A New Approach to an Old Hobby
Everyone has a hobby. Some people enjoy reading books, others like playing sports, and some are drawn to the most unusual and entertaining activities they can find. For me, my hobby is simple: I love sitting in front of the TV with a good movie playing while building a Lego set.
It’s not a complicated hobby, and it’s easy to get into; however, one constant challenge I’ve faced is the cost—until recently.
Just a 10-minute walk from my house is a shopping centre that houses a Lego store where I used to browse the latest additions to the 18+ Lego Botanicals range. But at some point, I couldn’t justify spending around $100 a week on a Lego set that I would finish before the movie was over. While the Lego bouquets and plants that decorate my home look beautiful, it just wasn’t worth the expense anymore.
So, I had to put my hobby on hold. I limited myself to buying one new Lego set each month. That was until I discovered a cheaper alternative.
One day, while strolling through Kmart, I noticed a shelf at the edge of the toy section lined with Lego. And not fake Lego dupes, I’m talking about real, proper brand Lego. At first, I only noticed the sets aimed at a younger audience (as a 26-year-old woman, I have too much dignity to purchase any Lego without the 18+ label on it), but as I looked further down the shelves, I saw several sets I already owned, plus a few that I had been eyeing.
I found a set that, just two weeks earlier, I had spent $99.99 on, now available at Kmart for just $78.
So I took the time to look through the available options and compared them to the prices online at the Lego store using my phone. Imagine my shock and delight when I realized that all the sets I had wanted to buy were around $20 cheaper at Kmart.
Although the selection in-store wasn’t huge, when I got home and checked online, I found that Kmart had almost every Lego set I had hoped to purchase, and they were clearly much more affordable.
And it turns out that it’s not just Kmart! After doing a little online research, I discovered that other budget retailers such as Big W and Amazon also sell Lego at discounted prices.
You can even get your hands on some of the larger sets that would normally cost around $249.99 at the Lego store for just $199.
While this might not seem like a massive discount, I don’t disagree that it’s still quite a price to pay for a few bags of plastic bricks and an instruction manual. However, when you purchase the amount of Lego I do, the discount really adds up.
This discovery has completely changed how I approach my hobby. It’s no longer about splurging on expensive sets, but rather finding smart ways to enjoy my passion without breaking the bank.
