Know Your Store Policies

I was reading this post from the blog Get Rich Slowly and was alarmed by the fact that Target stores don't honor their customer service policies when they sell defective DVD's. Needless to say, I won't be buying DVD's from Target.

That said, I have to admit that lately we just don't buy dvd's unless it is a documentary--I recently purchased the Ken Burns Civil war series from Sam's club (and a couple dvd's about the Vietnam war, ww II and the navy seals also) since they are educational and there is benefit from having them on hand to watch again. Lately we just rent movies and games at the video store a lot more than actually purchasing them. While this may not sound economically feasible, what I have found is that after the kids play a game 4 or 5 times, they tire of it and it then becomes just one more thing in the cabinet. If we rent it 4 times and it costs $20-$30 total to rent, then I save $30 off the regular cost of a $60 game. If they take these games to a reseller, we don't get much for them...so renting is actually the most economical way to go. There are a few games we have bought and the kids still play, but we rent them first to make sure they are worth it.