We do not buy much for little Abe. I bring home probably an average of two matchbox/ hotwheels cars each month. They only cost 99 cents plus tax but with my 10 percent employee discount they cost me 96 cents total. They have a lot more than just cars now too; motorcycles, planes, helicopters, and all kinds of other vehicles. He gets SOOOO excited every time I bring one home for him. I sometimes expect the excitement to wear off but it hasn't yet. I hardly buy him anything else. It's amazing what birthday's and Christmas can do for a kid's toy pile.
I also discovered a really fun activity for him about a week ago. We took $1.06 out of his piggy bank and went to the dollar store with it (I was looking to purchase a poster board for the hospital protest). I think we spent 20 minutes in the little toy aisle at the dollar store. I let him walk around and pick things up and decide what he wanted. That was incredibly neat for him because when we go grocery shopping we do not go through the toy department. He hardly knows it's in the store. At the dollar store with everything he picked up he said, "oh, wow! look at this!" I'd ask if that was the one thing he wanted and he'd reply, "oh, nah, not this one." I think he picked up everything 10 times. He decided on a plastic football (it was actually really good quality). It was so much fun for him to pick out a toy all on his own and pay for it with his piggy money.
Back to the beginning, one really great reason to not buy toys: when your husband goes through his parent's attic and finds a really old grey rocking horse (donkey) it becomes the coolest find ever. I've wanted a rocking horse for Abe since he was very little. I've thought of possibly buying him one countless times but I've always decided it was not a necessity. If I had bought one for him this old grey donkey that he now adores would pale in comparison to the new one. I cannot tell you how many times in my life that patience has delivered a miraculous treasure that otherwise would have just been, "oh, that's nice."
Today was a NO SPEND day. I'm only at 65 no spends this year but at least today was one of them.
Average daily spending for October: $19.74
You're awesome. I so agree with patience equals a treasure that otherwise would have been just "oh, that's nice".
ReplyDeleteIsn't it great though! I know you know what I mean. Sometimes during the midst of being patient you just feel deprived and then when you happen upon the treasure you suddenly see the rainbow it was sitting under :-) SOOO beautiful!
DeleteI got my boys a plastic rocking horse for $5 at the yard sale 8 years ago and it's still going strong and the youngest still uses it. Hopefully it will last us through two more little munchkins :)
ReplyDeleteAWESOME! Hey, if it's 8 years old already (and then some) I'm sure it will last two more littles. I'm SOOOOOO excited for you!!!
DeleteMy son loved Matchbox/Hotwheel cars until he was about ten-years-old. But, in his years before first grade were the prime years for cars. At about three he would line up traffic and had enough to make a line about ten feet long. That did not count the airplanes and such. He would crawl around for hours!
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