What should you do with the Rebate check?
I was thinking about what my wife and I are going to do with the recently passed by congress Rebate check that we will be receiving. I, being the frequent saver of the two of us, wanted to pay down debt with it. My wife, as usual, wanted to have a shopping spree with it. 
After thinking about it for I while, I think I am in agreement with her and we will spend it. Not because I am giving in to the urge to spend, but rather that is what the money is designated for.
The whole purpose of putting the checks into the U.S. taxpayers hands is to boost the economy and hopefully defer the impending recession. Whether I agree with the Government on their method is not the issue. They are giving us the money with the intent of boosting the economy and I want to support that.
Obviously, there is no way for them to know or enforce what people do with the money. And honestly, I don’t want to sound like I am making this a bigger deal than it is. This is just the conclusion that I came to on what to do with the money.
I noticed last time I posted about the Rebate check most people were going to pay down debt, but what do you think? Are you going to be a saver or a spender?
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Comments on What should you do with the Rebate check? »
Wouldn’t paying down debt actually be spending the money rather than saving it? It might be a little nit-picky but paying down debt is still putting money back into the market rather than saving it away in a bank? Just my thoughts. I doubt we are eligible for a rebate check, but it would definitely go towards debt reduction - we want our student loans gone for good!!!
I had read that for this “plan” of the government’s to be most effective, it would be best even if people didn’t spend the money on things they normally bought (gas, groceries, etc.), but rather on things that they wouldn’t normally go buy. Like you said though, it’s not like they can make anyone spend in any particular way.
We will use the money in the way it was intended, but only because as we started talking about the money, both my husband and I started talking about wanting a new washer and dryer. So, that’s what we’re planning on doing at this moment. One never knows what can happen tomorrow, but that’s our plan for now.
Plus — I was so psyched to see that our gas company will even give us a $100 rebate for buying and installing the new (electric) washer, since we plan on buying an energy star model and we use a gas water heater. Yeh!
I’ve written a few times about this rebate. We ended up deciding to put it toward our debt to help us reach our goal of paying off our car loan that much sooner. We’ll also be using the remaining balance of our 2007 refund for the same purpose.
I was planning to use it to start an emergency fund, but my Government has already determined what shall be done with it.
We are going to pay down debt. Anything purchased would eventually loose its value and interest to us. Once our debt is gone, that is freedom!
Paying down debt.
I am planning on using it to pay down debt! That way I can put more money into the economy after I get my debt paid off!
@Angie
I didn’t know that was the preferred use of the funds… But, I am with you - I guess I figured it was the least I could do since they are giving us the money.
@Crossn81
I am not sure how paying down debt would affect the economy compared to spending it on goods… but as Angie mentioned it would help the most if we bought, “things that they wouldn’t normally go buy”
The government told me, No Cash for You!
We plan to compromise. I wanted to put it all down on debt. My wife wanted to save half and spend half. As usual, I should listen to her! In the end we settled on spending 1/3 on some over-due upgrades around the house, save 1/3 to boost our emergency fund and use the remaining 1/3 to pay down our smallest credit card.
[...] Personal Finance has some suggestions about what we should do with our rebate checks. Those of you who live outside the United States will just have to sit this one out–or get [...]
We will pay off one card. Spend the 300 buying things for our son. And the rest goes to savings.