Home  Business How to spend your stimulus check
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How to spend your stimulus check |
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Written by Sonia Morgan
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Sunday, 04 May 2008 |
Some of you have already received your stimulus checks. It’s not that much money when you really look it. If you are single, with no kids, it’s a mere $600. But if you have a big family, you might have some money to go around. But before you rush out and buy that high definition TV or hit the department store racks, here are some ways in which you can let those stimulus checks go to work!
According to Verona Myrie, personal finance counselor at Amalgamated Credit Counselors, Inc., “You want to take care of your secured debts, like mortgage payments and car payments, then your unsecured debts like credit cards payments.”
Spending the money for this tax rebate is a matter of prioritizing, she told the National Weekly.
- For those who are in arrears with their mortgage that’s where they would put it.
- If you are in arrears with car payments that where they should put – especially if you depend on your vehicle for work.
- The other option is to divvy it up. For example, if you receive 1800 on your rebate check, put a third aside for an emergency fund, another third to help send the kids to school after the summer and the other third for unpaid bills.
However, Myrie cautioned that the money be used sensibly. “If you owe 5000 in credit card debts and the card is still open and you pay out 1800 there is still a 3200 balance. You’d just use the credit card to pay some of the other debts you owe. But, if the credit card is closed and you are not in arrears – then you can dump all of it in paying unsecured debt.
Of course, with the economy on a downward spiral, the government is hoping that you will go on a shopping spree to stimulate the economy. But how you spend this money will also affect you, so you need to ask yourself how it is benefiting you.
Gas is almost $4 a gallon, so many of you will be temped to spend some of the money on gasoline. But that doesn’t mean you should change your driving habits from conserving gas to splurging.
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