I absolutely love the idea of toy libraries! They are libraries that check out toys for children instead of books. You can find these libraries in a number of different countries and communities around the world. Kids have access to high quality toys without contributing to the endless cycle of purchasing then discarding.

Does anyone have personal experience with a toy library in their own community?

Mine tried to start one about a decade ago and it hobbled along for several years before closing post-COVID for lack of funding and community support.

From https://ludo.ch/en/toy-libraries/portrait/

A toy library is a public space where anyone – of any age – can borrow a wide choice of toys and games. In the same way that a public library loans books, a toy library lends out all kinds of games, puzzles, toys, party equipment and much more. Toy libraries promote play as an active leisure pursuit, and they foster the sociocultural value of play. They enable families and children to try out new toys and games, to spend time playing together, and to avoid accumulating unused toys and games at home. Schools and institutions can also borrow games for use in class or on camp. Some toy libraries have dedicated play areas and tables where you can try out the games onsite. Most toy libraries organise events or workshops for children, teens, or adults.

You can also read- How to Start a Toy Library: https://fairplayforkids.org/pf/how-to-start-a-toy-lending-library/

Photo source: https://www.ttgtoylibrary.org.au/

So I'm on a quest to better myself, as we all should be, and part of that is trying not to scroll through reels before I sleep. I realised I'm spending up to an hour or more each evening, lying in bed, lights on, scrolling. And then of course I complain about poor sleep.

But reels are such fun! I've discovered a bunch of music that I had forgotten I loved, I learned new recipes, I watched some excellent stand-up comedians- I learned about art!- And how to make some cool doodles! It's all wonderful! How can I give this habit up, which according to the beautiful people in my reels is the very thing that is destroying my sleep?

Anyway, I have resolved to leave my phone in the living room, and go to bed phoneless.

But I need an alarm clock! Weekdays I need to be up at 6 for work. A few years ago, we finally cleaned out the dust-gathering old digital alarm clocks lingering from the 90s from our storage- but now I needed one. I galloped to Amazon, where there were plenty of beautiful alarm clocks for me to buy.

I didn't buy one from Amazon. Instead, today, Saturday morning I went to the nearest thrift store, and bought a quite pretty Sony digital radio-alarm clock, shaped like a cube, which seems to be in perfect working condition.

(I also went to free clothing swap at a church called St Margaret of Scotland- first I had heard of her and caused me to fall down an internet rabbit hole- one of the most lacklustre saints ever- She was literally sainted because she was an apparently a fairly harmless aristocrat who built a ferry)

I am now actually quite excited for Monday morning, now, because I get to use my new-to-me Sony clock and I will go to bed basically not quite short of the goodness of St Margaret of Scotland herself. Somebody give me my sainthood.

"Furthermore, from now on, people (I am talking about rich countries) should accept a decent yet frugal standard of living and abandon the idea that the central goal of their lives is to increase their consumption by 2 to 3% per year. In order to accept this, something else would have to give meaning to their lives. That something else is the development of human beings instead of the development of trash-products."

- C. Castoriadis 2003

I’m not talking about not buying holiday decor or clothes, but things that you’d tell someone and they may judge you for it or question how or why!

Not gonna lie, I kind of want to buy them 😄 I loved the streamer poppers as a kid

It was a cheap single speed I've had for many years, rode it everywhere, but I've been riding my electric bike all summer (the single speed was my winter bike) and during that time I left it out on my new apartment's balcony. Apparently it was getting lightly sprayed with rain and it rusted really bad before I even noticed it was happening. The spokes rusted through and into the rims, the chain was obviously shot, but even the axle bolts were effed and the small steel parts of the brakes and springs were all shot as well as the cables. I actually looked up new rims and brakes and cables and handlebars (the sun was what really did damage to those) and it would literally be cheaper just to buy the same bike brand new than to rebuild the old frame. I don't have time to hunt down used parts and am not even inclined to do so because the bike was less than $300 brand new but it was a good old bike, I rode it through major snowstorms and in all kinds of weather 24/7/365 and it was super light to put on the bike rack on the front of the bus it was my super commuter vehicle and I just had to toss it. Oh well, I guess it's a good reason to upgrade to a bike with disc brakes, coming from the ebike with hydraulic disc brakes back to shitty rim brakes really opened my eyes, especially in bad weather. What really bums me out is that my bike behind it didn't get rained on, so no rust, but the sun damage was crazy. The rubber hoods on the inline shifters is all gummy and ruined and since they're Shimano 105s it's hard as hell to replace them. I might have to get rid of this bike as well and maybe replace both with just one bike, so I'll have just 2 bikes now. It's better than before when I had 5-6 bikes. Barely any room to move around in my apartment hahaha. I can't help it though, I really love bikes, they have so much potential to help me out in life, it's nice to have a few in working order so when one gets a flat or needs adjustment I can just ride another until it's back in working order. I just wanted to vent and see if there are any other bike people out there like me, I'm not a "cyclist" I'm just a person who rides bikes yanno?