77 days til Reindl Christmas - Annual Newsletter

This isn't something that many people do, mainly because of the rise of social media and the decline of actually being social. I'm guilty of it too! I can update my Facebook status three times a day (with pictures) of what I'm doing yet I'd be lucky to call grandma twice a year. So this year I plan to start an annual Reindl newsletter - to tell all my family, especially those interstate, about our lives over the previous year.

I first read up on this actually being a thing in 2014 from a blog called "Honeysuckle". I planned to do one that year but was pregnant that Christmas, lazy the next, pregnant the Christmas after that, and well- I'm trying not to be lazy this Christmas. Honeysuckle's newsletter looks amazing and it's such a fun way to include out of town family in yours and your families lives. 

My first attempt at a "year in review" started with Becky Higgins 'Project life' app. To be honest I loved it, the app is $4.49 from the App Store but I've had it downloaded for quite some time. I added the Christmas selection to my card designs I'm able to use ($1.49) and that has already and will continue to come in use on my social media platforms and on my blog with this current Christmas series. It's seriously been my favourite collage app for the past 18 months!

When compiling my piece, I added one family pic, one of each of the three kids and one of the happy couple. I added a few sweet words and then a quick sentence or two about what we've each been up to individually. This is very similar to what most of the examples that I've seen on Pinterest include. Only problem is; I want to brag a bit more. 

Our family has had an excellent year. Individually we've each had quite a bit going on, not to mention our big trip to Bali. So I saved the original design, scrapped it and then started over. This time I started out with the 'Big W photos' app. I normally order photo books automatically through the photos I've uploaded to Instagram - once I've uploaded 60, I get a prompt to edit the book before it is automatically sent to print then shipped to me. Get a free photo book by following my link here. http://invite.chatbooks.com/danniellebull4pn

I made a 22 page photo book via Big W with the photo books being on special for $6.00 instead of the usual $10.00 and opted to pick up in store rather than paying for postage. I added in 25 of my favourite photos of the kids, the Reindl man and me from over the past year and ordered enough copies for my 'long distance' family members. 

Next step was to quiz the kids! Often kids, especially at Lexi's age (9), feel very grown up and get very frustrated when they are treated like the children that they are. A small way to combat this is to consciously make a point of including them in organising family activities. What better way than to put real emphasis on asking how their year has been so you can tell all the family about how grown up they are. For obvious reasons I coaxed the three year old and didn't even bother to ask the one year old. 

Perhaps even interrogate your partner about their favourite part of the year... it may not be the promotion he got, as you first thought, but rather his AFL team winning the grand final this year. You really want this letter to be not only about your whole family, but also FROM you all too - after all, unity is what family is all about. 

Writing the letter should now be easy. You have all the components you need - just let it all flow onto paper, or the screen, and edit until you are happy. You can then put it onto a pretty bordered paper or simply jazz it up with some stickers, pretty pens and glitter. Make it to suit your family! I'm so happy with how ours turned out! I'll put mine in an envelope with the photo books once they're printed, add a Christmas card (after I've written all those out) and hopefully have them all mailed off at/before the beginning of December!

84 sleeps til Reindl Christmas - Money Matters (festive budgeting)

Before I start I just want to make it known that I won't be posting any amounts on this subject. Whether you spend $250 on Christmas or $2,500 it doesn't matter to anyone except you and your family. I want to make sure everyone is clear that we each try to stick to a budget that fits us as we each belong to a different demographic, culture and income bracket. That said there are very few people I know that will actually budget for Christmas and even fewer that are actually able to stick to it!

Last year I had a budget as financially we were in a difficult situation and there was literally no way to spend any extra on Christmas without taking food from our children's mouths or fuel out of our car. From memory I do recall being a little sneaky and as we approached mid-November I would purposely shop for groceries as frugally as possible so I could stash a bit more towards presents and the likes. This year although we still have not won lotto (yet) we do have more money to spend than we did last Christmas. So I sat down this week and wrote down every possible Christmas-related expense that could possibly apply to us. 

The next step was to go through each item on my budget and fill in the 'budgeted amount' with how much I would LIKE to spend on that item. Once that was done I grabbed a calculator to total my budget, wanna know what it equaled..? Too much! I then went back through and crossed out any amount I could, to replace it with a figure that seamed more reasonable. Just by doing this I halved the amount that I had budgeted. 

The Reindl man and I have been in discussions over the past week about how to pay for Christmas. Eg he thinks me paying $36 for a king size santa bedspread is ridiculous and isn't happy to spend "Family money" to pay for items that 'I want'. So we have agreed that items such as Santa presents, kids presents, alcohol and food for his family's Christmas Day gathering shall come out of the family budget. Anything else that he sees as 'unnecessary' (class gifts, charity donation, santa photos, elf items and the like) comes out of my own weekly allowance. I'm happy with that agreement as I feel like I'd be better at sticking to the budget that way. 

Each week I've been purchasing Coles prepaid gift MasterCards to assist with the purchases that will be coming up soon. They don't need to be registered or activated, once purchased they can be used straight away and are available in $50 and $100 amounts. The cost of the card includes a $5 card purchase fee (so total price is $55/$105) but the best part is that  you can get flybuys both on the purchase of the card and when you make purchases with the card at stores that accept flybuys. 

Flybuys is something I've grown EXTRA fond of lately with learning about coupon stacking, the 'We <3 flybuys' Facebook community and the upcoming 'points for packing' offer. I've always used flybuys as a way to buy more at Xmas time than I would usually be able to, but this year I've gone a bit flybuys mad. My meal planning is even based around meal planning! 

"Mum what's for lunch?"

"Two minute noodles with asparagus and paprika"

"I wish flybuys would give Mum better bonus point offers!" 

Well it hasn't gotten that bad... but still. So not only will flybuys help me with buying an extra toy or two for the kids for Christmas but it will also help me purchase something cool for the Kmart wishing tree and to pay for all the perishable items that will accompany the non-perishable items that I've been collecting in my DIY food hamper. It just helps make Christmas a more enjoyable and less stressful time. 

Using a budget and store rewards cards will help you progress through the silly season with ease and tact. 

92 days til Reindl Christmas 2017 - using a Christmas Planner

One of the most frustrating things about Christmas in the Reindl family is that no one is as gun-ho for Christmas as I am so asking any questions about where we'll be having Christmas this year, what food should each family bring and if we're doing presents for all the kids/secret santa is useless and will fall on deaf ears. So the best thing to do if to focus on what is in my control and what parts of Christmas I can plan by myself. To help me with these tasks is my Kikki.K Christmas organiser and my home made Christmas manual. 

I picked up the Kikki.K Christmas organiser during the Boxing Day sales marked down from $18 to $4! I've only recently opened it and started making entries but I'm glad I have it as it compliments my manual really well. It includes monthly pages for October, November and December, Christmas card writing, stocking fillers and food planning.  One of my favourite pages is just as you open the book and asks about how you see Christmas, and how to make it less stressful for you. 

My Christmas manual was started last year after I got sick of no planner having exactly what I was after. Then I would end up with 2-3 different colour schemes through my manual. So I sat down with a lecture book and some red and green markers and pens and scrawled out what I needed. Then I photocopied each one, originals are kept at the back in a document wallet, copies can be made each year accordingly and changed out when necessary. Plus it's easy to ad to - for example this year I'm upgrading my "elves" section, so instead of having just one page for 'ideas' I will also have an inventory of props, quick suggestions for when I forget to move the elf and a calendar of when I plan to do what ideas (when it relates to an activity I have planned). There are so many sections and I can keep adding as I go!

One section you can always get a head start on is Christmas cards. I tend to buy mine after Christmas when they're marked down to 20c/50c per pack. I'm PLANNING to write a Christmas letter this year to send to family and friends that live interstate as I normally send photos and a card to them but I think a family newsletter would go well with it. That said I've planned to write one for the past two years with no luck. At the very least my organiser has a Christmas card recipient list and I've managed to fill that in haha.

As I've been using the "Santa's Bag" app to record present purchases (as I reported here in last week's post) I haven't filled my santa sack page of my manual yet. So far I have one toysale layby, one normal layby and have started online purchases so I'll soon be recording the presents on paper so I can keep track and hopefully then I won't over purchase... joking! We all know regardless of whether it's written down or not, we always over buy for our kids. 

Planning for me is a way to limit my chances to forget things, eliminate stress and anxiety, and feel like for once I'm going to have my shit together this Christmas. 

Keep progressing through your planner! The more you plan ahead, the less things can get on top of you. 

100 days til Reindl Christmas 2017 - Tips for an easy festive season

Every year I'm the girl wandering the aisles in target in September, asking staff when the Christmas decorations are going to be stocked. Yup I'm that annoying person that's dying to put their Christmas tree up as soon as Halloween is over. I'm reminding my family in august that "there's only "x" pay days until Christmas. Not to mention the eleventeen lists I have going for Christmas food, elf on the shelf activities and presents to be brought.

I'll share with you guys a few tips I have for keeping sane during the silly season; some of my own and some that I've picked up from fellow bloggers as my family has grown. My first one is to do with stock piling the food in preparation for all the visitors that tend to pop over around Christmas. It comes from a fellow Christmas mum and blogger Bec Edwards from Mum plus four. 

This week Bec posted about making a list of all the treat foods your family would like around Christmas time and putting $5 per week aside to buy these things while your doing your groceries. When you get home you put your Xmas treat food separate to all the other family food in a large and durable storage container. That way it's all ready for when Christmas time rolls around and you can do all your Christmas baking. Plus you'll have snacks ready for when you all sit down to watch Christmas movies. You can read all about her hamper building here on her Facebook post. 

So this weekend I went out and brought a 50L tub and put my $5 worth in (jelly, custard, milk and pasta). During the same day I realised my pantry was a complete shambles so while reorganising the shelves I took anything off the shelf that I had brought over a month ago and added it to my DIY hamper. Obviously if it's been there a whole month I'm not going to miss it, and would you believe there was so much there I actually had entire meals to be added mo my hamper! So pleased with my stash! 

Other than food, the other expense that can really trouble families around Christmas time is presents. Every year during the toy sales I say I should put on a layby, I never do, and then come christmas time I panic that we have no money and very few presents. This year I actually managed to put on a Big W toy sale layby with all the kids big presents. And then this week I've put on another layby with all the kids stocking fillers. I keep track of all the presents with an app that I downloaded called "santas bag". It keeps track of how much the present is, who it's for, a picture of the item, and what store it's from. There's even an option to add if it needs to be brought/ has been ordered/ been wrapped/ etc. I love it!

Another tip from fellow blogger and admin of all the Mum pages (Christmas mums, party mums, wedding mums, home and organising mums, just to name a few) Mandy Gambier from my lovely little nest was to put things on Sleigh-by. Due to me having my children 98% of the time, I don't get a chance to go shopping alone. So when I went to the shops with my 3.5yr and 18mo and they saw all of these cool towels, bath toys and art supplies I had to give an explanation. Luckily I'd earlier read madys tip so told the girls that the stuff was all being taken out the back and the elves were going to fly it up to santa in the North Pole. If santa decided they had been good enough, he might bring some of it with him when he visits on Christmas Eve. 

So another element of Christmas that is brcoming more popular is the 'elf on the shelf', we've been running this for four years but I suddenly realised the other day that there's a mild chance we may be on vacation from mid December until the day before Christmas Eve. So after a quick Pinterest session I found Hallie Noves blog Life in random bits and her post traveling with elf on the shelf gives two options for vacationing families. You can either pre take all the photos of the elf antics and say the elf is sending them to you, or take the elf with you and you have a whole new destination to play with the elf! 

Have fun progressing through the Christmas season with me!

Reindl Vacation - part three (activities)

So our family stayed in Bali a total of ten days. We tried to change it up each day so as not to get too exhausted or overwhelmed by doing an activity one day and then resting the next. Our resting days often included lunch at our hotel restaurant, swimming in the hotel pool and just wandering locally doing some shopping. With three kids it's too hard to do something every day and to hard to do nothing every day too! 

Some of the things we did, we ended up spending a couple of hundred dollars in the day and some things were completely free and then there were things in between so something for every budget! Our favourite thing by far, and was agreed on by all five of us was the turtle release on Kuta beach! 

The Bali sea turtle society is a group that runs from Kuta beach, rescuing turtle eggs from the sand, re-burying them in a sectioned off sand pit (shaped like a giant turtle) where the eggs then hatch and are released by the ocean in the hopes that more turtles will make it back to the beaches in 25 years to lay their own eggs. The bsts releases information daily on their Facebook to inform people of if they will be releasing turtles that day. The day we went they had 100 Babies to be set free. We lined up at 4pm and got a ticket for the two older girls and made a donation towards the conservation efforts. Then around 4.30 there was a speech about what their work is all about and how the turtle release will happen. 

We got our turtle and took him to the beach, when instructed we gently tipped the turtle onto the sand and watched them all scuttle off to the waters edge, swimming away and bobbing up for air in the distance. It was the most amazing experience and was free! Although with the amazing work the BSTS do I'm sure you too will be compelled to give to this worthy cause. We all loved the experience!

Another animal attraction in Bali is the Bali safari and marine park. It's best to plan an entire day here as there is so much to see and do and you will definitely want to get the most out of your money. We went with one of the most basic packages upon entry as it still covered loads of activities inside and having been several times before, the reindl man and I know that upgrading a package by $30pp just to include lunch just isn't worth it in the long run. 

The Bali safari and marine park is popular among tourists as there are so many things to see and do for a family that it is able to appeal to everyone's interest. From the safari journey that takes you within metres of elephants, lions, zebras, antelope, tigers and hippos to the safari park petting zoo where you can touch tortoises, iguanas, guinea pigs and parrots, thee is just such a vast array of animals to see. What a lot of people who go to the zoo don't know is that there is theme park rides and a waterpark (with splash zone and waterslides) within the park for families to enjoy. We can't help but take advantage of all the amenities within the park, it's simply amazing!

One of my top picks for attractions in Bali (and probably 90% of tourists will head there) is waterbom park. There's a lazy river for you to float along, an awesome kids pool with so much going on, plenty of waterslides for the big kids and nail, hair and massage stations within the place for the mummies to have some time out. Within the park there are many photographers who can take snaps for you and will load the pictures on a barcoded wristband. As you're getting ready to leave the park there is a kiosk when you can view the photos and order prints, magnets, mugs, keychains or the download link for your photos. 

Another relatively cheap day out is to head to the beach. There are multiple vendors that will offer you drinks but before you argee make sure to negotiate that you may use their seating free of use. Otherwise when you go to pay for your drinks they can charge you for the use of their chairs. While we were there we took advantage of being able to support local families by negotiating prices to get 3x manicures, 3x pedicures, 2x hair braiding, 2x massages and a few pieces of jewellery which was more expensive than going to a salon but the kids were free to roam, the reindl man could stand by having a few drinks and all the money goes to the locals rather than a business. 

While we were at the beach Lexi asked to learn to surf and so we asked the vendor how much for surf lessons. He charged $20 and took her out for well over an hour and included rashie and board hire. She had an absolute blast and was just instantly so good I tried to convince myself that I should get some surf lessons cos surely I'd be just as good!

There is just so much to do in Bali you could literally do something different everyday for a fortnight and there would still be more things for you to do next time you go! Or just sit back and relax by the hotel pool. 

Reindl vacation - part two (packing)

To say the Reindl man packs lightly is the understatement of the year. The first trip I ever took with him, he literally took the clothes on his back and a towel in a backpack- just because entering the country with no personal belongings looks extremely suspicious to border patrol. His theory is "we'll buy stuff over there" which he did... deodorant, board shorts, singlets, even boxers.

The only items, as we were told by fellow bali bogans (Facebook group) that are always recommended to bring over is sunscreen and sanitary pads/tampons as the price is a lot more in Bali. We went for breakfast one day and accidentally left the sun cream in our hotel room and had to buy more while out walking. A small tube (approx 173ml) that would retail for $6 in Aus cost us the equivalent of $22. And the same thing when I skipped a few days of my pill due to sheer forgetfulness and then had to stop into a convenience store for pantie liners which would retail for $3.40 but cost the equivalent of $7.50 AUD in Bali. 

Another thing that we didn't worry about bringing over with us was a port-a-cot. We were told most hotels would have one... well ours didn't. The first night we slept with Bonnie in our bed but found she rolled around far too much and kept us awake. The next day I asked the 'Bali bogans' if anyone could recommend a baby hire place and a lady posted her husbands business which was a tour company that also did baby products. 

G'day mate tours Bali and baby hire was the company and I messaged them via Facebook straight away (6pm) asking to hire a baby cot for the next 9 days and how much it would be. The reply was fast and friendly and they were happy to deliver the cot for me AND even didn't mind accepting my Aussie dollars as payment (the reindl man had gone out and left me with the kids, who were sleeping, and only our stack of Aussie cash haha). From memory the port a cot was $55.80 and then the deposit was $50.

In retrospect with the 40kgs of baggage that was included with our business class flights I think next time I'll just pack EVERYTHING I think I will need, then our spending money can be used for our enjoyment. But hey, at least if I do forget anything I know I can get it in Bali!

I'll keep progressing through this amazing learning curve of family holidays with you. 

Reindl vacation - part one (flights)

So the last time we went on vacation was way back in 2015... so over 2 years ago. Well we finally managed to get away again, unsurprisingly to Bali again (favourite among many Australians) but this time was a fraction more stressful as even though this time Ivy was three and a half instead of under one, she still likes to whinge, whine and throw a good tantrum or two whenever things aren't quite going her way which, paired with an equally temperamental 18 month old made mummy drink more than usual.

This time we figured we'd splash out and buy business class flights to increase enjoyment and relaxation. It cost us roughly $2500 for return business class flights to Bali from Perth for 2x adults, 2x children and 1x infant with malindo (batik) air which was $1500 cheaper than most business class flights as the company gave only recently started doing this flight pattern and are trying to get bums in seats. 

The food on the flight was delicious. On both flights we were served a packet of nuts each and a fruity juice before take off. On the flight to Bali (08:30-12:10) we were served a delicious breakfast of omelette, sausage, tomatoes and hash browns along with water and a small bowl of fruit and were offered tea, coffee or Pepsi as an accompaniment. 

The flight home to Perth (12:55-16:30) we were given an option of marinated chicken, rice and Bok-choy or a saucey pasta with chicken and mushrooms. Each was served with a pot of watermelon, rockmelon and honeydew melon, a mouthwatering chocolate cake and a glass of water to wash it down with. Again we were offered tea, coffee or Pepsi to go with our meal. 

The space we had on the flight was amazing, business class (both ways) was only half full so we didn't have to worry too much about the kids stressing anyone out, and the individual TV sets with preloaded Tv shows and movies were a real lifesaver. Each seat had plenty of adjustment options to ensure each persons comfort and a table that folded out of the arm rest.

On the way to Bali we had been pre-warned but fellow Bali bogans (Facebook group) to bring our own headphones/earphones so we did some. I had plenty in our cable cabinet from each time we purchase a new phone, so I used those for myself, the reindl man and Lexi. With miss Ivy's ears being quite small I felt it was best to invest in some over ear headphones which luckily Kmart had on clearance for $7 when we went to the shop to get our last minute supplies. 

When we left Perth it was cold, rainy and very early in the morning so we were all warmly dressed so didn't have any temperature discomfort until we got out of the airport and into the heat and humidity in Bali. On the flight home we were all dressed for the warmer weather (singlets, shorts/dresses) and we all froze on the plane (even with the heaters on the plane and the blanket given to us). Myself and Lexi had jackets we wore but unfortunately for the reindl man Bonnie had fallen asleep in his footwell cuddled up in his jacket haha

Enjoy progressing through the holiday with us!