Ponderings of a broke addict

Roman Legion

Well-known member
I have been putting in much thought about various course of actions and I was going to discuss them with my counselor online today but she didn't come online for the appointment until very late, by that time I had fallen asleep and missed it. I sat in my chair in the middle of my room and looked around.. I saw things with price tags on them, the TV, xbox and PS3.. As some of you know, I have a very serious gaming addition and a real bad financial situation right now.. I recently tried to sell the PS3 on craigslist, but I only got Nigerian scam artists (No joke, they wanted me to send it to a Nigerian address and didn't send money to my paypal). I can't seem to sell the PS3 and I never even used it but once and being as orderly as I am, it never accumulates dust. I can solve my gaming addiction and financial situation right now if I sell all of them. (Even considering selling the old original Xbox I have) I think my gaming addiction started this way.. I started I think on the original gameboy that I found at an Alexandria, VA thift store in early 1997? I balanced that and reading well, since I only played my one Poke'mon game (Red or Blue version.. Besides the point) I saved up my money working with my parents on their Washington Post paper route and bought a Game Boy Colour in 1998 (Kiwi Green). I remember being taken to this kid's house a street over from our Apartment (Mount Vernon Apartments) and this kid with a fairly well off family seemed to have everything even a Nintendo 64 and I was hooked; I began to feel the virtual story was superior to the paper ones. We moved out of Alexandria in the summer of 1999 to Accokeek, MD (In the fabulous Prince Georges county <Sarcasm>) We had a new paper route and I was now 8 or 9 and began saving for a Playstation (This was the worst part of my life with the increase in bullying from the new school.. The previous school was bad but I have never had more day to day bullying than Henry G. Ferguson Elementary school.) The bank had stolen my money because they froze my parent's account for some reason and their name being on my account, mine was frozen as well and close to $300 was taken from me.. I remember after that I went to school and wasn't thinking, I just acted.. I grabbed money a teacher had left on the desk and stuffed it in my sock and went home. I eventually got caught and my teacher made sure everyone knew what I did (I guess I was the example to others) this made me even more of a target and I get it, that was my own fault. About a month after this, our power had finally shorted out due to the crappy shape of the house and a wire being exposed.. At that point video games were worthless to me anyway. When we finally fled the state (Not going to detail here) and moved to southwestern part of Virginia, I remember again my parents taking me to some local kid in that trailer park (Only place that would rent to us and we could afford) and I got to play not only a N64 but a Playstation.. Some months later this local bully had every console out at that time and constantly used that as part of his taunting.. Being a stupid kid, I again reverted to thievery and took what he taunted me with. I later returned it late one night after wiping my fingerprints off, but it still doesn't make it right. I haven't done anything like that since and am very much oppose to that type of behaviour. But the addiction was strong enough to make me not think and just act. I have all these games and consoles but they don't make me happy, just an escapism that I had become addicted to and still am. I have wasted so much time and money on this stuff, and I want out and maybe selling the TV and consoles I bought with money I earned from the military might help a lot. But I haven't worked out the details on where to sell this stuff and not get cheated (Gamestop and other stores that give you nothing for them). Maybe a pawn shop for the TV or craigslist ad? And ebay or Amazon for the Xbox 360 slim, original xbox and PS3? I know I left stuff out and I guess I can add them later, but I think I need input and some support before I make a decision on this.
 

Nathália

Well-known member
Yea, I was addicted to gaming before the internet -_-. It was just an activity of escaping and feeling good at gaming achievements for me too. It is a really hard thing to do and when you do try to replace it with another activity, that's healthy of course. There are many activities that are cheap and things that you can teach yourself to satisfy you.

On Craigslist did you try to sell it locally? It sometimes can take a while to get responses back. If you want to try a pawn shop, I don't see why you can't check it out to get an estimate. I say if you really want to try and think that it will benefit you, you should try. You will be okay, it all up to what you wish. It is a really big step, you said it does not make you truly happy. Do you know what does? You should focus on your intuitions instead of drowning them.

Yes, game stores do sometimes buy games below half the price, sometimes switch games or for nothing. You just have to keep trying when you're selling items. Do you have any neighbors? If it doesn't make you shy maybe you can ask them who would want a gaming system. Is this item sold at a lower price than it was a new? People are trying to find deals on things. Good luck Roman.
 

Hoppy

Well-known member
Selling stuff online is rather horrible and much more difficult than the press would like us to believe. What I would recommend is to keep on trying. Give yourself a time limit of maybe two months and make sure you keep on trying to push it. You just need one buyer. After that time you can start looking at alternatives.

Pawnshops get rich out of people who doesn't want to put in a lot of effort.

Three things to remember, there is always someone more desperate than you, there is always someone willing to sell cheaper thas you, and there are always a sucker out there. Good luck.
 

Roman Legion

Well-known member
Selling stuff online is rather horrible and much more difficult than the press would like us to believe. What I would recommend is to keep on trying. Give yourself a time limit of maybe two months and make sure you keep on trying to push it. You just need one buyer. After that time you can start looking at alternatives.

Pawnshops get rich out of people who doesn't want to put in a lot of effort.

Three things to remember, there is always someone more desperate than you, there is always someone willing to sell cheaper thas you, and there are always a sucker out there. Good luck.

Time is a luxury I do not have, I have less than no money, I owe the bank money as my account has a negative balance. I have pondered this for a while now, it would fix two issues simultaneously. You are right, my brother was in a worse position while he was in the Army, his wife stole all his money and almost everything he owned.. He ended up pawning what he had for food. I survived at my first university off of food I found or packaged health bars. I have been in a tighter spot before, but this time I don't have money that I'm waiting to come in, then I was $-280 in the bank and still had a car payment and a military star card that I had to pay off (Not much on the card, I got it for use on post for my year long readiness for deployment.) I won't sell my laptop, my guitar/ amp or my car.. If it came down to it, I'd consider trading my car in, but it's paid off so the only thing going out on my car is a perpetually rising insurance rate (Despite never having a ticket and only one accident in early 2008 when I first started driving, and I didn't do damage to anyone else's property, only my car) and gas.. My father had to buy me petrol the other day as I was driving around on fumes. The military owes me $500 in travel pay that they keep refusing to pay, because they just changed their system from paper to computer and the US government is far worse in the computer age.. My father is being considered for a job, that is about the only positive thing right now, I deal with sub-standard living conditions as they are still better than when I was a child, but as long as I own those consoles I'll be a slave to them and never be able to quit. They make my grades suffer when I am in school, they keep me from reading and generally I'm tired of being a slave to video games and the value they are worth, can be very helpful. I'm not a man that is concerned over material posessions and the accumulation of things, so I don't think selling them is a bad or horrible thing. It's funny that through military life insurance I'm technically worth way more dead than alive.. Really, I do think that is kinda funny; albeit, a little F'ed up.. (I have a REALLY dark sense of humour)
 

Hoppy

Well-known member
Time is a luxury I do not have, I have less than no money, I owe the bank money as my account has a negative balance. I have pondered this for a while now, it would fix two issues simultaneously.
...

through military life insurance I'm technically worth way more dead than alive.. Really, I do think that is kinda funny; albeit, a little F'ed up.. (I have a REALLY dark sense of humour)

I know it is a problem for you, but first, if your father can help you with the talking, is negotiate with the bank. Try to stall them, ask for smaller payments or deferment. Your credit record is probably screwed anyway, but you don't want to default, it will mess up the rest of your life.

As for the value of my life, if I die tomorrow the family's financial problems would be over. I make sure I eat from the same dishes as them.
 
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