Tips for Finding Perfect “Nused” Toys –
We have a grandson who is two and (except for Christmas and his birthday) I get all of his toys at the thrift stores. For the most part I look for known brand-names, toys that are easy to clean, and of course age-appropriate items. This month’s featured toys I bought cost me a total of $11.13! If I had found the same toys new or off eBay or Amazon, I would have paid $129.06 (and that doesn’t include pricing on some of the toys that I didn’t look up pricing for)!
The one rule I force myself to adhere to is only buying the toys that are half-off on that particular shopping day (ARC, Goodwill and Salvation Army discount items everyday based on the colors or dates on the price tags).
I carry batteries with me for toys that require batteries and check to make sure the toy works before I buy it. When I get home I either:
- Run the toys through the dishwasher.
- Clean them with a bleach rinse or wipe them down with Clorox wipes.
Some of the toys look brand new, some have a little wear and tear and there’s the occasional crayon mark but chances are, even if I bought it brand new, it’s going to quickly acquire the wear/tear, or crayon, or pen marks after playing with it anyway.
The Finds!
This Fisher Price Shake n Go Dragster set cost me $1.00 at ARC! I found it on eBay (brand new) for $59.95! As you can see, it’s in great condition and our grandson loves it. It lights up, makes “dragster” racing sounds and the cars are really fast moving….ONE DOLLAR! What a bargain!
These little sets of misc. vehicles and figures came in bags that at half off, cost me 50 cents each. Arc has tons of bagged groups of toys for boys and girls that are usually marked anywhere from 99 cents to $2.99 (again, I wait till it’s half off those prices).
Musical toys are great for those budding musicians (or if you want to irritate the parents with “noisy” toys!) I found this First Act Discovery Drum set at Goodwill for $1.50 (it is missing the cymbals). Brand new at Toys R Us it cost $29.99.
Fisher Price items are among my favorites because they are so durable. I found this wagon at Goodwill for $2.99 versus $16.14 on eBay.
Miscellaneous little things I picked up include this Spider Man car ($0.25) that lights up and sings “Spider Man”, a Fisher Price drill ($0.25), this motorcycle man ($0.40) which our grandson plays with a lot but it is VERY annoying because it is so loud (which is probably one of the reasons he likes it so much)! This little Light ‘Em Up fire truck makes siren sounds and lights up and cost a whopping $0.49 cents and this “jeep looking vehicle” was $0.25!
Who hasn’t owned one of these Fisher Price Corn Poppers? I found this at arc for $1.00 (it’s been used obviously but still “pops” and works just fine). Toys r Us sells it for $13.99.
I paid $2.00 for this Playschool Poppin Pinball….found it on eBay for $8.99.
Now I didn’t find all these toys on a single trip, but over the course of four weeks, this is what I accumulated. It takes some looking but for the savings I don’t mind and I always have an assortment of “new” toys for our grandson to play with. Again, if I had bought these toys at stores, off eBay or Amazon I would have paid $129.06 (not including tax and shipping if applicable) and I paid a total of $11.13! All of the above toys were found at arc or Goodwill.
Used Books: An Affordable World of Knowledge
Children’s books are SO expensive (even the paperback ones) and chances are a page (or more) will eventually get ripped or written on.
I think the younger your child is introduced to books, the better the chance will be they will grow up to love reading. And if you don’t spend a lot of money on them, odds are you won’t get upset when the occasional “accident'” happens.
Two of my favorite “steals” this month was this Disney’s Growing Up Stories that I paid $1.99 for and was priced originally at $15.99 and the Little Miss Spider Sunny Patch School book that I paid $0.29 cents for and found on Amazon for $12.15. All together, I bought seven books for a whopping total of $4.71. If I had bought them new, they would have added up to $58.05!
I gently wipe the front and back of used books with a Clorox wipe (don’t kid yourself that a “new” book is going to be any more germ free because there are lots of little hands in the stores handling the books, along with the stockers, cashiers, parents, etc).
Puzzling Puzzles
These Melissa & Doug wood puzzles retail for $19.97 (for set of three)….I paid $3.00 AND they were still in the original wrapping…had never been opened! (Goodwill).
The Games of Love
My husband and I like to play board games a couple of times a month. Instead of going out to the movies, we’ll pour a couple of glasses of wine and sit around and try to beat each other at a game (saves money, don’t have to worry about drinking and driving and we actually TALK to each other while playing)…games are, of course, great for children, too!
Here’s this month’s finds:
- Triple Yahtzee – I paid $1.29 versus $13.99 on Amazon
- Racko-paid – I paid $1.00 versus $11.99 on Amazon
- Aggravation – I paid $1.00 versus $9.99 at Toys r Us
- Risk – I paid $2.99 versus $23.00 at Target
- Boggle – I paid $1.99 versus $8.95 on Amazon
In total, I paid $8.27 for five games versus buying them new for $67.92….try going to a movie (two of you) for $8.27!
Why not pick up a “new” game at one of the local thrift stores and start a weekly or monthly night of “game night” with your family or friends….it’s fun, cheap and can be a time of great memory making.
With prices like all of the above mentioned items you can totally afford to pick up toys, games and books for those little, special someones in your life (or the bigger, special someones!)