While the rest of us at PC Gamer are hard at work in the mines, dutifully searching for gems hidden among the stones, I've been given a more enjoyable task: budgeting.

As you know, I am what we in the UK call a hard man. I love my PC and all its accessories, but aside from a big upgrade every five years or so, I only buy peripherals and accessories when they're cheap. I have kids! But even if I didn't, I'd probably still be a bit of a defender.

So I, Meanie McMeanface, am going to walk past the overwhelming number of Black Friday PC gaming deals (opens in new tab) and focus on one thing. If I had $250 to spend this Black Friday, where would I spend it?

Right now I'm in a bit of a bind. I've spent just under $140 on a new mouse, keyboard, headset, and microphone. I was wondering if there was any chance I could squeeze a decent monitor in there, but if I push my budget up to $260 overall (don't tell the PCG hardware team), my penny-pinching eyes are staring at this like Scrooges.

In the end, I decided against the monitor. It doesn't fit my thrifty nature to break the budget, and I want quantity as well as quality. What I need to buy for myself is a new pad (again, big thanks to my well-behaved kids):

How about that? A new mouse, keyboard, headset, microphone, a great gaming pad, and an NVMe drive for overall PC performance.

I guess this is what I personally enjoy about Black Friday: some PC gamers swoon over shiny high-end products, but I'm a bit of a dumpster diver and like to get them as cheap as possible. What can I say, they picked the right person for the job.