Somewhat Off Topic -- How Do You Spend Your Hard Earned Dollars?

[spud912]

Besides putting money into savings, what are some things you do with your money? We finally have a surplus and are looking forward to building our savings account and doing some things we have not been able to do for awhile (like take a vacation). The only problem with traveling is that this job is not very flexible with taking time off.

[MNMum]

We love to travel. For me it's the only way to relax. I can't spend my entire day cleaning and cooking if we aren't at home! We made the mistake of going to Hawaii last year. Don't do it. It's like a drug, you'll get hooked and want to go back every year, and it is sooo expensive. But truth be told, it's paradise.

Other than that, the "extra" money goes to home improvements, landscaping, updating the electronics (which now seem necessary, and are not built to last).

[MarinaVanessa]

We take mini weekend vacations that we can drive to on Friday evenings and return on Sunday afternoons.

[safechner]

We do have saving accounts so I use my husband's paycheck to take out whatever he works overtime. It builds really quick every month if my husband works overtime. He has been working overtime since January. Otherwise, we paid the bills on time and whatever we have left so we pleased whatever we want to go somewhere like shopping, clothes, etc..


About vacation, it is so much easier to get money instead saving. We go Destin Florida every years for the summer for a week. Last year, we stayed for almost two weeks that we deserves a break. We really enjoyed it very much. We are very wise with our money situation. Most of my friends want to know how I get it quickly to go on vacation. I simple told them if they must be staying on budget on calendar and they will get a large paycheck twice a year. Whatever I get a large paycheck from my husband's like in March and I changed the budget and put it away for vacation and same thing in October to put it away for Christmas.

[godiva83]

We usually invest it someway or another, go on yearly vacations, put it back into our house ect

[DaisyMamma]

All of these things sound like wonderful luxuries!

[Sunchimes]

What is this "extra money" of which you speak? ::

[Abigail]

What is this "extra money" of which you speak? ::

:: So true. We just bought a house last October which the mortgage is DOUBLE of what our rent was and that doesn't include electric, water, garbage, cable, internet, etc like it did before. YUCK.

We completely drained our savings down to STRESS for a few months in there and my husband was working overtime and we were stressed and it was stressful on our relationship. Then I finally got a few daycare kids enrolled and we called it quits on finishing the basement. We were paying to get it done for licensing and it's good enough, but next year I want to have it all done. Now with our tax refund and a few months of daycare income we finally will have a savings again!

We want to replace all the carpeting upstairs, pour a concrete walkway outside so no more killing the grass since we walk out our garage door so much, and put up a privacy fence. Then we'll be back to penny pinching again! LOL

[Childminder]

My husband used to race lawnmowers and we traveled all over the states every month or so on a long weekend. Since he lost his job in 2008 we had to stop going and barely make enough for the bills. But at least we had a great time and saw a lot of our beautiful country while we could. happyface

[Bella99]

Savings.

I was planning a disney trip, but after seeing the estimated cost (14,000!) I said HECK NO. I can't imagine spending FOURTEEN THOUSAND on 10 days.

All our extra moolah goes into the bank, and we save to do things with the family, and extra things we want (i.e, I've got my eyes on a really nice trampoline that is uber safe)

[3girls]

Buying nicer toilet paper and kleenex

Also savings to move out of state someday!

[Blackcat31]

My DH and I spend anything "extra" (::: on one of three things;

• our houseboat (which is basically a hole in the water that we throw money into),
• our yard (we love lanscaping),
• or traveling. We are big NHRA (drag racing) and NASCAR fans and have gone to many races around the country.

[Michael]

My DH and I spend anything "extra" (::: on one of three things;

• our houseboat (which is basically a hole in the water that we throw money into),
• our yard (we love lanscaping),
• or traveling. We are big NHRA (drag racing) and NASCAR fans and have gone to many races around the country.

Great pics and yes boats are money pits. I did drive a NASCAR on the LA Speedway for 20 laps at 180mph. It was 100F and with all that grear I thought I would pass out and hit the wall. I don't know how those professional drivers do 500 laps.

I like racing cars and those are huge money pits. I "use" to rent them while I vacationed in Florida.

[Crazy8]

Savings.

I was planning a disney trip, but after seeing the estimated cost (14,000!) I said HECK NO. I can't imagine spending FOURTEEN THOUSAND on 10 days.

All our extra moolah goes into the bank, and we save to do things with the family, and extra things we want (i.e, I've got my eyes on a really nice trampoline that is uber safe)

I can't imagine spending 14k on a disney trip... how many people? We are a family of 5, go to disney every 2-3 years and stay in deluxe resorts (because they are the ones that sleep 5) and never spent that much including aifare, dining, etc. You can definitely do disney for less!!!!!

As for spending money.... my daycare money goes towards all our "variables" in life.... clothing, dining out, vacations, house repairs/upgrades, toys/electronics - any and all of that stuff!! We budget accordingly to afford what we need/want to spend that money on.

[Lianne]

I've always been bad with my money and while I've never made a ton of 'extra' money, whatever I did make has always been frittered away. I've been working really hard to change my ways. I have some savings now, started a retirement fund and have several jars set up so I can save for some of my wants. I'm saving for a 5-seat runabout stroller, a new bed, a new vacuum and for the ability to be able to afford to take a week off in August. Whenever I have any extra cash, I choose which jar I want to put the money into depending on my mood, basically. My only self imposed rule is that once I put the money in a jar, I'm not allowed to switch it to a different jar. This method is really working for me and keeps me motivated to save whatever I can.