DVDs at a Bargain for the Holidays

I'm a girl who is always on the search for a bargain, no matter if it is on books, clothes, or DVDs. I especially like looking for bargains on DVDs because movies are a nice way to bring the family together and have some down time together without having to get dressed up and go out or spend unnecessary amounts of money. Here are a couple of tips

Go to Discount Shops--whether it is Half Price Books or a mom and pop store (try Beth's Book Box if you're in the Pflugerville area) you can usually get blockbuster movies for half of the sells price if you don't mind getting it second hand. On one of my excursions to Half Price I managed to get both The 40-Year Old Virgin and White Chicks unrated at under $15. Pawn shops are also a good bet because you can get DVDs there sometimes at as low as $5. That is a good bargain no matter how you look at it. However keep in mind you're going to have to hunt because there will be a ton of copies of movies you don't want bulked together and you may accidentally gloss over one you really want.

Garage Sales--like the stores above you can sometimes find jewels hidden in the mounds of crap. You just have to be willing to drive around to find said garage sales and once you get them, hunt though everything else they're trying to get rid of. However, an added bonus is that usually people who have garage sales are just wanting to get rid of stuff so you may be able to strike up a bargain to get a certain number of DVDs for a set of price. If nothing else it's worth a try.

More than One DVD--you're seen them at stores like Wal-Mart or Target; you can get a certain amount of movies on one DVD or in one set for a decent price. For example, my sister got my father the Lethal Weapon movies for under $20 for Father's Day. I got my husband two Mel Brooks classics Robin Hood: Men in Tights and Spaceballs in one set no to mention Road Trip and Eurotrip on one DVD. There are a lot of good bargains at these places and you can end up getting a person more than one movie for less than half the price.

DVD Parties--this is a somewhat unconventional idea so bear with me. There are such things as "clothes" parties where a group of people (usually women) get together and trade clothes. Why not the same for DVDs? I know what you're thinking; if you have a DVD you usually want why give it away? But think in cases of if you move in with your significant other or get married and you have the same taste in movies. Then you're stuck with two copies of the same movie. Also sometimes you buy a movie because you hear such rave reviews about it and then find out you're not that crazy about it but can't sell it back (while Half Price is wonderful for buying, sometimes selling back is not so successful). This way you don't have to pay anything but you can get a fair trade.

On-line--I know you must beware when you buy on-line because you're usually buying it sight unseen but you can get some bargains at popular websites like E-bay, Amazon, or Half.com (which is a subsidiary of E-bay). You can browse to see what titles they have or what bargains they'll give you (sometimes at Amazon if you buy a certain amount you'll get free shipping or other perks) and while sometime people scam on-line, the people who sell on these websites like to have good reviews so they tend to be very careful about what they send out as products. If nothing else it can't hurt to look to see what kind of deals you can get.

Good luck with your bargain shopping!