Comments on: Economic Stimulus Checks: Save or Spend?

By: Zyzzyx

Zyzzyx — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 01:26:02 +0000

It’s cooperative to spend it.

By: Jayne

Jayne — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:17:10 +0000

I think it is a joke that we get $250. Being on disability, I used it to pay one months electric bill. It would have been nice to have been able to use it for something nice for myself for a change. I think Obama is a joke.

By: Atkins

Atkins — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:56:12 +0000

Intending to “buy American” I spent it on a new refrigerator. The label inside says “Assembled in USA”, but there is nothing about where the parts came from.

By: fwp

fwp — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:40:24 +0000

i selected other, although in a way it is ’spend’.

i used the money towards my debt payments.

By: Pam

Pam — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 02:28:51 +0000

I will splurge, and spend the money on my kids. The way things are looking, extra money will soon be a thing of the past for most of us. I just wish my check would hurry!

By: michelle warren

michelle warren — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 17:11:03 +0000

My hubby changed jobs and had to cash in his retirment that was’nt transferrable making it so we owed taxes on it at the end of the year so my stimulus will be withheld i guess to pay the irs. I should get around $30 yeah i’m putting that lil nest eeg in the bank for sure!

By: Justin

Justin — Sat, 24 May 2008 02:07:45 +0000

maybe u should just kill yourslef. Well i assume you all who complain about it’s not enough and it is a joke will be simply throwing your check in the trash as soon as it arrives. you people who complain about a free $600 are a joke. We have a president who has done nothing but good for this country and you complain about him and then you complain when he gives you free momney! You people lose all credibility when you say things like….”this stimulis check is a joke.” if you don’t like the free money, throw it away when it arrives and move to china or some other communist country and move away from our country. go live in poverty with 80% of the rest of the world and leave us alone in the greatest country in the world. oh and to solve your problem with rent going up, buy instead of rent. get a fixed interest rate and walllah your monthly payment will remain consistent and you will actually own somehting instead of pissing money away!

By: Veronica

Veronica — Thu, 22 May 2008 12:39:35 +0000

When I got my check I just wanted to cry. I did want to do something with it to just give myself a breather and enjoy myself but that was a big joke. I had to spend half off it on getting my car fixed. Then I actually owe the state of Maryland 500 dollars…. I just feel like my life isn’t even worthy anymore. I have a professional job, i’m not a loser and I can’t even do anything because the economy is so bad. Even my rent costs keeps increasing …

By: H

Tue, 20 May 2008 01:41:08 +0000

not only did I spend it, I spent another $600 on top of it…

By: Lorie

Lorie — Fri, 16 May 2008 16:58:26 +0000

I also like others, didn’t know that if you owed no tax, you would only get $300. I had planned to buy a sofa with mine, but I guess that would be next to impossible with only $300. I guess I’ll put it in a envelope and stash it somewhere safe in case my car breaks down again. I have no debt to put it towards.

By: Comment by Sharon

Comment by Sharon — Thu, 15 May 2008 18:53:07 +0000

This economic stimulus check is a BIG JOKE!!! My family and I distinctly remember reading the bottom feed line on the news channels AND hearing the reporters talk about the stimulus checks and what they stated was that single people would receive 600.00 and married couples would receive 1200.00. Never mentioned that it started at 300.00 and that in order to qualify for it you had to claim yourself as a dependent. I made slightly over the 3000.00 income required, but because is was so low my fiancee once again claimed me on his tax return and he really didn’t need to because we had enough itemized deductions that he still would not have owed any taxes. But he won’t even get 300.00 for me as a dependent because I’m not 17 and under! Had we known, I would filed my own tax return with myself as a dependent and qualified. The mere fact that this was not EXPLAINED FULLY to the public is going to have a lot of people across the U.S., who were counting on these checks to pay bills or even catch up on a house payment, really ticked off!!! These checks are supposed to be credits towards our 2008 taxes, which we haven’t paid and are based on our 2007 taxes, and as I am a taxpayer, paying taxes every week throughout the year, I and others like me DESERVE to have a check as well. This is a complete slap in the face! It’s time to put the government into the hands of “We the people of the United States” and out of politicians who are certainly going to get theirs.

By: brian

brian — Wed, 07 May 2008 14:44:39 +0000

Im exchanging it for real money GOLD

By: Singlemom

Singlemom — Fri, 02 May 2008 20:48:46 +0000

Wow this stimulus check is a joke.. I am a single mom who is raising 3 teenage daugthers by herself.. All under the age of 18 and 1 who turned 17 in the end of December so none of my girls qualify as dependents for the purpose of this check.. I am also trying to pay for college for 2 of them and clam them all as dependents so they cant receive a stimulus check themselves. I worked my way through college while raising 3 girls by myself and working and also received no financial support from my loser ex-husband. After college I landed a job with a big company and have worked my butt off to get to the position I am in today. My AGI is over the limit for this check so the government is so generous they cut me a check for $49 bucks.. WOW.. that is so stimulating let me tell you.. it is a slap in the face and makes me want to tell them to just keep it.. On the other hand my ex husband who cant hold down a job and has never provided a dime to support these girls will walk away with $600 bucks in his pocket.. Wow way to go Bush.. Way to stimulate me.. I am going to spend my $49 bucks on Bush Toilet paper to wipe my butt with..

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 02 May 2008 17:00:18 +0000

Refreshing, but not comforting to see that my husband and I are not in this alone…We were planning on using our stimulus check to pay for my much needed shoulder surgeries (we have UHC insurance which basically means that the surgery will be paid in full by us), but it’s starting to look like that will have to be put off even longer so we can use it to stay ahead of our bills…ugh! Sadly, when I say “bills” I mean mortgage, utilities, gas, food, and our 1 credit card (which we are trying desperately not to rely on). Can anybody out there see the light at the end of the tunnel?!

By: Anna

Anna — Thu, 01 May 2008 15:42:30 +0000

Since my husband was laid off 3 months ago, we have no choice but to spend our check on bills! I am also wondering where this money is coming from…Maybe the bush clan and the other big oil rich people have kicked in a little of their profits from the last 3 months to keep us shut up while they jack up gas prices for summer!! If you can, buy a bike and ride it!

By: Laura

Laura — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:40:03 +0000

I plan to spend it in France, partly because I love France, and partly because George Bush hates France.

By: saxquiz

saxquiz — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 18:29:31 +0000

I don’t know for sure what I’ll spend my $600 on, but it’ll probably be saved and once I have enough saved spent on a house.

By: Justin

Justin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 01:58:54 +0000

Why would you donate the money to charity, if everyone would get off the couch and get a job then they don’t need our handouts. Anyone can get a job at mcdonalds making $15,000/year and afford a $350 apartment a month along with another $200 in bills. If they had a job they could be getting there own stimulus check and not mine! Everyone needs to take care of themselves and there own families.

By: Bente

Bente — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 17:48:31 +0000

I am taking my check, which I already know I’ll be getting, and putting it away for the next heating oil fill-up. 175 gallons costs $598.33 and that was only 3 weeks ago. Stimulate the economy by spending it foolishly would be insane. and I do agree with other comments here that the government does not have this money to give us to begin with. Who’s kidding who? We’ll all be paying for this in the end. It’s called deep recession or DEPRESSION.

By: Suzi

Suzi — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 15:01:29 +0000

I have to change my answer, sadly. I thought I could spend the check on fun things, but it appears even with health insurance and paying co-pays im getting stuck with another load of medical bills, (big family). It gets really old having to spend tax return or any other money we ever get on the american healthcare system. Im not trying to blame america for it. Go home illegal immigrants and stop messing our economy up. Im still buying a big punching bag.

By: james

james — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 04:00:58 +0000

Seeing as they keep my income tax refund to apply to my student loans, I don’t expect to see any of it. But the $2100 will be a big chunk out of my loans. If we do end up with some, we plan on spending it on my wife’s school tuition. Yes it will be spent but not on stupid stuff…. really an investment in her earning power.

By: Tom

Tom — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 11:02:11 +0000

property taxes went up 40% in Wash co. MD. so go figure where my rebate goes?

By: byron

byron — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:13:23 +0000

Im going on a vacation to the islands w/ mine, you only live once, when your dead and gone money won’t mean anything anyway

By: Darrin

Darrin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 08:57:27 +0000

I will be spending the check to pay bills.

By: Rene

Rene — Sat, 08 Mar 2008 01:46:35 +0000

No fair for me! I am on Social Security Disability. I have to pay taxes on my social security but don’t get a refund check for myself. My medical bills are overwhelming.
I plan to hold the money my husband and children get until school starts – then use it to pay school fees and buy school clothes for my two teenage boys. They both will be in High School this fall – just to start school (book fees, lunch money, tuition…etc) will cost us about $800. That doesn’t leave much for clothes, shoes and extra curricular. I’m sure Busch could care less about that. He doesn’t even know how much consumers are having to pay for gas. What a self absorbed idiot. He doesn’t care because he is set for life. He will get income and all medical paid for until he dies. May God have mercy on his soul!

By: Suzi

Suzi — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 16:09:53 +0000

My family and I are spending it, in fact honestly we will not even spend it wisely. We always have great intentions to make our money work, but we would definitely like a swimming pool, even a above ground one. My car needs tires. Likely we will be convinced to get some video games or a big punching bag.

By: Barb

Barb — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:06:30 +0000

I can’t believe it but we will be paying the first half of our property taxes with this!!! It just doesn’t seem fair. Everything is going up except our pay checks.

By: David

David — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:02:27 +0000

My George money will go to last year’s unpaid property taxes.

By: damon

damon — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:25:50 +0000

ill be investing it. if the wonderfully brilliant govt. that dreamed up this idea decides that when china needs to be paid back next year through the federal income tax, ill be happy to pull it out of stocks and hand it back and be happy i made some cash off it.

its a good idea but poorly executed. to me this method is probably one of the dumbest things the govt. could do to “stimulate” the economy. more national debt. brilliant, g-dub.

By: Lynne Tompkins

Lynne Tompkins — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 13:24:51 +0000

We will buy fuel oil and food with it.

By: minnie

minnie — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 02:50:52 +0000

The whole idea is so absurd to me, I have been barely scraping by since the middle of last year. Business is down all over in my area; and my paychecks have been down too!
So I’ll definitely be spending it; but it’s not like I’ll be buying a new tv or anything.
I’ll be paying for unforeseen medical expenses my “insurance” won’t cover.
I’ll be paying my family back for money I had to borrow so I could pay my mortgage last month.
I’ll be saving the leftover PENNIES to try and buy enough gas to make it to work.
And then I’ll sit back and wonder how I’ll get through the rest of the year.
Wow do I need a new job. Or a second job.
It’s very hard when you train for a career and then business dries up.

By: Quintin

Quintin — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 19:52:28 +0000

The Wife and I are budgeted for the year, including a savings plan. Therefore, the rebate check will go for a much needed new computer with the remaining going into our home improvement fund and being spent as quickly as I can knock out projects.

I’m not familiar with this website so I’m not sure of it’s reader base. However, these kinds of polls happen every time rebates and tax refunds happen. They consistently show a majority of people who say save, pay bills or reduce debt. When the pollsters go back and measure what people actually did (however they do that) they find that the vast majority of people spend it regardless of whether their particular financial situation dictates they should not or not.

My personal recommendation is that if you have credit card debt, fork it all over to that. If you do not, though, do our economy a favor and spend at least half of it. Given the culture we live in, if you do not have credit card debt you, most likely, have a solid financial plan and are disciplined enough to follow it. So, spending some of this money is not going to set you back from your goals but, history shows, it will stimulate the economy and, thereby, possibly stimulate your portfolio.

By: Tom Stovall

Tom Stovall — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 20:46:11 +0000

saving my rebate to pay taxes.

By: Carol

Carol — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:32:30 +0000

I’m in with those paying down debts already incurred. If I do see a check it’ll get me debt free 2 months earlier than my current financial plan has forcasted.

By: colleen

colleen — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 18:24:18 +0000

I will be putting the rebate onto the credit card I will be using to pay my taxes! LOL

By: sharper

sharper — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:07:42 +0000

Since I owe 1200 in taxes, I’m sure my 600 will just go right back to the government.

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:01:11 +0000

If….then we’ll put most of it in the rainy day fund savings and use a small portion to buy a few cases of local wine. Gotta have some fun during the recession

By: Ashe

Ashe — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 20:00:24 +0000

I’ll be putting it towards current debt. Hurray for beginning the fiscal year with less debt!

By: Sue

Sue — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 20:01:03 +0000

We will be choosing to cash the check; if we recieve one as we still have our doubts, a lot of things can happen between now and then. Once the check is cashed and money is broken down to smaller denominations it will be stashed in a secure area of our property. (Picture bills in a rusty coffee can buried in a hole in the backyard, kind of thing only better!)
This really is saving but not in the conventional way, therefore our anwering “other.”
We are planning this so as to have some reserve more than likely to barter with. There will always be those who are so comsumed by monetarial greed they will trade things for cash. Keeping a sum outside of normal financial institutions won’t earn us any additional interest, but should the loans the US have be recalled by China or other holders, as is becoming more and more likely, that earned interest would never be seen by us anyway, let alone any of our personal funds being kept there.
If we keep it with us for a time when we may need it to get something we need/have to have and otherwise would not be able to obtain, we look at that as emergency preparedness.
This rebate may be looked at as found money by many, but in reality we have already spent it once through payment of income tax, so why not just continue to live without it, putting it away for not a rainy day but a day the the sky truely falls.

By: Heather

Heather — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:42:55 +0000

I plan to spend some of it on food and emergency supplies. I hope to acquire a 3 month supply of food stores for my family. That way if a recession hits, we will have a head start on our groceries. I will save the rest.

By: David

David — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 01:06:01 +0000

It will get spent to pay homeowner bills, pay down debt. Childs will go into their savings account

By: dexter

dexter — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:49:45 +0000

donation to a local charity, same as the last rebate check from neocon central.

By: Sandy

Sandy — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 17:03:20 +0000

Credit card debt.

By: Vicky

Vicky — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 23:36:11 +0000

I will probably use it to pay property taxes without dipping into the savings account we would usually use for that purpose, though honestly I’m also considering a charitable contribution so it can go to someone who needs it more than I.

By: Shannon

Shannon — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:46:21 +0000

Half to savings, half toward replacing a couch that has long since outlived its usefulness

By: Art

Art — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 13:54:44 +0000

I will use the rebate to pay my next estimated tax installment for 2008. I won’t even cash the check, I’ll just sign it “Pay to the order of the US Treasury.”

By: Economic Stimulus

Economic Stimulus — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:41:34 +0000

Give it away to people who deserve it more than me, and will stimulate the economy more than me.

By: ChristianPF

ChristianPF — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:15:58 +0000

Yea,
I think I am going to have to put it towards remaining debt. That is my big financial goal for 2008, so I am going after it with every chance I get…

By: Aaron

Aaron — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 02:22:42 +0000

While the government certainly hopes that people will go out and spend the money and boost the economy, I will be saving it and likely investing most of the money. One has to do what is best for their own situation.

By: mms

mms — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 01:46:26 +0000

Paying of the last of the CC debt.