This is more for the techies out there that like video games.  🙂

I have been playing video games since before Nintendo was even know the radar. I was always fascinated by them. 

Fast forward to present day and my kids have all followed in my footsteps. I’m sure you have heard me talk about Elliott and his 3DS -thanks to Best Buy- as well as Gavin obsession with video games.

I have had a game console on and off for years. I would purchase an XBOX 360 or PS3 with tax return,  when money allowed for it. 

Inevitably,  at some point throughout the year something would happen and I would either sell it to come bills or trade it in to GameStop because it was causing to many problems with the kids,  namely Gavin. I would get tired of the drama in the house because of something related to video games.

I hated getting rid of them because they were an escape for me. I loved Call of Duty and burned off a great deal frustration online playing team deathmatch.

Last year at tax return I decided to get an XBOX 360 back with tax return in January 2011. It worked out great for a long time and the kids loved Kinect.  However,  it started to die and rather then deal with Microsoft,  we I traded it in to GameStop.  They said they would refurbish it anyway.

Between,  in store credit I had been sitting on and everything I was trading in,  it was an even swap into a PS3 and a few used games.

That worked out well for a few months but within the past 30 days or so, it became a source of frustration once again because,  when anyone would play it,  Emmett would rip the controller out of their hands.  Then of course,  the screaming and the yelling would follow.  As much as I liked it,  I couldn’t deal with all the fighting. We had tried all kinds of things to make it work but Emmett is very challenging and it just wasn’t worth it.

What I would do typically,  is trade it in and just sit on the credit.

However,  recently Best Buy began taking in trades and so I thought I would check it out.  I ended up trading in some old electronic stuff,  all my PS3 games and cashing in my reward zone points I had been saving for a rainy day and getting a PlayStation Vita.  I actually got more in credit than what I needed,  so that was cool.

I took the actual PS3 system into GameStop and had it added to my in store credit.  I grabbed a few accessories for the Vita and saved the rest for later.

This worked out quite well because I didn’t have to spend a single penny and I have credit left over for other things later.  Now I can play my games anywhere and then put it up and out of the way.  Hardware-wise,  it’s pretty darn close to the PS3 in terms of graphics,  which is really cool.

But the most important thing is that I found a way to have my escape and not have it create drama in the house.  It’s kinda like having my cake and eating it to.

Sometimes I have to be creative in order to make things work.  Since I couldn’t stand the fighting over what we had,  I turned it into something I could still enjoy and it didn’t cost me anything.  When you don’t have a lot of money or any at all for that matter,  it takes patience and some creativity to obtain any type of luxury item.

This is the only material thing I have left and I feel good that I was able to still have my escape and solve a problem at the same time. 

If you have old TV’s, computers, printers ect,  take them into Best Buy and get a gift card in exchange.  They aren’t worth anything to sell for cash but maybe you can get something with the gift card that you wouldn’t have been able to otherwise, like I did.  🙂

**Thanks for reading**

       -Lost and Tired

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Posted from WordPress for Android so please forgive any typos as auto-correct and I don’t see eye to eye. 🙂