How I Spent My Stimulus Dot Com
Fascinating Site: howispentmystimulus.com is collecting stories and photos from people as to how they actually spent their $300 stimulus checks.
Its a crowd-sourcing project -- people self submit photos of what they purchased, along with a description.
As you would imagine, some of the stories are terribly sad. . . .
Friday, June 27, 2008 | 09:00 AM | Permalink
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I spent our stimulus check on the cable bill (which is north of a hundred dollahs a month) so I could watch the bottom pickers on the pump-monkey channel pick their bottoms, as they've been doing since last August.
Buy banks! Brokers and homebuilders too! Get in on the ground floor, my friends. Pick up some Fannie and Freddie, before they trade in the pink sheets. LOL.
Posted by: Jim Haygood | Jun 27, 2008 9:14:08 AM
I converted it to collectible silver coinage and hid it under the mattress; my own little protest vote.
Posted by: zackattack | Jun 27, 2008 9:30:56 AM
1.) Cashed Check
2.) Placed cash in envelope; placed envelope in small pack with emergency goods and clothing (reside in earthquake territory)
3.) Feel very confident that buying power of cash will decrease a minimum of 10% by end of 2008
Posted by: Mongo | Jun 27, 2008 9:32:38 AM
Mongo: Smart move. From personal experience in Katrina, there's nothing like cash during a natural disaster. Got a few hundred from the ATM the day before, which I had never done before as I never had carried a lot of cash.
Now if I had just gotten my wife and me a pair of satellite phones....
Posted by: Mike in Nola | Jun 27, 2008 9:38:00 AM
Has anyone without kids received the max. amount of $1200???
I ask because my taxable income was way above the "guidelines"- which are pretty laughable to begin with-and I only got $600.
Starting to think here's another sham to get you to think you are getting more so you "pre-spend" on the amount you think you will get....
Any input???
Ciao
MS
Posted by: michael schumacher | Jun 27, 2008 9:46:24 AM
We spent our stimulus vacationing in Europe. Probably not what the idiots in Washington intended, but at least some restaurant and hotel owners in Amsterdam, Paris, and London were happy. I guess it's at least better than Katrina victims spending their cash on beer and strippers...
Maybe I'm not being patriotic for not spending all of my money and then some?
Posted by: HCF | Jun 27, 2008 9:53:21 AM
I now consider myself and fam as "sheeple" since the wife & I got the whole $1200.
We put it in our Roth IRA.
1-1/2 income, empty nesters, 12 yrs to retirement. Our two married children trying to raise families in W. MI are struggling and using the ES money to make ends meet.
Posted by: J. Scott C. | Jun 27, 2008 10:11:03 AM
didn't get my stimulus check yet but it should be $1,200. Going to pay down credit card debt and perhaps use that same credit card to pay for vacation in Jamaica. Im like 2000 miles away from 2 free round trip tix, so why not?
AIRE MON! See you at RICKS CAFE!
Posted by: UrbanDigs | Jun 27, 2008 10:13:03 AM
Yo! HCF! You think there aren't people in the beer business? You think strippers don't eat? Dollars thus spent stimulated the economy. As did the $600 I paid over and above my so-called dental insurance to get my last crown.
Posted by: Wyatt_Earl | Jun 27, 2008 10:14:10 AM
I bought a mossberg 590a1 pump shotgun(and some shells), a portable generator for the home, a bunker freezer for the garage, payed off my last CC and took my wife out for a nice dinner. Now I just need to buy loads of sale item meats in bulk and vacuum seal them. I already have loads of pasta , rice, and canned goods.
If the Mormons believe in having a years worth of food on hand why not me.
My garden looks great and I already have all my canning supplies on hand.
Posted by: David | Jun 27, 2008 10:28:07 AM
I bought some Hermes shoelaces at $150.00 a piece. Now I don't feel inferior anymore.
Eco
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Jun 27, 2008 10:34:08 AM
Wyatt -
Just a clarification... I'm not hating on beer makers or strippers. They both do a great service for this country. I'm just making the statement that it's not what most of the morally uptight government officials intended for the rebates to be spent on! =)
Posted by: HCF | Jun 27, 2008 10:38:45 AM
I went short 3 lots of aug crude @ 140.50....
Pray for me.....!
Blame the speculators....
Eco
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Jun 27, 2008 10:38:48 AM
Just covered @ 140.90...... Ouch....!
Eco
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Jun 27, 2008 10:47:02 AM
Clicked through to Speed Dating link on Adult Friend Finder, filled in my actual attributes.
Posted by: VennData | Jun 27, 2008 10:58:10 AM
econ-
Madness to short crude.....
I know you are aware of what is coming.....
There will be a time however I'm sure we will both get the "Not available" crap at that moment.
Seen that before.
Ciao
MS
Posted by: michael schumacher | Jun 27, 2008 11:08:03 AM
I didn't get one. But my tax dollars paid for many many people to go out and do their American duty of overconsuming relative to their income. I look forward to President Obama taking even more of my hard earned money and returning it to my fellow citizens so they can continue to live lifestyles far better than they should be able to afford given their productive output.
Posted by: joe | Jun 27, 2008 11:14:34 AM
What stimulus check? We filed an extension and still haven't filed. Looks like I got something to do over the 4th.
However, I actually just got my fiscal year bonus this AM. Wasn't bad. :-)
Posted by: Paul in NYC | Jun 27, 2008 11:20:28 AM
I paid my taxes and all I got was a bag full of rocks!
Posted by: Charlie Brown | Jun 27, 2008 11:32:07 AM
A couple of days after the check arrived, my son said, "Dad, the car's making a funny sound." Then the cat got sick. So I guessed I stimulated the economy by making my mechanic and my vet happy, but it sure didn't do much for my consumer sentiment.
Posted by: ScottB | Jun 27, 2008 11:44:30 AM
Schumacher, yes. Got the full $1200 quite early. (Forget when, exactly.)
Immediately added it to my humble trading account.
Posted by: wunsacon | Jun 27, 2008 11:45:50 AM
"Madness to short crude....."
I know.... More like madness to trade crude at all...... I've made it a rule to never trade crude or currencies (except for arbitrage). However, I was standing by the crap table with a load of chips in my pocket and I said what the F---. Just a little jobbing... I'd better go back to what works for me... I'm bored today, that's the problem....
Anyway, thanks for the advice Michael, I'm going to take you up on it...
Econolicious
Posted by: ECONOMISTA NON GRATA | Jun 27, 2008 12:04:10 PM
I sent it to a friend in L.A. who has been out of work for the last nine months to keep his car for another month so he can keep looking for a job.
Posted by: donna | Jun 27, 2008 12:10:15 PM
We filed electronically by 4/15, but since my wife had to file a 1099, we owed about $1,200 which we paid electronically. For some stupid reason if you owed tax rather than received a rebate, you are forced to wait for the rebate check in the mail. We expect the full rebate of $1,200 so essentially we made a 3 month loan to the government. (Not that we can collect interest.)
If I really had $1,200 of disposable income I agree with David and would opt for the shotgun, shells and freezer; although you’d have to buy used with only $1,200. I prefer solar panels and a geothermal heating/cooling system to the generator. Generators require leaving the compound in search for diesel, and you’re liable to use up all your shotgun shells on people instead of food.
Posted by: GreenMachine | Jun 27, 2008 12:24:32 PM
My wife and I just got our stimu-less check. We're not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Yet the $42 wont even get us dinner out someplace (unless that place involves a drive thru or counter service).
Posted by: drtomaso | Jun 27, 2008 12:28:23 PM
