This is a good point, because even though most people hear it, they don’t get it.
My GF and I LOVE playing video games and have several systems. We don’t have an XBox 360 or a PS3, which is fine by me because I consider them to be an invitation to spend money.
My girlfriend really wants to buy a 360 with part of her tax refund (after paying every other bill that needs to be paid off). I would also like a 360, but I consider it a major invitation to spend money. I always try to look at all of the costs associated with every purchase, to find the true cost of ownership. For the Xbox, we’d have to get extra controllers, games, purchase an xbox live subscription to get all the freebie games, not to mention possible cost of repair.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to force my girlfriend to not get one, but I’ve made it pretty clear that I won’t be buying it or any of the games/accessories.
True Cost of Xbox 360:
- XBox 360 Package – $450
- Extra Controllers – $100 (for 2)
- XBox Live subscription – $50 a year
- 3 games at $60 a pop – $180
Total XBOX 360 Cost: $780!
She also wants a flat-screen television eventually, but since we’re such avid game-players, that would probably be much more trouble than it’s worth — plus be a major money sinkhole. In fact, a 42-inch flatscreen uses as much electricity in 4 hours as a full-size refridgerator uses all day. That’s insane!
Plus with everything we’d be plugging into it, it would look rather silly with a ton of cords hanging off of it. For me, the cool factor of having a flat TV hanging on a wall (or ceiling) is erased by having a bunch of cords all over the place. And if our current TV is any indication, it will look incredibly silly. 🙂
Image via Lil Red Fireball
Classy, no? Meghan was able to hide her cords (somewhat), but since we move our game machines a lot this isn’t really feasible for us unless we want to pay another $100-$200 for extra cords. We’d also need to be really sure where we wanted to put it, as moving it after drilling holes and mounting and all that would be a nightmare.
Counting everything, a flat-screen TV could easily go into the thousands.
So definitely be careful out there. Think of the true cost of ownership!
True Tales of Life and Debt 