Setting a Budget So You Don't Overspend in Steam Sales
The sale ends and you realize you spent more than you meant to, and you haven't played half of what you bought. If that sounds familiar, here's a way to set a budget using your wishlist.
First, find out what everything would cost
Most people are surprised when they add up their whole wishlist. At 30 dollars a game, 100 games is 3,000 dollars. Past 200 games, the number gets bigger still.
Seeing that figure once makes "I can't buy it all, so I have to choose" sink in. It's the easiest way to stay calm when the sale hype hits.
Steam Wishlist Ranker puts the number of games and the total cost of your whole wishlist on its share image, along with how many games are on sale right now.
Set the budget first, in money or in games
Decide your limit before you open the sale page. There are two ways:
- By amount: "up to 50 dollars this sale". Easy when prices vary a lot.
- By count: "up to 3 games this sale". Easy to match to your play time, and it keeps your backlog from growing.
Either works. What matters is deciding before you look at the sale. Decide after, and the limit always creeps up.
Go down your ranking until the budget runs out
With a budget set, start at the top of your ranked wishlist.
- From the top game down, check whether it's on sale and what it costs.
- "Want it now" games go on the list at a decent discount.
- "Buy on sale" games go on the list only when they're close to their all-time low.
- Stop when the list reaches your budget.
Because you choose from the top, it's hard for "cheap but not really wanted" games to sneak in. If you have budget left over, there's no need to spend it. Save it for the next sale.
What to do with games that didn't make it
Games outside the budget aren't ones you "couldn't buy"; they're ones you've moved to next time. With a ranking in place, next sale you just start from the top again.
And games in the "Probably skip" tier are worth removing from your wishlist. A shorter list lowers the total and makes the next look easier.
Play time is part of the budget
As important as money is the time to play. Buy three 50-hour games and if you can't finish them before the next sale, your backlog just grows. Think "only what I can play before the next sale", and the number of games tends to sort itself out.
Summary
- Seeing your wishlist's total cost once makes you choose more deliberately.
- Set your budget, in money or games, before opening the sale page.
- Buy from the top of your ranking until the budget is used.
- Move the rest to next time, and remove games you no longer want.