Renting Fun – The Best Way to Go?

DVDs and video games can be very expensive, especially if you enjoy them on a daily basis. Chains, like Blockbuster, have been renting both of them for years, but the price has shot up recently. Why is this? It’s most likely caused by the fact that focus has shifted from renting in-store to renting online. Companies like Netflix have grown in popularity rapidly over the past couple of years.

When someone signs up for Netflix, they can choose to receive one DVD at a time, or up to four. They pay monthly for an account, and then sign on and look through the list of thousands of DVDs that they have available. You choose 1-4, and then they are shipped straight to your door. Is this worth it? Well, it depends on your lifestyle. If you only occasionally watch movies at home, the monthly cost may be more than you need to be paying. But if you watch at least 3 movies a week, chances are you’ll be saving a lot of money in a very short period of time.

Blockbuster continues to raise the prices of renting their DVDs in store, but they have also developed a system similar to Netflix. The only difference is that when you finish the DVDs that were shipped to you, you can bring them to blockbuster and trade them in. This makes the price of Blockbuster’s program more expensive than Netflix, but if you want the convenience of in-store trade in, Blockbuster may be the best bet for you.

Another company that has become popular lately is Gamefly. Gamefly works the same way that Netflix does, except they send video games instead of DVDs. Video games can run upwards of $60, depending on the game system. Instead of buying all of your games, it may be more cost effective to rent them, especially if you have the tendency to beat games in a short period of time.  If you have children that play video games on a regular basis, you should look into Gamefly. It may save you a lot of money on games… especially since kids tend to have a short attention span. Instead of wasting your money on a game they’ll get bored of, you can send it back when they’re done and just get a new one!

If you rent a lot of movies or games, look into these companies. Having your entertainment delivered directly to your door is convenient, and can save you a lot of money.

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