Politics aside, please, what are YOU thinking of spending your tax rebate check on?

[Kari C in SC]

I really don't want to go through whether we should or should not be getting this check. I have been thinking about where the money should go. Here are some choices, but I am sure there are more.

Debt
Savings
Needed Home Improvement (i.e. something broke and needs to be fixed)
Fun Home Improvement (i.e. That new deck you have been wanting in the backyard)
Fun purchase - tv, furniture, etc.
Travel
Medical issuesI think that is all I can think of at the moment.

I am not sure how we will spend it. We have some debt for our kitchen remodel in our new house. :eek: This is because our house in Florida didn't sell. If it had sold, we would have paid off the debt. I have a plan in place for it, but this would certainly help speed the plan. At the same time, we have a number of other household things that would be fun to finish up - not necessary, but fun. Then there is the fact that I have 8 free hotel nights from my credit card points. Part of me would like to take the money and go travel somewhere. Last year was not a fun year for any of us. I think it may be great to recharge with a vacation. Nothing is set in stone, obviously, but I enjoy thinking about the possibilities. What are you thinking about?

[Just Me]

Mine will go to pay down/off our debt. But every extra dollar right now is going for paying off debt, and then the house! ;)

[lynn]

Sorry, I know it's not the answer you are looking for but it will be sent back with next year taxes when we have to claim it as income.

[PrairieAir]

Whenever we get a refund, we send it back to be applied towards next year's taxes. There will come a day when we will need it I'm sure. Maybe this year.

Now, if you're talking about this economic stimulus plan (which I think is a crock), if we get anything we will put that money toward any debt we have.

[lynn]

We make sure we don't get a refund or get as close as we can without going over so there is not much to spend.

[momofkhm]

He cashed out stock last year and that is included so we made to much. Of course the money from the stock sale is sitting in a bank account a la Dave Ramsey - our emergency fund. Which granted is very nice to have but for a spender like me is just very hard to swallow. :o

[OhM]

Pay down debt! The snowball is rolling - this will give it a push.

[shell in SC]

You are so right Lynn. . .and for those of us that are in a higher tax bracket it just means we'll have to pay more next year. In fact if I even get one (which I probably won't) i will use it to pay the current years taxes.

[Quiver0f10]

Pay down debt also.

[Gamom3]

.

[Elisabeth in IL]

We will use it to pay down debt or help purchase a newer used vehicle as I had an accident just 2 weeks ago.

[Jennifer in MI]

Dh and I are trying to figure out if we'll get anything. Where are the parameters listed?

If we do, we'll probably use a good portion of the money to update our new to us house. We moved in September and our house was full of 1980s wallpaper and colors. Yuck!! We have pink toilets! I think most of it will go toward that.

The rest we'll split in our savings accounts - new car account, vacation account, and new kitchen appliances account. It may even put our kitchen appliance account over the edge so we can get new appliances!!

[Diana in OR]

I'm not exactly sure yet, but it will either go to savings, to pay down debt, or to take care of a couple of larger household projects ($200-300). Most likely it will be a combination of those things.

[Beth in Central TX]

The entire amount will be applied to our house mortgage. It's the last debt we have left, and I can't wait to pay it off early.

[mysticamethyst]

My youngest dd gets a very expensive shot every month and for the most part they are donated to us through the pharm. company but they have missed here and she can't miss and we end up scrapping and borrowing to buy one. This will give me the way to have 2 extras on hand for those little mishaps of life.

[Robin Hood]

Now, if you're talking about this economic stimulus plan (which I think is a crock), if we get anything we will put that money toward any debt we have.[/quote]

I won't say anything regarding the crock, but IF the plan gets rolling, it is intended for spending, so we would probably spend it at small local businesses because the overall small community we live in is down economically more than the rest of the country. We are dependent on tourism since we live in a mountain resort area and we have not had enough snow in the last 2 years to get the tourists up here.

I have heard a lot of complaints that it is not enough money, but if we just go spend it, it will bump things up a bit. A bit of fresh air is better than none.

I am not sure how to do that Quote thing, I hope it worked because the opening line of my comment is not mine.

[Robin Hood]

Hmmmm, I didn't quote it right, I guess I need to go do a few tests.

[LizzyBee]

Dh and I are trying to figure out if we'll get anything. Where are the parameters listed?

A few days ago, there was a good article on the Fox News website about how the rebate will be calculated based on the House plan. It's kind of complicated! but the Senate is proposing a flat rebate of $500 per person rather than "up to $600."

[one l michele]

nt

[Scarlett]

My parents want ds and me to go on a trip to NYC with them in October. It would cost us $1000 each, so I am thinking seriously about using it for that if dh is game.

I am torn because I KNOW I should apply it toward some debt we have....but I REALLY want to go on this trip. My parents aren't getting any younger, and I think it would be a fabulous trip for ds (almost 8)...and I've never been to NYC.

[Cadam]

Curriculum!! :D I prayed a couple of months ago and asked God to provide the money I need to buy curriculum for the Fall. I consider this my answer to prayer.- now I just need to convince dh that it is. We will give ds's 300$ to his bio mom(we claimed him last) and any extra will go to debt.

[Tammy in Germany]

Last year of college loans...anything extra goes there. :D

[Daisy]

We don't have any debt other than our mortgage. So it would either go towards

1. Summer savings (we get no paycheck during the summer months)
2. Longterm savings (our emergency fund)
3. A plan trip to AL to see my parents and brand new niece (haven't been home in 3+ years so this is looking really tempting.

[j.griff]

Robin, the "easy" way to quote is to copy and paste the quotation into your post, then highlight it with the cursor and click the little quote box above the post you are making. Hope that makes sense. In quick reply mode, it is the last little icon above your post.

[j.griff]

It depends on if/when we get it. We are moving at the end of June, so I hope we get it before then and don't have to rely on our P.O. to forward it. We've had issues with our P.O.'s out here (Netflix movies missing, packages we sent out never arriving at the other end, etc.). We have a great deal of debt to pay down, but we also have some other expenses- right now my dh needs new tires for his car, and his engine needs some work. So the next few weeks (I hope it is only a "few" weeks) he will spend money and time getting his car in good shape. That is coming out of our regular tax refund (which should be deposited in the next week or so). Since we are moving, we will need to spend some of our "extra" monies on deposits for rent/utilities/cable/etc.
We'll be driving across the country with 4dc, so we will need money for gas and food and hotels (though the military will at some point give us an extra payment to cover those expenses, we aren't sure we'll be "covered").
We will probably need a little work done on our truck before we leave- maybe new tires, a tune up, check the transmission (we will be towing dh's car- so we'll need $ to rent a trailer for that too. We've discovered that it's much cheaper to rent a truck/trailer out of the state of CA, so he is driving his car to Yuma and we'll rent a trailer there for less), etc.
Of course we'll make some tourist stops as we cross the country with the kids (we are homeschoolers, we can't pass everything by without stopping, we'll just be as picky as we can because we need to get to our destination ASAP to find a new home). After we are all settled in at our new home, we will use the extra money to pay towards our debt. That was probably WTMI, bu there you go. :)

[Stacy in NJ]

bn

[jmgconner]

Paying down debt.

[*anj*]

Whatever we get, whether tax refund, rebate, whatever it is will go directly to paying down debt. We're so close that we can taste it, and then we get to start bulking up the savings and paying off the mortgage. Non-essential home improvements will come later.

[CLHCO]

I've been dying to work on our basement. We'll probably first have to have the floor repaired (and signed off on by a structural engineer :() When we get any further refund after taxes we can then work on the bulk of the rest of it.

[Faith]

Ours will be going toward the purchase of a second vehicle.

[Katia]

I have a dd graduating this year, and WOW, is it ever expensive. We have to buy: senior pictures, cap, gown, tassel, graduation announcements, diploma and diploma cover, rent the pool for her party (called an Open House around here), cake, food/drinks (for both Open House and senior recital), senior recital fees, and plates, napkins, cups for both her senior recital and her Open house.

So...there goes the money, but we certainly need it for this!

[Chris in VA]

Paying quarterly taxes. Blech.

[cin]

We have been talking about getting a new(er) car. If not, I"ll be buying a new cell phone/pda. My phone is starting to flake and I really need my lists more available to me, especially when I happen to drop into a bookstore :D

[Michelle T]

as DH might have made too much last year. But if we do get anything, it will go towards credit card debt. We desperately want to get that paid off.
Michelle T

[Krista in LA]

We were thinking of putting it towards a trip to Disney. However, our 19 yo tv seems to have died yesterday so perhaps we will be getting an HD TV with it.

[Jenny in Atl]

Either CC's or medical ckups. Nothing fun here. :(

[Bee]

The yearly tax rebate we get because I overpay on taxes through the year goes to pay taxes and either to buy next year's fuel or pay down debt.If the 'economic stimulus plan" goes through we will use part of it to buy something for the family that we wouldn't be getting otherwise.

[Robin Hood]

Robin, the "easy" way to quote is to copy and paste the quotation into your post, then highlight it with the cursor and click the little quote box above the post you are making. Hope that makes sense. In quick reply mode, it is the last little icon above your post.


Aye aye Cap'n, let's see if I've gah it........

[Lady Katherine]

Bills and debt. IF we get anything back.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I won't say anything regarding the crock, but IF the plan gets rolling, it is intended for spending, so we would probably spend it at small local businesses because the overall small community we live in is down economically more than the rest of the country. We are dependent on tourism since we live in a mountain resort area and we have not had enough snow in the last 2 years to get the tourists up here.

I have heard a lot of complaints that it is not enough money, but if we just go spend it, it will bump things up a bit. A bit of fresh air is better than none.


On the other hand, increased money in my savings account means that my credit union has a larger pool of money to loan out to other members, possibly even at a lower rate. So I don't at all think that I'm honor bound to spend it. (Besides, getting into a better position financially may not stimulate the economy immediately, but it may help just as much in the long run to have more families who don't need a bailout.)

DH and I were musing last night that maybe the slowdown would help people to realize how much they are buying that they really don't need. (I would include our family in this, as well.) His thoughts were that we are addicted to the spending and to accumulating stuff and that it was going to take a much harder crash to break that cycle. Just thinking about how bad a recession/depression could be makes me want to spend my "rebate" on stuff for container gardening and other means of making do.

You can chalk some of these feeling up to the fact that we're working our way through westward expansion and into the 20th century this year. I'm constantly struck by how much more I have that the pioneers did. Or even than my grandparents did.

[Virginia Dawn]

Community College costs for ds that we used the credit card for, and all the (blankety-blank) dental work I've had to have done this past year.

[cricket1178]

A new washing machine. Mine is making a terrrrible noise!:eek:

[PariSarah]

Insurance covered less of our little trampoline (mis)adventure (http://weblog.xanga.com/scsours/615737357/wednesday-september-12--a-date-which-shall-live-in-infamy---.html) than I'd have liked, and it seemed the very definition of an emergency, so . . .

So, yeah. Saving. All the way.

[KAR120C]

New roof and some added insulation in the attic. If we have any left (between the proposed rebate, our regular refund because we WAY overpaid this year, and the savings we already have for this purpose) I want new windows. That combination should reduce our energy bills by quite a bit, and then I want gutter covers (to keep the leaves out).

Then I'll go fix our withholdings so we don't overpay again-- we've not had a refund in about a decade, but DH changed jobs twice this year and somehow the withholdings didn't come out right. Oh well -- it's a nice surprise for just this once! :)

[Barb F. PA in AZ]

Our relocation reimbursements must be claimed as income this year, so we will be over the limit for the rebate. But if we were to get one, I would buy new couches for the family room. Ours are so threadbare the stuffing is escaping.

Barb

[amy g.]

We will use that plus Dh's yearly bonus to pay for the kids' summer camp.

We told Ds we might only be able to afford 2 weeks at piano camp, but now we can send him for a full month. He is excited.

[Karin]

We always pay the extra toward dh's first quarterly payment. Any extra we've set aside pays for our first quarterly medical insurance premium. After that, it would be toward the principal on our house providing we're not behind from the winter.

[sdWTMer]

Dental work perhaps