Almost a year ago a sweet, well-intentioned relative generously sent us a “My First LeapPad” toy that her son had outgrown. The only problem was that, despite putting in new batteries, it wasn’t working right. It appeared that the little stylus pen thing wasn’t working. At the time, I was very, very pregnant with the twins, so I shelved it thinking I would deal with it another time.
Fast forward, months later, and I go on a cleaning and purging rampage. I overhaul the boys’ closet and come across this broken LeapPad. In an unfrugal, stupid, and unenvironmentally-friendly, move, I threw it away.
Because I had kept all the books and cartridges for the My First LeapPad, I decided I would find a new one. As I was looking at the sales on the LeapFrog website, I discovered that you can replace the stylus pens. And you can replace them for only about five bucks. I could have FIXED the thing… easily and cheaply.
ARRRRGH. But I was on a mission. I wanted to replace the My First LeapPad. I checked Ebay… with shipping they were all running about $15-$20. I searched every toy website I could find and all the major discount stores. Nada. Even the LeapFrog website was (and is) sold out of them. I was able to find several of them online for $30 each. I don’t mind eating crow when I’ve done something dumb, but I didn’t want to eat $30 worth!
In the end, I was able to find it at Toys ‘R’ Us for $20 with free shipping. Not bad considering what the used ones were going for on Ebay. The more important thing is that I learned a valuable lesson. I learned that I should work harder to seek solutions to fixing what I have instead of getting impatient and throwing things away.
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