

Damn, if I had a family I don't know what I'd do. I'd have to give up gaming entirely. 

We won't get used to it, just don't do it man, if ya see that 80 price tag and think the game is worth it, it's not. Things will get a lot worse, Trump and Xi have made sure of that. How much worse, idk but I suspect the answers in this thread will change drastically in a year or two. 

Exactly, you get the better product at less. 

I'm surprised by this thread. I read so many Youtube comments and X posts complaining about the cost of living in some form or another and their money woes or countries economic situation and way more now in the last two weeks and increasing, esspecially in posts about Switch 2 and how people can't afford food let alone a luxury console. People even saying they know an economic contraction is coming and are fearful. I'm surprised It hasn't seeped in here, I thought this place was diverse in nationalities.

Anyway, I'm starting to get very worried. I went in to a cheap clothes shop here called Primark and I was in a month ago and the price increase is insane, I have never seen the place so expensive. I bought a pair of breathable fabric shoes a bit over a month ago for one job I do once a week and they went up to 18 euro from 10 a month back, I wish I had taken more note of other prices but that place is now a premium store by 2020 standards. I'd hate to see what the expensive stores are like. A sandwich now costs the price of a big freshly cooked dinner in a deli in 2020 and Covid already fucked that. A pack of biscuits is near 5 euro sometimes for brand name stuff. Feeding cats with the good stuff, Whiskas which they seem to be addicted to and I can't wean them off of it onto cheap stiff, is costing so fucking much. Electricity is just sucking money out the bank account into a black hole in the wall. I'm very worried and it just keeps getting worse and worse. I got used to the Covid bumps but this feels different, it feels like it's getting exponential... it feels anyway. I spent 130 euro on video games this week and I feel absolutely horrible about it like I commmited a crime or something. This is the world we live in now, huh. Fuck. 

The reason that most people are not having trouble buying games is that people on this site are probably older. Therefore more established in their career and earning more money.

It might be diverse in nationalities, but I bet the income of most people on this site is well above the average. We're all invested in our hobbies otherwise why hang out / stick around on a specialized gaming website. Many here are multiple console owners and or own a fancy gaming PC. Many here either have extensive physical or digital collections, used to spending $1000+ a year on gaming.

Here it's mostly, wait for a sale, to mitigate the rising costs of living. Plus since it's the favorite hobby around here, it will be the last to cut back on.

I've been buying less meat rather than fewer games / systems. For example a package of 8 frozen burgers (1.13kg) has more than doubled in price here. It used to be $9 before the pandemic, currently $19 for the same thing. Chicken breasts from $12 to $26. Basically just buy what's on sale.

And yeah going out for dinner, we did that once since the pandemic. Prices are crazy. Almost $150 just for the 2 of us, only main course and a drink. At least you got to keep the video games you bought ;) We used to get fancy coffee and fast food regularly before the pandemic, now it feels like highway robbery. I guess the silver lining is that we eat a lot healthier nowadays lol. Subway we used to get 3 for $26, now it's almost $20 for one sandwich, I'll make my own.

Those are some insane increasess indeed. I don't think we are buying much less food, a bit but definitely no luxury food items like deserts and it's probably a good thing but there is definitely less food waste, there is nothing much that goes in the bin anymore, no fruit fruit to leave on the counter that might might be eaten but ends up in the bin in a fortnight, instead tinned fruit for the fridge and frankly another good thing cause it's definitely nicer cold with syrup. 

Ah, idk anymore, people have been expecting the financial Tsunami to come since Covid and while a wave did sweep us, nothing destroyed us, Idk if I'm imagining it or not and worried over nothing and maybe it's just anecdotal stuff on the net of which I know nothing of the circumstance of those random people. The great thing about living in the country as we know from history here in Ireland mainly a terrible snow storm in 1947 is you can rely on community to come together if shit gets real and we all know how to grow food and have soil where they used to grow food before the 90's boom that's fertile as fuvk and still full of nutrients, only needs to be ploughed we all have masdive patches like that and silage and cow muvck pits that ai'm sure could still be used for cover on veg and nutrients. If shit really hits the fan and being in the EU I'm almost sure we keep a store of grain for emergencies. Idk, regardless of the anxiety over the situation I feel like storing some seed potatoes and whatever else I could keep through the winter, maybe stock up on some tinned food and rotate them out so they'd still get used but just have a kinda of stock build of of non perishables, there are ways to keep pasta and rice for very long periods of time with no mold. Fill the old oil tank with diesel and put a tap on it and grab a generator... or maybe I'm over thinking things. Idk. 

William Blake put it, A dog starved at his masters gate predict the Ruin of the state and I've been noticing some mighty thin dogs these days and I'm for sure not imagining that. 

Nah, PC has sales, sales and sales. Why be mugged off? I do not buy much anyway.