As I am taking some baby steps towards being a minimalist, not completely though but in some categories, I feel like being a minimalist makes life much easier. So my first category selected was toys. When my little angel came into my life, I was like what can I give her so that she enjoys her time. I used to buy so many toys and also we get many toys as gift from our loved ones. But unfortunately, these toys are just mere attraction for kids. They will play with them for some days and then they are not going to look at them back again. Or else, kids will play with these toys all at once and end up creating a heap at one corner of our house. All toys will be scattered everywhere as if they have no place allocated at home. Seeing this, the minimalist mom inside me screams out very loud and says, "Is this the way to respect things and degrade their value?". So, I came up with some points that can be followed to minimise the toys and also the cost that we spend on them. Lets check this list one by one.
1. Buy those toys which will last for a longer run - Now what I mean by this is the toys which can be played with, even when the kid grows little older. Toys like blocks, pretend play sets, etc. These toys can be enjoyed even by older age groups too. So, buying them will not let go our money waste.
2. Join a toy library - This option can save a lot of bucks, as the kid can have a new toy, play with it and once done, you can return it. This does not create any mess and you get to introduce new toys to your kids by spending very little.
3. Selling or buying from preloved groups on Facebook - There are some preloved buy and sell facebook groups where you can sell and buy the toys which are outgrown by the kids. This helps you to sell the toys and also allows you to get new toys at lesser price.
" The lesser , the merrier "
4. Exchange toys with friends - If you have a good friend group whose kids are of same age group as yours, you can exchange the toys and then return back. This is also a good option and kids will learn to share their toys.
5. Reuse outgrown toys- Try to reuse the toys in different ways. Like, if a toy is not any more attractive to the kid, you can try some other ways the toy can be used. For eg. the shape sorter. After sometime when the kid learns the shapes and knows to sort accordingly, it will no further interest the child. So what you can do is, use the shapes of the shape sorter as stamps like dipping the shapes in colors and stamping it on paper. Also the shapes can be used in tracing. The kid can trace the shapes and learn to draw them.
6. Pass it on to cousins - We might sometimes have a bit of attachment with the toys that we could not resell them, or just give it off to someone unknown .At that time, we can pass it on to the following cousins who will take care of the toy as you did. This way you wont feel bad about getting away from the toy. You know they are in safe hands now..
7. Donate to the needy - If you would like to do some charity, you can donate the toys to some NGO, or the kids who stay on the streets, or to your maid if they have kids of the same age group.
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