How do you control your DVD spending?
 

I bought about $500 worth of DVDs from Best Buy, Circuit City, and Deepdiscountdvd.com and now I am in debt.



How do you control this hobby?


I find it impossible to resist a first week sale on a new release or the discount deals best buy and circuit city offer since you know the price will go up after a week but I have to control my spending.

Then you look back later wishing you bought the DVD when it was cheaper instead of being a sucker and paying full price.

I still want to buy the Spiderman 1967 collection and the Batman Animated Series and Goodfellas and Passion of the Christ in August but that is another $120 charge to my credit card.



Also I want to use the 20 % discount at deepdiscount and buy the hulk ultimate collection dvd set and the Bulls Dynasty and Apollo 13 at overstock but the madness has to stop.


I will feel like sh*t knowing I had the opportunity to save major bucks with the deepdiscountdvd.com coupon but I did not use it.

I was buying DVDs left and right for quite some time and really spending some considerable cash doing it. I finally stepped back and realized a couple things that helped to bring it under control.

1 - Which movies do I REALLY want in my collection? I saw a TV show recently that refined the idea of a collection. The guy said that a collection isn't an accumulation of things. It's a careful selection of items that really complement one another and reflect who I am.

So I ask myself before buying - is this something that I will watch repeatedly? Is it something that I will gain pleasure from repeatedly or that additional watchings will allow me to gain a greater appreciation for? If so, I will buy it for my collection. If not, it's rental material. I have about 30 discs now that I wish were rentals instead.

2 - I have developed a good eye for what will be available for cheap later. I decided that IMMEDIATE gratification wasn't necessary. So, for movies that I HAD to have, I buy them on sale the first week. For bigger movies that I want but don't need immediately, I watch the rental places for multiple copies.

Examples. Lord of the Rings movies - no way I can wait. Buy them first day usually at Best Buy. 50 First Dates - fun movie I will watch a lot - totally going to get it used.

3 - HUGE sets - I can have patience on these BIG purchases. EBay, used stores and flea markets are your friend. I picked up Star Trek TNG S1 for under $50 and Buffy S4 for $30 that way.

Hope that helps a little...in the end, I figure that I want to get the most I can for my money, so a little delay or working for the bargain really is worth it. And the guyzos on here REALLY make it easier with all the deals they find. Good luck!

Get a better paying job. Not only will it take up more of your time so you have less time to think about DVDs, you will also have a larger budget to spend on them. It's all relative.

I usually just have my parents duct-tape me to he bed.



I keep a monthly budget, from which I admittedly stray from time to time.

I was spending way too much money on dvds. Now I only buy movies I truly love and will watch more than once and I quit purchasing tv on dvd. Instead of buying dvds I just Netflix them.

Re: How do you control your DVD spending?
 

My advice... spend it... use the coupon. Do it for you. If you don't you're going to regret it for the rest of your life!

40 years from now you're going to think back at how you cheated yourself when you know you deserved it.

Re: How do you control your DVD spending?
 

Columbia House is a great help, if you follow the pattern discussed in that forum. Whenever a new title I want is on sale, I check first to see if it is carried by CH - if it is, I can pass on the new release sale, and know that with a little patience I will get it for less than $8.

Well, here is what I did it. (~750 DVD)

1. Call all your Credit Cards (you can keep one for emergencies) and say: Please close my account. If you are not paying cash you really cannot afford it. Unless you are one of those people that pay the balance each month. CC can sneak up on you and digging out is horrible - trust me!

2. Wait for inevitable price drops unless it is a must have. The forum can help with this and there are other places that track this. Also, always check for a reissue before buying a catalog title.

3. Trade stuff in. If I buy movies I do not need down the road, that is I do not want them in the collection, I trade them at spun.com or digitaleyes.net

4. Avoid Criterion for Criteron sake - I used to collect Criterion, just becaue of the boards obsession with them - I sold off about half of what I had and only buy movies that are important to me. Most of them are something I would like to see once not multiple times and they cost a damn fortune.

5. Buy used and trade. I hate ebay for dvds ind general (half the stuff is boots) but there are deals. Also the exchange forum is a great place to buy and trade.

6.Never buy at a B&M, except in rare circumstances, it is always cheaper to come home and plan the purchase (STL, DDD, used, etc)

7. Be careful with TV on DVD and Disney - this stuff adds up and can really cost you. I buy Disney because I want to make sure I have the classics I grew up on when I have kids in a few years. Moratorium sucks. I buy alot of tv because I love it, but there are so many sets now, I always look at the number of seasons a show had and do so simple arithmetic before buying season 1 - can I justify 8 times that amount?

Oh, don't feel bad - my wife is a little ticked - I just spent ~$450 (cash not credit) at DDD this week. Have another $100 in the cart and thousands on the want list

Ever since I got a dvd burner, my spending dropped to basically nothing except for the dvds I really want like LOTR:ROTK. :)

It used to be up to like $40-60 a week. I used to do alot of blindbuys. Now I seem to be more selective and picky about what I actually add to my collection. of 500+.

As someone mentioned, ask yourself, is this something that you will honestly watch multiple times?

With the DDD 20% sale I told myself I woud budget $100 for it. When all the smoke clears (today) I know I have spent over $300. This is good and bad. Good in that I only purchase things on my list (always keep a want list with you, include the best price for the DVD). Bad in that I did 3 months of purchasing in 4 days and I know I will still need my weekly fix of one a week.

I follow a few rules as well:

1) I tell my girlfriend about my problem, make sure she knows that I'm not supposed to buy DVD's that frequently.

2) Always go for the best version. This includes staying away from cheap titles with no extras that will probably be released, and also waiting for a box set so that the individual titles will be cheaper when bundled together. On the negative side, this also includes buying Criterions, which are almost exclusively the best versions of the individual movies and the most expensive as well.

3) I do not buy any television shows, especially not ones that I could download. There's something about film that I respect as an art form, which is why I purchase them and support their production. I don't find as much respect for television shows usually, and have no desire to support the industry by paying for a product that I could get for free.

4) I try to keep the level of quality, the greatness and watchability of the individual movies I own, at a maximum. Every few months I will sort through my collection and sell of anything that I do not think meets certain standards or anything that my appreciation for has diminished. For example, I started collection DVD's before I developed a taste for great movies, and once my taste improved I couldn't justify holding onto American Pie, Enemy of the State, and a few others. For every three titles I sold at a garage sale or to friends, I bought a Criterion. Money well spent.

join netflix

The bulk of my collection was basically "free" due to the dot.com boom venture capital that offered incredible rewards simply for clicking on a link. Between FreeRide, Firstlook, Jaboom and online sales and coupons I literally received $1000's of DVDs for no out-of-pocket money. But as that stuff dried up, I had to devise a plan to keep my costs to a minimum.

Columbia House is overrated IMO. It's ok for a cycle or two, but I found it to be more of a hassle than it was worth, and the selection was terrible.

Be Decisive. Always have a carefully created list of titles you want. Tack on a ball-park price you'd be willing to pay. Don't fall for impulse "Bargains" like those Brentwood multi-disc packs.

Be firm. Steer clear of the hype on this (and other) forum about a particular title. I discovered this phenomenon back when Fight Club was released. Lots of buzz here about it. I thought that the film was a stinkeroo and would never want it in my collection... but after reading the buzz here, I had gotten to a point of actually considering it. It was then that I realized that there is this "group dynamic" that can influence our purchases.

Be Smart. Many fall into the trap that they must purchase the ultimate edition of every film they want. There are some films that are important enough to me that I will do that too... like the upcoming "Dawn of the Dead" 4 disc set... (I already own the Divimax disc and the OOP Anniversary disc) There are other films where a basic, inexpensive, bare-bones release is fine. I don't need to have a documentary and commentary and extras for EVERY film.

Be focused. Decide what you want.... if you simply want, as I do, a "personal digital archive of films that have significance to me" then stick with that. Don't get caught up in discs that are "investments" or "collectible". Avoid buying "limited numbered" releases for the sake of them being limited. Avoid discs that have"collectible tins", gimmick covers, figurines, (and any other junk thrown in) when alternatives exist. These trinkets do nothing to enhance the viewing pleasure of the film, and simply cost more... the money saved could be better put to more discs.

Be Selective. It is better to focus on purchasing the more esoteric titles on your list than the mainstream ones. New releases can always be rented from the local Blockbuster or Hollywood Video, but it might be more difficult to find an older film, like say, Towering Inferno.

As for TV shows, my recommendation is to start with the shows that are no longer (or difficult to find) in syndication. If both "Lost in Space" and "Friends" is on your list, (why "Friends" would be on anyone's list is beyond me. ;) ) it makes sense to pick up "Lost in Space" first.

Obviously everyone has their own personal tastes and opinions. I'm just offering the approach that I take as a way of growing a collection in a manner that is financially responsible.

When I can't afford to be buying DVDs, I control it by NOT BUYING DVDs!!!

The control I use is SELF-control.

I'm just foolin', I know how easy it is to get carried away during "sales" and whatnot.

1. NEVER buy a DVD unless you REALLY love the movie. Let's face it, a lot of people have collections with movies they've never watched or movies they wouldn't want to watch more than once. Only buy movies you truly love and would watch several times. Otherwise, rent it.

2. NEVER buy a DVD at retail price. Wait for the sales, use coupons and use points from credit cards for gift certificates. My average DVD cost is under $5 each, and I own about 300 DVDs. If I go to buy a DVD and it's more than $5 in the end, I don't buy it.

3. If you don't watch it, EBAY it. Many times, to pay for new purchases, I'll sell old ones that I thought I'd like, but didn't watch as much as I thought I would.

I just let the guilt build up until I stop buying them for a good month or two. As a college student I would scrounge for money, but now that it's summer and I've got a decently-paying job and no expenses, I've blown 2 full checks (nearly $800) on DVDs, and now I just think about what I would say if I knew someone who spent $800 on DVDs in 2 weeks. I would think they were a fool or a spoiled bastard, to be honest (I am indeed often times a fool). Basically now I feel enough guilt that I'm not going to be buying many for a while. :D

Re: How do you control your DVD spending?
 

You realize feeling like sh*t will be the least of your concern if you run into the sadly but much too common cycle of credit card debt, minimum payments, and interest accumulation.

You think it sucks to miss out when you could have saved 5 dollars on a DVD, think about how it feels when you know you could have saved thousands on a car by qualifying for a 1-2 percent apr instead of the 8-9 percent you'll get with a bad credit records.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg.

Since you freely admit to not having much self control, I suggest cancelling your CC and using a debit card for purchases. Only spend the money you actually have.

I fund my DVD habit with e-bay sales.

Someday that's gonna dry up, though! :(

Amen

There's enough pro-Criterion sentiment on this board so this shouldn't get up anybody's nose too much. I like my Criterion sets well enough and I got Mabuse and Charade during the sale...
but c'mon: when JuryDuty is getting DVDs at less than $5 on average, and people can easily get DVDs for under $7 on average, why are people having to change their underpants when they see Criterion at $23?

Even if you can't find them in your local rental store, try Netflix, which carries most of them. Also (like somebody else said earlier) stay off these boards. It's always a case of "the more I see the less I get"

OK, I gotta get to work
LJ

1) Buy DVDs from Columbia House - you can not beat a $7.50 per DVD average

2) if CH does not offer the title you want, use the price search and find the best price or use other deals (DDD 20% off, Amazon share the love 10% off)

3) if you have any DVDs that you do not want or will no longer watch, sell them on Ebay

hrmmm...

How do you control your posting in the wrong section of the forum?

(what a bargain!)

I guess the same way I control my DVD spending...


sorry... couldn't resist

1. Do a couple of accounts at Columbia House. Afterwards you will always look at DVDs and if they are priced higher than $7-7.50 you'll know you can get it cheaper (with some exceptions- Disney, Criterion).

2. Develop a 'Just in time' philosophy - Don't have tens or hundreds of unwatched DVDs. Never have more than about 6-8 unwatched at a time. When you have that many unwatched, whittle the unwatched pile down before you buy more.

3. Thin out your collection periodically by selling or trading in DVDs you probably won't watch repeatedly.

4. You don't always need everything the day it is released. Wait until it's an enrollment at CH, or has a price drop such that it will be included in 2 for $15 sales at BB or CC.

Re: How do you control your DVD spending?
 

Block your access to this Web site...

Re: How do you control your DVD spending?
 

There's your problem corycouger.

I think it's ludicrous to put yourself into debt when buying something as luxurious as DVD's.

I think with DVD's, one can be so much more financially savvy going the Netflix round and sampling before buying. I

I used to be like you, corycouger, where I'd give into my impulsive buys. Not always a good thing. Next time you pick up a DVD, ask yourself if you need to OWN it.