Save Our Xmas Sanity

The Media Come Calling

For those of you who are raving fans of our little sanity-saving book, you won't be surprised to hear the media are starting to sniff us out.

There's one really exciting sniff that's come from overseas , but more about that in a later post!

Today Chris was interviewed on Light FM morning radio in Melbourne about Christmas Stress, what our surveying of the public tell us is causing the stress, and some of the many ways SOS can help bring on your calm this Christmas. 

The link to the podcast of the program's highlights is at the end of their blog.  Of course, SOS made it to the highlights so why not go over and have a listen.  Chris' interview starts about one third of the way through the podcast. 

In the meantime, we're trying our little techo brains to get our own recording of the interview up on SOXS for everyone to hear!

More news soon as we all start readying our Calm techniques for this year's festive times!

Last Chance for Christmas Stress Reduction Savings!

Looks to us like the whole world is gearing up for Christmas! It really DOES seem to come earlier and earlier each year, doesn't it?

Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual is selling like hotcakes, and we're run off our feet making sure you all get your copy in the mail as soon as possible. We KNOW what it's like waiting for the mail to arrive with something that is designed to inject a little calm in the chaos of Christmas.

If you haven't yet ordered your copy - remember today is the last day to get your copy free of postage and handling costs!!! After the race is run, and the last of the champers has been polished off, the deal is off too. Our accountant tells us we have to start charging for postage from tomorrow.

Go here now to get your copy!

It's here! Have a look at our new book...

We almost turned blue from holding our breath in anticipation, but the colour has returned to our cheeks aplenty!

Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual has arrived from the printer and we're thrilled with it!  We hope you will be too...

It's A5 size, spiral bound and the perfect size to pop into your handbag (with a pen attached to the spine). Take with you to easily access anytime you have a thought or want to cross something off one of your lists!

You know what the arrival of the manuals from the printer means, don't you?  The end of our 'At The Printer' special... sorry!

It also means that if you have already placed your order your book will be in the post to you early this week - we'll dispatch in the order in which they were received; and hopefully clear the backlog by weeks end if not sooner!

Deadline for Special Extended!

You know, we're sooo excited, and it IS the weekend here now...(and really, we need to wait for our online business manager to do the techo stuff for us:) so we're extending the 'no postage and handling costs' until midnight on Tuesday 6th (Melbourne Cup Day).

Come Wednesday November 7th, you will still pay the low price of $39, but we'll be adding postage and handling costs (dependent upon where it's being sent).

Do you want your best Christmas Ever?

Many of the women who went through the SOS programme last year have told us they saved many times the cost of the manual over the Christmas period.

And because we're so dedicated to ensuring you have a calm, stress-free festive season, we will gladly refund the purchase price (excluding p&h) if you don't save at least twice the cost of the manual!

What have you got to lose? (well, except for stress and anxiety, that is;-)

Buy the manual today, and we'll post it to you at our cost!

What SOS Users Say ...

We know when we're googling for ideas, and products, we can be a bit cynical about whether a product's value matches its price.  (We hope our guarantee will help with that but still we know you want to know more.)

So we thought that if you could get a sense of how our readers/now-sane Christmas Converts have found their purchase and new experiences of Christmas, you might feel more reassured. 

Most of our readers don't want their name on the internet.   (They're private citizens! You probably relate!)  If you would like to have an email conversation with them, then email us and we'll forward your question and ask them to contact you!  That's the way they'd like their privacy protected, as we suspect you might too!

Many of our readers have told us about difficult Christmases that they felt fearful of facing.  Here one tells us of a particularly daunting Christmas with the decline of both her parent's health.

...as Christmas approached I started to panic.  BUT the SOS plan helped me to think clearly as I followed the steps and although it was a sad Christmas, everyone was amazed that I still did Christmas the way we all like it.  I will be pulling out my SOS again on the 1st of October.  I love it.  Thank you Karen and Chris

But things don't have to be that daunting for our readers to have had problems with Christmas.  They tell us that these kinds of things can also present difficulties for them.

...breaking from tradition to streamline means disappointing some people

... The relatives!

... the memories it brings up every year

... Dealing with Family

... accepting I don't need to be superwoman

... dealing with my sister-in-law

Some people assume that only those who have a Bah-Humbug attitude to Christmas would be interested in SOS.  But you know you can love Christmas, but still find the pressures and stresses difficult to manage!

I love Christmas.  But there is a lot of hoopla, stress, family hassle, and bad childhood memories that go along with it. 

The build-up starts way too early.

Our readers also tell us that they have saved anywhere from $50 to $350 just by changing their attitudes and following all the steps to get through Christmas.

Here are some of their comments:

I have to say SOS more than met my expectations.  My expectation was for a list of useful tips on how to cut down the workload etc.  Knowing Chris, I really should have known better.  I thought the exercises throughout the book really spoke to me, in fact MUST have been written specifically for me.  And the solutions, likewise, really worked for me.  They were easy to understand and implement.

I purchased SOS because I was looking for the answer to my problem  and I found it. I will be recommending it to everyone.

Great section on imagining your perfect Christmas. 
Unfortunately, my perfect Christmas is not terribly realistic as I want to fly off to Fiji on Dec 22 and come back on Jan 3. My family, however, are not into my plan.
So, your booklet ... has helped me to get organized and face-the-music rather than run for the airport check-in.

I really found the whole thing so helpful ... to see what was most important to me, and it kept me calm because I knew everything was under control by following the planning.  And yes I loved the lists!

This book is a gift to the world.

Thanks to all our readers for their enthusiastic responses.

So if our readers' words have reassured you and you're interested in Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual then don't forget you can find out more, as well as buy, by clicking on the relevant "Buy Here" button:

  a tuck-in-your-handbag book

or as a straight-to-your-computer download.

And if you find Christmas to be especially difficult you may even want your own
  Personal Christmas Coach!

Sanity & Champagne at Our Place - Come On, Let's Party!

With the Christmas cards and tinsel appearing on the supermarket shelves, you might have guessed that the Christmas Calm Angels in Melbourne and Queensland would have been very busy in the last few weeks gearing up for the busy season!

Our very first step was to change! 

No! Not our clothes, though we're both always happy to accept a new outfit!  No we mean the title of our Christmas Sanity book.  You know!  The one for FRAZZLED WOMEN around the world!

It’s not very different, but Save Our Xmas Sanity has become:

        Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual.

See! Even our web page looks different, to match a fresh, cool, banner image to a fresh new title!

Go on, scroll up and have a look!

But we didn't change our domain.  We’re still www.SaveOurChristmasSanity.com or www.SaveOurXmasSanity.com.

As 2007 has passed, both Karen and Chris have developed our businesses further. 

Jointly, we’ve been talking to women about self-sabotage quite a lot!  We love helping women improve their ability to juggle all the tricky parts of their lives. 

Individually  we’ve both focused more carefully on particular aspects of our businesses.

Karen has launched The Calm Space - an online magazine that is like a virtual day-spa for the senses.

Chris has focused more of her writing and work on Sharing the Secrets of Successful Relationships.

So, as WE'VE evolved into new variations on our selves and our work, so has the old SOXS evolved into the new SOS!

And who knows what other Save Our Sanity manuals will flow from our pens (alright keyboards) in the future!  (Feel free to send us your suggestions!)

Then, the next step was to publish Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual.  Before 2007, we'd always offered it as a folder, or a download, or CD, from which the book could be printed!

But then we realised, if we were trying to help women make it as easy as possible to get through Christmas, they wouldn’t necessarily want to print up our download or read our wisdom on screen! 

So we are currently having the book published in a spiral-bound A5 size book – just perfect for shoving into your handbag and taking with you wherever you go for the next few weeks!

But of course not everybody finds Christmas a chore.  And not everybody has large/complete responsibility for the success of their family Christmas.

So, we realise that not everybody is likely to be interested in Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual.

But we also know from many sources, including reports from previous users, that Christmas Stress is a FACT.

To help people manage their Christmas Stress, we’ve developed our Tips for Christmas Calm.  They’re simple tips to make your Christmas/Holiday Season experience a little easier, whatever your level of Christmas Stress.

To get the Tips, all you’ll need to do is take our Quick Christmas Stress Test.  The Test is just a series of short statements that you tick if you agree with, and ignore if you don’t agree.  It takes about 1-2 minutes to complete – MAX!

Anyone taking the test receives the Tips Sheet after finishing.  The Test helps identify just how high or low on the Richter scale your stress stands at Christmas time, and makes some suggestions to help you manage according to your Stress levels.

PLEASE encourage all your friends and relatives, workmates and neighbours to take our Stress Test and get those Tips!

They’re totally FREE and have no obligations attached at all!

So, that’s our LAUNCH!

We hereby name this ship Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual and bless all who sail in her!

Hip Hip Hurrah!

Now!  Where's that champers bottle ...?

Oh No!  Don't smash it against th ...

Sigh!  I guess we need another bottle!

The Chapter Index to Save Our Sanity

We don't know about you but when we go into our favourite (or any) bookshop, half the fun is browsing. 

If you're not sure about how useful a book might be, you flick through and then you look at the Chapter Titles.

So for those of you who are like us, here are the Chapter headings for Save Our Sanity: The Christmas Calm Manual

• Let Us Play
• The Mess Behind The Curtain
• Get That Wand A-Waving
• Let The Magic Begin
• And Now For How
• What About Shopping?
• The Christmas Angel's Shopping Tips
• Oh No! Not the Cleaning!
• The Christmas Angel Cleans and Decorates With You
• It's About People
• Christmas Relationship Tips
• Extreme Self-Care
• Our To-Dos