“Come home with me,” she begins in the video, which shows a mother finding a dirty car abandoned on the sidewalk and giving her children toys she found on the street.
On the currently trending TikTokFinley Powell explained that her 2-year-old son had been wanting the toy car for a while, so she quickly got permission from the owner to buy it.
“What’s better than finding something free?”
Finley acknowledges the toy’s condition was dire.
“Now, you’re probably thinking I’m a terrible mom for saying this, but my two-year-old has been wanting this for a long time, and what could be better than finding a free one on the street with just a few tweaks?”
“Yes, it was absolutely awful. Inside and out, it had everything you could possibly want.”
“There was bird droppings on it, a family of snails and it was just so loud.”
“But please reserve your judgement and watch until the end, because me and my son did a really great job with this.”
Finley used a bucket, carpet brush and fairy fluid to scrub the car.
“But by the end my arms were sore, I must have been scrubbing with that brush for about 30 minutes.
“It was really tedious because it kept rolling, but after a long workout the main part was done.”
The resourceful mum admitted she could have bought the toy new but questioned why she should waste money and even contribute to landfill.
“I don’t care if I’m stingy.”
Finley continues, “I know people are going to watch this video and disagree about whether I’m a stingy mom, right or wrong, but I don’t care.”
“We were going to buy him one of these so we can use that money for other things and keep this car from going to the dump and becoming just another piece of landfill.”
“So first we saved the planet, then I saved my bank account, and finally I have a happy son.”
“And that’s all that matters. It doesn’t matter where it came from. My son is happy and that’s all I care about.”
In the video’s comments section, viewers praised Finley’s effort.
“The queen of sustainability!” one person enthusiastically cheered, while another added: “It also created memories and that in itself is priceless! ‘Mum, remember when we found that car and cleaned it up?'”
