Toy Wasteby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 29 Mar 2008 06:32 AM Yesterday, I had a nice visit with a new friend and fellow mom. She is a great person, and I am glad to have met her. In the course of our conversation, we talked about how many toys our children have and the need to purge toys when the youngest of our broods outgrow them. My new friend told me that she was in a quandary. She wanted to recycle some of the toys but didn't think that the hard plastic would be taken by the recycling center. Instead, she said, she was forced to throw the toys out. Well, of course this set off alarms in my little frugal head. Throw them out? As someone who has a household full of toys that are mostly second-hand, throwing out perfectly good toys that were owned by one small family seems odd to me. I suggested that she donate the toys instead. She was surprised, I think, that a thrift store would want them since they had been used. But as long as the toys aren't broken or recalled, they could have new life with someone else. Some of the toys she described are expensive brand-name toys that would surely brighten up some child's playtime. So, please. If you have extra toys that you no longer need, consider passing them along in one of the following ways: Donate them to a thrift store Donate them to a pregnancy center Donate them to a children's hospital Donate them to a women's shelter Donate them to a local church Donate them to a day care facility Post them for free on Freecycle Hold an outgrown swap Donate them to a needy family in your area Bring them to a consignment shop for resale and ask that the proceeds be donated to a charity of your choice. Do you have any ideas for passing on used toys? Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: The Best Things to Buy Used: Toys 1 The Best Things to Buy Used: Toys 2 New Uses for Old Inflatable Toys Are you missing valuable information? Subscribe to this blog by clicking in the subscription box on the right. Choose your favorite web-based news reader or e-mail address and you won't miss a thing! Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments Angie (20) 29 Mar 2008 02:01 PMYou can also pass on your toys to other local parents at Freepeats.org. Community Tags baby, child, frugal, toys, thrifty Discuss this article
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