<p>However I will also say that I " just" spent about $600 that wasn’t a regular part of our budget, I not only saw two concerts, but I flew to Southern Ca to do so.
but it was so worth it.
;)</p>
<p>I hear you emerald…I just spent $$ on Melissa Etheridge tickets that I would not have bought if the check wasn’t coming…the rest will pay for the college visit gas bills I guess…</p>
<p>Not getting the payment because our income is sooooooo humongous (yeah, right). But if I were, it would just go into the normal slush fund that’s used to pay car repair bills, dental bills, food bills, and oh yeah – college tuition bills.</p>
<p>that reminds me I need to get my passenger window fixed- it hasn’t been able to roll down since this past winter, when I rolled it down to get the water off and couldn’t roll it back up again!
since we were leaving for a driving vacation the next day, we had to take the door panel off- prop up the glass & put the panel back on.
But soon I am expecting that it will be getting warm enough to want to roll down the windows!
there’s always something.</p>
<p>I plan on using it for what it was designed for. Spending it on retail purchases for things I probably don’t even need. Maybe a vacation. Parts on rebuilding my 66 mustang. Season college football tickets. Who knows. I would have survived if I didn’t get the “Economic Stimulus” check, so the least I can do is use it to stimulate the economy. I could use it to pay the mortgage, utilities, college expenses, savings, investments, etc… but there’s no benefit for me to do that. That’s the same as savings. I might as well buy something I normally would never have bought with my own money. Something fun and frivolous. Moving money through the economy is what it was intended for. Anyone that says they HAVE to use it for bills, expenses, utility, etc… is rationalizing. What would they have done had the stimulus package not been approved? I doubt this check is separating them between salvation and filing bankruptcy.</p>
<p>P.S. FWIW; If you look at the percentage of your collected Income Tax this stimulus check is; e.g. Paid $10,000 got back $1800; thus 18%; they could have stimulated the economy BETTER and guaranteed the money would have been spent stimulating, if they would have made this a tax credit and reduced this fictitious example tax return by 18% throughout the year.</p>
<p>What would they have done had the stimulus package not been approved?</p>
<p>I dunno.
What would I have done if gas wasn’t $3.75 gal? Maybe take another camping trip past small towns in another part of the state.
What would I have done if my medical insurance covered more than 50% of my doctor visits ( after deductible of course), maybe have gone to the dentist.
What would I have done if milk wasn’t $6+ a gallon? Maybe not trying to convince my family we should become vegetarian.</p>
<p>My trip to the theatre wasn’t to feed my body, it was to feed my soul & I would have done it regardless, because I was at the point where 10 years ago I would have been hospitalized.</p>
<p>BTW- what rationalization makes it so 17 year olds don’t count for child tax credit?</p>
