Buy used video games instead of new ones. Save up to $350 per year or more compared to buying two new games per month. You can conserve the energy and material resources needed to make new games. Additionally buying used means your kids can get more games for the same amount of money and there’s less financial risk involved when trying out a game they’ve never played before.

If most of your kids’ friends have the same video game system, you might arrange to have a video game trading party. Have the kids bring games they no longer play and trade them for games other kids are looking to unload. (This also works well with toys and board games.) You can save up to $250 or more per year compared to buying two used games per month, which saves the manufacturing energy and inputs associated with new games. If the alternative to the trading party was selling used games online, you’ll also save the materials and transportation energy used to ship the games to the new owners.

When it’s not in use, teach your kids to make a habit of powering down the video game console. This may mean remembering to turn the console off, or setting up the power-saving feature, which automatically powers down the device after a period of time. Leaving the console on and idle can use nearly as much energy as playing a game. Save up to $160 per year compared to leaving the console in idle mode when not in use as well as conserve up to 1,500 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year and one ton of CO2.

Shift It Tip: If the power supply to the console is hard to reach, or you don’t want your kids dealing with electric wiring, plug the console into a power strip with a timer. Set the timer so the console turns on and off at certain hours every day. This is not only a great way to save energy, but can be a strategy to limit your kids’ video game time as well.

Rent new video games instead of buying them. You save up to $500 per year or more compared to buying two new video games per month. Video rentals are a great way to promote reuse, which not only saves production resources, but ultimately reduces waste as well. Try games before purchasing them and avoid buyer’s regret.