How to Save Money on Kid’s Toys

Have you ever walked into a family’s playroom so overflowing with toys that there wasn’t a place to walk? It’s scenes like these that make the CEO’s of the big toy companies smile.

Kiddie Consumers
An article in the International Business Times last month reminds us that the toy companies are depending on our kids for their growth. Since I’m interested in using toys to engage and educate my son rather than line the pockets of toy makers, I asked around for some ideas at a family get together last weekend.

Recycle Your Toys
As a parent of a nine-month old, I’ve learned that kids have a short attention span and move from one toy to the next pretty quickly so you need to have a wide variety available. However, your toy box can only hold so many toys before overflowing into your living room.

The simple tip I picked up was to take out older toys as new ones are added and store the old toys out of site for several site for several months. Once your kid tires of the toys they’re playing with, re-introduce the boxed up toys and put the current toys into storage. This should greatly reduce the number of brand new toys you have to buy while keeping your kids interested with “pseudo” new toys.

Avoid Commercials
This tip was from a mother of a two and five year old so I don’t know at what age it stops becoming effective but I imagine its value fades as they get older. I did get another tip from Jenn at Frugal Upstate in a comment on my Teaching Kids the Value of Money post.

Jenn mentioned that she avoids television channels that bombard kids with advertising, such as Nickelodeon, in order to cut down on the “gimme” effect. Toy companies love to tell kids they “have” to get the newest toy. Cut the commercials out of the loop and kids might want fewer toys, makes sense to me.

Saving Money
Re-introducing toys as new and reducing your kid’s exposure to advertising can help lower the costs of providing entertaining and educational toys for your children.

Ben Edwards, the founder of Money Smart Life, saved up enough to buy a Nintendo back when he was 12 years old. When he used the money to buy shares of Wal-Mart stock instead, he knew he wasn't like the other kids... His addiction to personal finance has paid off for his family and now he's helping you to afford the life that you want. Check him out on the web at Google Plus, Twitter and Facebook.

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