Do you budget how much you spend on games each month/year?

Do you keep track of exactly how much you've spent on games? Do you just ballpark it? Or do you just look at how much you have in the bank account at the moment and let that dictate whether you buy a game or not? I'm just curious.

I keep track of my bank account and if it's condition permits me to buy a game, I occasionally buy it.

I just buy games when one I want comes out.

Nope. I buy what I want to buy :]

I probably should. I started trying to with a $60 per month starting charge, but then I looked at the yearly cost and it seemed really high. Then I felt bad about how much money I'm currently spending on games and then just decided to stop worrying about it altogether. If only my bank offered finance management software that just pulled in data from my online account.

Edit: I'm reconsidering, I should be better for it, thank you.

I've tried in the past, but it doesn't work out too well.

my girl and i are both unemployed so it can get rough. but whenever we get some cash and theres a game coming out that we want we usuually get it. im probly gonna have to trade in my DS and a handfull of games just so i can make sure i get XCOM.

I might buy maybe a $100 worth of games a year, and then in a good steam sale, I'll pick up all the ones I missed over the last two years, so in that year I'd spend $200-300 odd. I rarely buy games anywhere near launch.

Like, all the dollars.

Did one year. Didn't want to think about how much I spent, so I stopped.

I usually rent games I want to play with gamefly. So I rarely buy games for 60 bucks and just wait for them to get cheaper. I usually only buy a few games on day 1.

I buy all the games.  No concern for financial units.

I do, to some degree, but I rarely pay full price for games any more, it has to be something I really care about.

The rest of the time I just pick things up on sales, and they're usually hard to predict.

Nope. I just spend way too much money. That applies to my entire budget though...I need to hire an account or something. Haha.

Nope. Probably should. Steam just makes it so damn easy to buy a game. http://www.steamcalculator.com/id/th3james

I've got no idea really.I just spend all i've got on games,consoles and pc hardware.

Fuck all. I rent from Lovefilm a UK dvd/games rental service.

Nope. I'm in the situation where I don't have many bills to worry about so I can spend most of my money on anything I want really. GAMES GAMES GAMES!

I bought 40 games in September, it's usually at least 5 games a month. I'm buying backlog games at this time though, now my backlog is.... *sigh* -_- I'm a bargain hunter, CAG is my best friend for this situation. As far as how much, I don't have a budget tbh, I just buy what I want if the price is right.

No. I seriously should though.

I generally buy 1 or 2 games a month.

I've got $60 in spending money a month most months that goes to a game

Yeah, I have an excel book thing where I keep track of all my income and expenses.

Noooo idea. But I buy everything on Steam, and plenty of it is at least $30, and I buy games on a regular basis. I don't really worry about how much because it's not an issue for me.

Nope. I just f'in spend it.

No, but I don't buy much in the first place. I frequently go for 6 months or more without buying anything. I do budget when Steam sales are on just because I would spend too much otherwise. But for regular games, no I don't because I only buy like 3 full price games per year or so.

Spend spend spend and don't think about it. I get a bank statement once a month and it's always in the black so it doesnt matter.

100$ for games a month but its only a general rule.

I'm one of those assholes who only buys a game new and full price if it's one I'm very interested in. Otherwise, I wait for a Steam sale or for the game to be cheaper on Amazon, which means I get the most amount of games for the least amount of money. I went on a game buying binge last year, mostly through Steam sales, and I have a substantial backlog of games which prevents me from buying many games these days; maybe just a few games a month now. I've never been so conscious of spending that I've had to monitor and budget my game purchases, and I'm grateful for that, but obviously I check my money situation fairly regularly to make sure things are all in line.

@BisonHero: Nope, I usually just pre order a game real early. Then sometimes I will go in throw in 5, 10 or 20 bucks down on my game. Usually when i do this the game is paid off before it comes out. That is why I am a big fan of pre ordering. I know in the long run I am spending the same amount of money but it doesn't feel as bad as dropping 60 bucks all at once.

I know when I get payed at work, and I roughly how much my outgoings are. I usually just wing it, and I've never got overcharge fees yet.

no, i buy a game if it interest me. i try to not keep on buying new games as i need to beat the ones that i bought.

nah i just buy games that are amazing imo, games that i wanna play or are good i ussually wait till they're cheap. i ussually get 2-4 games a year (60 dollars) then some other random stuff (dlc, arcade games, reduced price games) when i want without considering money

I just buy things I want. Not going to worry about that. If I'm not enjoying life at all what's the point.

Yes I do and lately I also don't let myself buy anymore games until I'm done with I already bought on my last purchase.

It's the only thing that's kept my insane backlog from being a colossal waste of money.

Because I still live with my parents I have very few fiscal responsibilities beyond giving them some rent and paying for my phone, so I don't really need to budget. I try not to buy more than one game per paycheck unless it's downloadable or used though, and I've been avoiding buying hardware unless it's a birthday or christmas present to myself.

I spend between $2000-$3000 CAD a year on gaming-related stuff (including computer upgrades, consoles, and the software itself). This year has been a little light so far but I imagine the holidays will bring it back in line.

After paying for all the boring stuff in my life, like insurance, food, transportation and living, I'm usually left with about 100 euros per month to spend on recreation. In the summer, most of that money goes towards drinks and eating out but in the winter I spend most of the roughly 100 euros on games, music and films.

When I know in advance that I want to buy certain games, I try to pre-order them and even pay in advance. There's nothing worse than going to pick up a game you've been waiting two years for, just to find out that your bank account is missing 7 euros and you have to wait two weeks for your next paycheck.

I probably average $60 a month but that will stop soon. I have a ridiculous backlog now that needs to be finished.

I buy the 'best' games that I think I'll enjoy the most, if I can't afford the rest I usually will pirate them if there is no other games I wanna play and I am really interested in said game. Games like Mass Effect are a good example of a game that I couldn't afford at the time and pirated it, purchased it later when I did have the money. I buy a lot of games though and it's funny how even if you're unemployed or just in a really low income situation you can still manage to spent a crazy amount on the things you enjoy.

http://www.steamcalculator.com/id/djjoejoe

The games I usually buy are ones I have been anticipating for years, otherwise I may pick one up on sale here or there.

I bought guild wars 2, darksiders 2, and borderlands 2 all in the last month or two. Before that, there wasn't much.

No, I just buy whatever I want. Spare no expense.

Nope, long as my income is equal to or greater then what im spending i just keep on going which im able to do with my situation and where im living.

If things were different i would most likely change that though.

I don't keep track, but I have so many games I've yet to play that I don't buy a bunch of brand new games, at least not recently. My recent purchases have been older, cheap games, <10 bucks in most cases.

Nah.

I just buy shit when I want it. I don't buy that many games anyways (maybe five to ten a year), so it ain't no thang.

I try to budget it, sometimes I go a little over or a little under. It depends on the time of the year, like now I have picked up more games but I budgeted for that as summer was quite a lean spell in game releases for me. I try not to over think it but I usually end up doing so. But yeah, I budget and usually stick to it but sometimes if I have a week off work or whatever I may go get a new release if there is something out I want to play.