Slow Down Little Girls

Our little girls are growing up to fast!!!

Daughter #3 stopped by yesterday for a bit so the little girls could play for a few hours. I would love to get some really good photo's of them for their scrapbooks (someday) but they move to fast, even with the camera set on sports mode. We will have both of them today, along with keeping up with them I have a ton of cooking to do for our upcoming trip Saturday morning, thankfully hubby will be around to run defence for me!!
Here is a super quick run down of our spending plan so far this month along with a savings update. We are on track to save an entire paycheck for the month of September, there is still a week left in the month and we will be on vacation for the majority of that time but I don't expect to go over budget (unless the old car gives us trouble) With hubby home and all the to do's he has been working on I was afraid we would fall off the wagon but it looks like I can still pull it off.

We have given away the last of the 10% of hubbies bonus this week, it was split between some for each of our Daughters, another member of our extended family who has been struggling and "Samaritans Purse" an international charity that jives with our belief system. We agreed that we would spend a bit for our wish list but the only thing that was screaming for attention is new flooring for the living room. We have carpet that is getting worn and AJ the beagle spots that seem to reappear every week or two. While hubby would like new carpet for the room, Nanny is gonna win out and have hardwoods installed (sweet hubby doesn't spend time on his hands and knees scrubbing spots) In the past we have installed hardwoods ourselves to save some money. We have completed the hallways up and downstairs, kitchen, breakfast room and family room, the cost to have professionals come in and get the work done in a day (would take us a week and lots of pain reliever) is only $540.00, sounds like a pretty good deal to me!! Just moving everything out of the room to have the work done is more than I am in the mood to do right now but it will be worth it all to have the job complete. The balance of the money is setting in savings for a rainy day (job loss) In my mind the money is not there, I need to continue this journey of living more frugal for a year to reach the goal of saving 35% of our income this year. With the holiday's fast approaching I won't have the opportunity to tuck much back the rest of the year but stopping the stupid spending will continue to make a difference!

If we have Internet service in the Smoky Mt's I will do a few posts otherwise this may be the last of it for several days. We are off in the AM along with a group of friends to celebrate our Anniversary of 36 years in a gorgeous cabin tucked in the mountains (on a frugal budget) We hope to get some good riding in on the Harley, enjoy football games and evening bon fires with a round of smores one night. Hopefully the weather will have cleared up by the time we leave or it will be more hanging out in the cabin than anything else