MANY parents may struggle to buy toys for their children due to the ongoing cost of living prices or how expensive they have become.
However, that hasn’t stopped some parents from getting nifty with seeing what they can get their kids on a budget.
That’s exactly what Finleigh Powell did when she found a toy car on the side of the road.
Taking to TikTok, she explained her young son Rex had wanted a toy car for a while and so she snapped up the opportunity to grab it.
After taking it with permission, the West Midlands-based mum took to TikTok to share her find and how she fixed it up.
“I found this filthy car on the side of the road and my first thought was ‘you’re coming home with me,'” she begins in her video.
“Now, you’re probably gonna think I’m a terrible mum for this, but my two-year-old has wanted one of these for the longest time and what is better than finding a freebie on the side of the road that just needs a little spruce-up?”
She goes on to joke the toy “probably needs an MOT” because it was “absolutely disgusting.”
“There was everything you could think of inside and out.
“There’s bird s***on it, there was a snail family, it was just absolutely honking.
“But hold off on the judgment and wait until you see it at the end because me and Rue did an absolutely cracking job on this.”
She then explains she used a carpet brush to clean it as she couldn’t get in the shed to get a bucket or hose.
She also used her indoor cleaning bucket, the carpet brush, and some fairy liquid to give it a scrub.
“I’ll tell you something though, my arms were aching at the end of this. I think I scrubbed it with that brush for about half an hour.
“It was an absolute pain in the a** to do because it kept rolling away, but after my lengthly workout the main bit was done.”
She says she then doused it with water and got to work on cleaning “every nook and cranny.”
She then addressed the division the clip may cause.
e can now spend that money doing something else, and this also saves this car going to the tip and just being waste landfill.
Finleigh Powell
“I know this video is going to divide opinions whether I’m a tight a** mum or whether I’m in the right or the wrong, but I really don’t care.
“We were going to buy Rue one of these and they’re about £70.
“That’s not the issue, we have the money to buy it, but why would you buy something if there’s something perfectly fine on the side of the road that just needs a clean?
“We can now spend that money doing something else, and this also saves this car going to the tip and just being waste landfill.
“So one we’ve saved the planet, and two, I’ve saved my bank account, and three I’ve still got a happy boy at the end of it all.
“And that is all that matters. What does it matter where it came from? My son is happy and that is all I care about,” she concluded.
She said she was really happy with how the car had turned up and her son was “over the moon” in his “secondhand car.”
Taking to the comments, people were supportive of Finleigh’s move.
One person penned: “Sustainable queen!!!”
Another said: “Teaching sustainability, saving money, and teaching your son to take good care of things [clapping hand emojis] job well done.”
A third said: “This also created memories and that is priceless in itself!!! ‘Mummy, remember when we found that car and cleaned it?'”
WE'VE put together six top tips to cut costs, nab freebies and to make sure you're not fined.
