Are you getting sick and tired of purchasing expensive video games only to have your child play the games a few times and decide he/she doesn’t like them?  I feel your pain!  I have a stack of video games my daughter has played once or a couple of times and some originally cost me over $50 a piece!  It’s maddening!  Either she solves them in less than a week or decides they weren’t exactly what she was expecting.  I could trade them in , but I would never receive back close to the amount I invested. Check out the pile of video games below she no longer plays with!  AND this is just a small fraction of the games she has collecting dust.

SmartyRents.com

Christy Baker & Jenny Scheidle,  two very savvy credentialed teachers with Master’s Degrees in Education,  came up with an amazing idea to a more intelligent plus affordable approach to gaming and a fun way to promote education in the home.  The now stay-at-home moms launched SmartyRents, an online educational video game rental company, featuring LeapFrog and VTech games.  The site offers games to rent from eight popular game systems, including Little Leaps, Clickstart, Leapster, Didj, V.Smile Baby, V.Smile, V.Motion, and V.Flash.  All games are available to rent including some hard to find titles no longer available on the market for purchase.

SmartyRents allows parents to provide their children with a variety of games (recommended for ages 9 months to 10 years old), but at a much more cost-effective manner.  The educational video game rental company works similar to Netflix, in that,  the customer’s selected game titles are shipped free, directly to their door.  There is no due  date for returning the game,  so it can be kept for as long as needed without incurring late fees.  When your child is finished with the game, you just have to pop it in the pre-paid mailer and send it back.  If your child falls in love with the game and can’t bare to part with it,  the video game can be purchased at the “Love It”  reduced price. How cool is that?

Families have several SmartyRents rental packages to choose from to meet the specific individual needs of each child in their home.  Packages available include 1 game at a time $9.99 per month,  2 games at a time $14.99 per month, 3 games at a time $19.99 per month, and 4 games at a time $24.99 per month.  You can change your plan at any time to best fit your family’s learning requirements.

Sound fantastic?  I think it does!  It’s definitely a great way to save some cash and let your child try out the game before committing to it.   No more games collecting dust and your hard earned cash won’t be flushed away.  PLUS, I have even more saving news.  SmartyRents  is offering all my followers 1 FREE month of the 1 Game at a Time package or $9.99 towards the package of your choice.  To get your free month or $9.99 off any package , use promo code d1cbdd.  Code is good for first time customers only and expires 8/30/10.

GIVEAWAY!

SmartyRents would like to give 5 lucky readers a 3 month membership for free! To enter the giveaway please check out the SmartyRents  educational video games and leave me a comment sharing which video game you will be renting first if your chosen as the winner.

EXTRA ENTRIES ARE OPTIONAL AND NOT REQUIRED TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR THE PRIZE.  DO NONE, ONE, OR IMPROVE YOUR CHANCES BY DOING THEM ALL!  YOUR CHOICE!

1. Mention the giveaway on your own blog linking back to this post and SmartyRents..  Leave an additional comment with a link to where you blogged about the giveaway. This is worth 5 extra entries.  Make sure you leave five separate comments. (example blogged extra entry #1, blogged extra entry #2, blogged extra entry #3, ect…)

2.Place my button on your blog and then leave an additional comment with a link to the page where you put the button. If you already have my button leave a comment letting me know you already have it.

3. Follow my blog and leave me an additional comment. ( There is a little widget on my sidebar that shows my followers. Just click follow). If you already follow leave me a comment letting me know you already do.

4. Follow @ahappihippymom, and SmartyRents on Twitter. Plus tweet about the giveaway.  3 Extra Entries

5. Subscribe to my feed and leave a comment. If you already subscribe leave a comment telling me you are already a subscriber.

6. Like SmartyRents on Facebook.  This is worth 2 extra entries.

7. Like ahappyhippymom on Facebook. Worth 2 extra entries

8. Enter any of my other ACTIVE giveaways.  Leave a separate comment for each one entered.

A winner will be chosen at random via Random.org. Upon notification the winner has 72 hours to send me their contact information.  Information will be forwarded to sponsor for prize fulfillment.

Open to US residents only 18+

The contest ends July 31st, 11:59 PM eastern

FTC  disclosure :  In adherence to the  FTC   it  is necessary  to add when ever I receive any compensation in return for posting about a company or product. No compensation was received.  All opinions were of my own.