Free our kids (less spending, more fun)

I love how I’ve ‘met’ likeminded people through blogging. There are some amazing people out there who inspire me to do better. It’s from this network that I was asked to join the ‘Free our kids‘ revolution. The gist: don’t spend a cent on your kid all year to free yourself from the misguided dependancy on unnecessary spending when it comes to kids. Is it possible? Well I have my doubts, but giving myself the challenge is really the only way to stop and think before I spend, and imagine if I did it? That I had a happy healthy kid and I haven’t had to spend a cent to achieve it? CHALLENGE ACCEPTED I say!

So you may ask how the heck I’m going to get through this, well I’m already half way there. Here’s a few examples:

• My baby, Everett, is 9 months old. I put him on his toy mat with his toys and you know what he’d rather play with? The dog, bowls and spoons, a cupboard, or right as we speak he’s playing with my apron.
• I often buy secondhand toys from the Op Shop or Gumtree.
• We recently joined The Playgroup Association of WA which means for two hours a week Everett has access to a bunch of toys and play equipment which is shared amongst other groups of kids, whilst socialising with other children his age (and not to mention socialising for me!)
• We plan on joining the local toy library soon which means for a yearly membership, you can borrow toys for a few weeks before exchanging them for other toys.
• I recently asked my friends on Facebook whether anyone had size 0 baby boy clothes that they were getting rid of (for a price, or for free) and I already got offered boxes of clothes for nothing.
• We visit the local libraries (we have four in close distance) for Rhyme Time, which is an initiative run by the State Library of WA where a librarian will sing nursery rhymes to children from 0 – 2 years old.

Some of these things do still involve a cost, so I’ll have to justify each item. I think, for example, Playgroup is well worth the cost for socialisation and access to shared toys. This evolved from Mothers Group but as the children get older, Mothers Group becomes too difficult to host and therefore Playgroup is the next best thing.

Look out for future posts on some of my experiences with Free our Kids. I’m going to document every cent I spend (or don’t spend) over the next year!

So fellow Mummies, do you think you could join this challenge?