You could make your own set of wooden chimes... cut them down to different sizes.
chop them up and use them as mulch lol
As far as the breaking sticks comment... I guess the break or not break would depend on a lot of factors. A good set of stick will last me months... but if I switch to a stick with less give they break a lot more easily. A nylon stick has never lasted with me. I know that there are ways I strike the drums that produce sounds in what would probably be considered harsh on the sticks. However after playing drums for 20 years there are specific sounds I get out of hitting the cymbals in different ways or smacking the rim of a drum at different angles. I am aware of cymbal damage from stress on the bell... and there is only one cymbal to my list that I have ever broke. It was a 8" zildj splash. I don't think I have every chewed through a stick so much that it broke... They usually break over time from cross sticking.
Good advice though to watch your form or get help...