My plan of attack...

Ok, I know I should probably cancel some of the trips or take the clothes back, but I'm not.  I know that's horrible.  But I do have a plan.

1. We collect all of our change in a jar.  I'm going to cash this out and use this as money towards our hotel stay.  Also, I've been selling a few things on eBay and all that money will go to the hotel stay as well.  Instead of going out to eat at an expensive restaurant while we are away, I'm thinking of packing some food for dinner and chilling out at the hotel before the concert.  Or at the very least pick up some subs from subway.  We might as well spend as much time as we can at the hotel since it was so expensive.

2.  The clothes - I shouldn't have bought that much clothes.  I could have gotten by with just the pants.  But I've already worn the dress and skirt and a couple sweaters plus the outlet is an hour away so it isn't so easy to take the stuff back.  I know... excuses, excuses.  But anyways this is coming out of my own spending allowance money so it isn't such a big deal.  If I have to, I'll take the money out of my personal savings which is built from money that I don't spend out of my bi-weekly "allowance".

3.  Car Insurance - I can change the payment plan so that I can make 3 monthly payments over October, November and December without having to pay any extra fees.  So that will be $321 each month.  Our rental income should cover most of this payment.  Instead of paying the girls' bowling fees out of our rental income, I'm am going to use the $250 "extra" money that we set aside each month for whatever comes up.  So we need to really watch our spending the next couple of months.   Plus any money that I've over budgeted at the end of the month can also go towards the car insurance.  I over budget for electric, water and gas so I usually have some money left over at the end of the month. 

We will be having a low spend October and November to be able to save as much of the $250 "extra" money that we can.

4. California Vacation - We've already paid for the airfare which even though we got a good deal, it is still pretty pricey for 4 people to fly.  We don't have to pay for accommodations or transportation once we get there.  I'm going to re-evaluate what we plan on doing when we get there and see where we can cut back.  We will be staying at a nice resort that will have pools and activities there so instead of paying to go somewhere a couple days, we can just hang out at the resort.

Other places the money will come from:

• My husband doesn't get holidays off.  He always works 40 hours a week even if there is a holiday so he either ends up with double time for working a holiday or he gets his 40 hours plus holiday pay if he isn't scheduled to work the holiday.  Thanksgiving and Christmas will result in some nice checks that we can put away for our trip.
• Any overtime my husband picks up.
• I have some bonuses coming up for some extra work that I did at work and usually get something extra at Christmas too.
• Any ebates money and change jar money will accumulate for the trip
• Will be re-evaluating our Christmas Present plan since we are taking a vacation just a couple weeks after Christmas.  I already know 2 gifts that I will be cutting out.  I was planning on getting each of the girls their own bowling ball for bowling league but the more I think about it, that's not a great idea.  They are 3 and 6, they can use the balls at the bowling alley for free.

I don't know why I've been so bad lately and honestly I think it is more out of not having a 6 month emergency fund like we used to that has me panicking.  I've always had a tendency to book vacations first then save the money later and its never been a problem.  But I also have had a nice cushion for a long time that isn't there any more.  I'm glad we bought the investment property but our savings is tied up in the property and I really need to learn to quit making impulsive decisions and really focus on rebuilding our savings.  I just can't seem to get back into that frame of mind.