Automation

I know you’ve heard me talk about this before, but this will honestly be your best friend!

If you are taking a break over the holidays then get your emails sorting themselves where you can. Pop on the auto-responder that gives people clear directions and answers about who to contact otherwise or when you will return.

Look at what bills and renewals are coming up and get on top of them early. Set up reminders or auto-pay so you don’t have to worry about it come the time.

Set Daily/Weekly Budgets

Map out the weeks and set yourself a budget for each week, and then day!

Then use this as a guide to what you might do each week. If you are planning on going away then work out when that is likely to be and go from there.

Have a “free” day each week where you can. Only eat things you’ve got in the house, utilize things around the home and walk to where you need to go.

Plan Ahead

Like anything, the more you plan ahead the better. I know it’s nice to just relax and go with it on holidays, but if you can get the big ticket items planned out, then you can save a lot of money.

If you are going on holidays, then book your leave early so you get the dates you want, can find the cheapest flights/travel and get a good accommodation deal!

Find Free/Cheap Activities

Shopping centres are a great start as they often have lots of free activities that are marketing opportunities for their stores. Each one I’ve been to has a great offering and good take homes!

Sites like Groupon are amazing because you can get really cheap deals on activities and holidays.

Libraries are awesome for some rainy day activities and often have a whole schedule of programs, so check your local!

Council run programs are big in our area like family days, markets, kids days and festivals.

Cheap movie days are also great, just pop online to your closest and check what days they are!

If you haven’t heard of ‘rock clubs’, they are sort of like scavenger hunts but for kids. There are tones of Facebook pages for them (our local is GippsRocks) and kids paint large rocks and pebbles and hide them in parks. Then when you find one you note it on the FB page and hide it somewhere else for someone else to find. It’s actually super fun!

Don’t Pressure Yourself

Another big thing I’ve noticed is this idea to keep up with the Jones of Instagram and try and do all these big lavish things on the holidays!

Honestly, it’s like two months you have to survive and it isn’t maintainable to be splashing cash and doing things ALL the time.

Kids do not care. Their home is their safe place and they are just as happy to be at home in a shell bath full of dish-washing liquid as they are on the beaches of Spain or something.

Snack Planning

The great thing about school holidays is no more packing lunches. The shit thing is, you still have to apparently feed your kids? #annoying

My kids are snackers when they’re at home so having an abundance of fruit and snacks is vital to keep them happy (or else #whingeville).

Look After Yourself

Let’s face it, you need time for yourself! And it’s almost impossible during the school holidays. It’s enough to send you mad (and them). So make time, if just 5 minutes a day for yourself to regroup and recharge.

Maybe plan a play-date at a friend’s house where you can pop out for a few hours, and do the same for her another time 🙂

Get Outdoors

What is this outdoors you speak of? But seriously where have the days gone where we went out all day and came back when the street lights were on? I know I know, it’s just not the thing these days! But still doesn’t stop kids from being outside.

Set the kids up in the backyard with painting, crafts, even an empty box and some textas – this will keep them occupied for at least 5 minutes I swear!

Go to parks, for walks, to the beach, the list is endless. The good thing about it is it very rarely costs a cent!

Get Help

Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do, and for me, that’s buying back my time at times like these.

Over the Christmas period and into the New Year we booked a cleaner as I just couldn’t stay on top of it all, and do ALL the other things for everyone else!

We also booked in HelloFresh for a few weeks over this period as they offered us a free box haha so I figured “one less thing to worry about”. If the budget allows for it, then I think it’s well worth it. Only 24 hours in a day 😉

Kombucha Cocktails

The new thing this summer, it’s like healthy drinking right? Thank me later!