For those parents looking to save money this holiday season (or any time), “ShortCuts” Columnist for the NY Times, Alina Tugend, has an excellent article on renting or borrowing toys from places like BabyPlays.com:
IF you want to avoid spending a lot of money this year on things that won’t last, like Christmas trees and toys, you don’t have to buy. You can now rent them, enjoying the items in your house but sending them back when you don’t want them anymore.
And if you need tools to put them together? She points them to our new “Find a Tool Library” page, to find your nearest Tool Library:
Need some tools to put together some complex toys you bought? No need to run out and purchase your own. In fact, you may not even have to pay anything. Tool-lending libraries are becoming increasingly popular around the country. To see if one is in your area, check out localtools.org/find/, the newly created Web site.
And while the article focuses on renting toys, there is actually a pretty extensive look at the Berkeley Tool Library. One of the few tool libraries that are part of the public library system:
The Berkeley Public Library has been lending tools for 31 years and offers everything from screwdrivers to table saws to plumbing wrenches.
“You can unstop a sink or build a deck with our tools,” said Adam Broner, a lending specialist who has been working at the Berkeley library for about 20 years.
Power tools can be checked out for three days, while smaller tools are available for a week.
Thank you Anita for the pointers, and we hope everyone has wonderful experiences sharing the holidays!