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.