How much money per month do you spend on toys, books, art supplies?

[ett]

Several months ago, DH and I sat down to look at our spendings that month and discovered that I had spent around $400 on stuff for DS. That was certainly not a normal month as it included a Kettler purchase and a mauliko co-op purchase but I was still surprised at how high the number was. Well, after some discussion, we set a limit of $100/month to spend on toys, books, art supplies, etc. for DS. (This does not include clothing.) I've been pretty good about staying within this budget, but it does get hard sometimes. I've been wanting to pick up some of the Thomas accessories, but they're so pricey, and even with a 40% off coupon from AC Moore, it would still make a large dent in our monthly toy budget.

So I was just wondering what your budget was for buying toys, etc. for your DC? Do you use a monthly budget or something else? Or do you even keep track?

Thanks.

[DebbieJ]

I don't even keep track. Honestly, we don't buy that much for ds. My mom bought a bunch of summer/outdoor stuff for ds back in May and that has lasted us all summer.

I tend to buy stuff when I see a good deal (i.e. bought the train table at Costco last Christmas even though he was only 1yo at the time) and just got in on the Small World wooden refrigerator even though we won't give it to him until his b-day or Christmas.

~ deb
DS born at home 12/03

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[brittone2]

Truthfully things run really hot or cold around here :) I honestly don't buy much stuff overall for DS but I do focus on wooden toys and try to buy quality merchandise so the items themselves are often a bit pricey, but we don't buy a lot of things overall.

For example, I tend to buy things when I see them onsale and box them up in large rubbermaid containers labled "toys for later" and the contents (for example, I found a great deal on Tumbletree Timbers (basically Lincoln Logs) last Christmas that I put away for when he's probably closer to 3. We just hit a few neat toy stores (exploring new places to shop since our move) and we bought DS probably $50-60 worth of toys. But...we hadn't bought him anything substantial since his birthday in February other than a sandbox which we bought after our move. I want to start some Waldorf-y water color painting with him so I just picked up a $10 jar of one color and some heavy paper because I believe in quality art supplies for kids. However, we don't have magic markers or tons of crayons (a simple set of stockmar that have held up very well).

We just spent some money on two Thomas sets that we put away for Christmas, along with some stocking stuffers. DH is making him a train table most likely. He'll probably get a few other items yet for Christmas but that's the big stuff. His 2nd bday is in Feb. and we'll probably get him a Kettler. Between now and Christmas though I probably won't give DS much in the way of toys at all.

I guess I find by buying small amounts of quality items I can limit how much we spend overall. We buy 2nd hand when possible (our wooden/mdf play kitchen was found curbside with a free sign...DS likes to play with my old doll stroller and doll bassinet from when I was a little girl). Most of our toys should have lasting play value (train sets, play silks, Holztiger dinosaurs, instruments) so I feel justified in spending $$ on those sorts of items provided I skip the rest of the junk available in most mainstream stores :)

[proggoddess]

Is this really the average that people spend? I admit that I am a bit of a cheapskate, and I have not done any scientific data collection, but I would estimate that we spend only $100 every 6 months on "fun" or "activity" items for DD.

Granted, she is only 16 months old and it seems the OP's son is an older toddler. We've bought a lot of utility items recently like a potty seat and of course diapers, but not many toys.

Our best purchase was some velcro tie wraps from Home Depot. $4 for 6 of them. We were going to use them to tidy up the cables behind the computer and for other stuff, but DD just loves hearing the velcro ripping noise. She'll even sit still for 2-3 minutes if you keep sticking the strips together for her. That's like an eternity when normally she won't stay in one place for more than 30 seconds. :)

We do spend more on DD's food, though. She is intolerant to a lot of foods, so we give a lot of business to our Feel Rite organic store. I'd estimate we spend $50 a month on just her unique food, not counting regular food that we also eat.

We do not set a budget at all, but only because we've never had a problem with paying our bills. I'm just curious to get a larger sample of people's estimated or controlled budgets.

[LucyG]

For the sake of adding more data to this discussion, I just ran a Microsoft Money report. This year, we have spent $330 on toys, books, art supplies, and activity things for our 2-year-old DD. $140 of that was a Kettler. Probably $100 more of it was a wooden train set and some accessories that I bought to give her for Christmas. I will probably make a few more small purchases here and there, but don't expect to go over $400 for the year. Last year, we spent $320 for the year. I still buy her books, but have cut way back on the toys we buy.


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2 years and counting!

[kijip]

We spend a few hundred dollars per year. But we do get a lot of big gifts so perhaps we spend less than we would...my father got Toby a toy kitchen for example and is planning on getting him a train set for Christmas. My mother got him a toy table and chair set. My friend got him an easel. The biggest thing we have bought was the Ketter Junior for $60 with all the extras. For his birthday he got a wooden kitchen extras (utensils, wooden food etc) from us. So we don't spend a lot but if we paid for everything he has we would easily be out $600 more.

[s7714]

We spend maybe $15-20 a month, if even that. We'll usually go several months without buying a single thing. That said however, I do stock up on things when I see them at a good price. For instance, I've been stocking up on art supplies right now with all the back to school sales going on and probably won't buy any more for a long while. A lot of things like finger paint, playdough, etc. I just make at home from basic ingredients for far cheaper than what they cost in the store.

There are some toys I'll spend larger amounts of money on if they're good quality and I think they'll last through both DDs, but even those I save for special occassions.

Edited to add: for books, we always hit the library first. I'll buy the classics or ones that DD repeatedly asks to check out, but that's it. I also have all the books I had as a child though, so my DDs already have a huge amount of books to choose from at home.

Jennifer
Mommy to
Annalia 3/03
Sophia 6/05

[KrisM]

We probably average $20 per month. Some months are zero. Others are higher. I buy a lot at garage sales and Mom to Mom sales. I have a Borders Visa and use the gift certificates to buy books. So far, we haven't bought any one item that is more than $25, unless you include a bigger house since we've outgrown this one!


That said, I am considering a train table for Christmas this year.

[ett]

Thanks for the responses. I think I will also post this question as a poll in the lounge to generate more responses.