Resisting the urge of the Dollar Section Black Hole

 Dollar Spot Toy RANT:

Raise your had with me, who can't resist the urge to buy something from the Dollar Section at our favorite store?  Yep that is what I thought.  Tell me what really happens after the first day of the kids playing with those toys?  Mine get lost under the car seat or thrown in the closet or broken in the first 10 minutes.  Do we really need to buy that crap for our kids.  I was talking to my daughter the other day because she was fretting over a $2 Micheal's Crafts Store toy that broke 1 hour after we (I) bought it.  She just had to have it and you know how they can turn on those big eyes and look up at you with such a sad little face.  I told her that was it, NO MORE JUNK TOYS. 

That remind me of one of my favorite Children's books:

Too Many Toys by David Shannon

  Mad at myself for being so wasteful , I am taking a stand.  I mean don't get me wrong, I LOVE those dollar sections (they are like crack to me), they are always so pretty and have such cute treats in them, they rotate out the old and bring in the new so quickly and the seasonal items,oh how lovely and cheap they are.  

And then my brain starts playing tricks on me, the kids were good today, right? (somehow I forgot about the fight about getting dressed for school that morning) and don't they deserve a little something????? And it is JUST one little bitty dollar + tax.  The fact is, my kids act worse after I have given them an impulse toy/treat than something they have EARNED.  I think they get so use to getting a little something every time we walk in a store that they will act shocked when I say no.  I remember there was one Saturday I was out shopping with my daughter and literally every store we went in she found a little something she wanted.  I finally looked at her and said this has to stop, just because we are running 5 earns to 5 different store doesn't mean you get 5 toy.

As I was cleaning out both of their rooms yet again this past weekend, it made me sick how many junk toys they had in their rooms.  All I kept thinking was what if I had just put a dollar in a jar for every dollar junk toy they have ask for over the years.   They would have enough money for a really nice toy not a closet floor of little pieces of junk.

All those little happy meal, dollar store, Target dollar spot impulse toys are being donated to the Treasure box in my son's 1st grade classroom next week.  So when you see me hauling my enormous recycle bag of junk toys up to school next week, say a prayer of strength for me.  A prayer to resist the urge of the Dollar Spot Section.  Did you ever think about how many $1 we have spent on those (lets make the kids happy impulse buys).  And my kids gave up every single junk toy this past weekend with not even a blink of an eye, so they really didn't need them to begin with.  Those were the easiest toys to clean out and the first to go.

Well I had to admit to myself standing in the entrance of my favorite Target store last week.; that Target has made hundreds of dollars off me from that cute "cheap" little section up front.  It is just so temping isn't it?  Well the Cullen family has sworn off $1 junk toys; so goodbye Target dollar spots and Michael's $1 toys (that have now moved up to $2-$3 each, sneaky little people) and Dollar Tree, while I love many things about you, you TOO have certainly made a pretty penny from me with all your cheap toys that break before we even get home, and then I was too embarrassed to return or exchange the piece of crap because it was only a dollar.  WELL, I got your number!  NO more crappy cheap foreign made junk toys for the Cullen Kids!

I had to return something yesterday to my favorite Target and with blinders on I walked right past the tempting Dollar Spot section at Target.   I actually laughed and thought too bad I can't bring my enormous recycle bag in here and ask for a refund for all the junk toys.  I'd have enough for a nice lunch or two at Swanky's Tacos.

Who is with me?  Take a stand and lay off the dollar section for awhile and see just how much you save.  Use the jar trick for every toy you decide not to buy put a dollar in a jar and I think you will be surprised how much you will have saved.