Stacey Prenter was heavily pregnant when she signed up at her local toy library as a way to cut back her household costs.
"In the last three years, with all the toys that I've borrowed, I've saved $15,000 – it's huge," she said.
Ms Prenter is now the treasurer of the volunteer-run Townsville Toy Library, where families pay a membership fee to rent from a collection of 2,500 toys.
"In the last three months, we have had 97 members join our toy library," she said.
"We have 327 active members at the moment, and that's one of our highest in the last 45 years that we've been running."
Cost-of-living pressures have forced many families to re-evaluate their budgets.
Toy Libraries Australia spokeswoman Adelle Suitor said membership across Australia's 380 toy libraries had surged to 130,000 people.
"In the last year, we have seen a boom right across the country," she said.
"With the cost of living going up, families are trying to find a way they can save some money and toy libraries are a fabulous way to do that.
"Across Australia, all the toy libraries have about $28 million worth of toys … which works out to be about $640 worth of toys per family."
Brisbane mother Carley Brown joined her local toy library as a way to keep up with her daughters' changing interests.
Over the past year, she has saved thousands of dollars.
"It's like having Christmas every few weeks, coming in and [borrowing] new toys," she said.
"It's a fraction of the cost, buying one toy membership for the year compared to trying to buy all those toys."
Ms Prenter said sustainability was also a major drawcard for families eager to cut down on waste and reduce the number of toys ending up in landfill.
"We've got toys in rotation that have been through over 50 different families," she said.
Stacey Cyrus only signed up at the Townsville Toy Library a few weeks ago after moving from South Africa.
"There's definitely nothing like this there — it's a marvel for me," she said.
"I can constantly get new things to keep [my son] engaged and entertained, and then when he's over it, we can just bring it back instead of constantly buying new."
