How to Spend Less on Toys 2

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

Take a look around your home right now and see what toys you have. If you are a grandparent and don't have any toys in your home, think about all of the toys you might have purchased for those special kids. Add the cost of them up in your mind. An estimation is fine. Are your surprised by how much you have spent?

The cost of toys is usually more than we realize. But rather than deprive your children of a fun childhood filled with toys, why not employ some strategies that will help you extend the life of those purchases while creating a rich environment for your kids?

In part 1 I shared some ideas for spending less on toys. Now here is part 2.

Create a special box of toys or rotate toys. These are two techniques that many parents use to extend the interest in toys for their kids. You can either create a box of toys that only comes out on special occasion, such as when you really need the kids to occupy themselves, or take away up to 1/4 of the toys and keep them away for a few weeks. Then bring them back out and box up a different 1/4 of the toys. This way kids will rediscover their old toys and want to play with them.

Have a toy exchange with friends and family. If there are toys that your kids are ready to give up, you can exchange them for new toys from other families. Everyone winds up with something new and you don't have to spend any money at all, except maybe for some coffee on the day of the exchange.

Visit a toy library. Believe it or not, they do exist, sometimes as part of a regular public library, and sometimes part of a community organization. At a toy library, you can check out different toys just as you might check out books. There are also places where you can rent toys, but the cost savings isn't that great.

Two other quick ideas that will lead to less toys in the house:

1. Limit the television viewing. Commercials tend to instill the 
"gimmies" in even the most angelic of children.
2. Get the kids outside. The world is filled with playthings, from sticks to rocks to bugs to trees.

Check back later today for the second part of this article.

You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, online content manager, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania in the middle of the woods but close enough to Target and Home Depot.

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