Whaddya say 6 - Unexpected Money

Got the idea for this one from Bill's 'problem' with his expiring airline miles and what to do with them.

So let's say you suddenly get a good chunk of money you were not expecting - say a few thousand. What will you do with it?? Take a trip. Go nuts with plants? save it? Invest it? Buy something - what??

My 'general policy' on this is to split it into thirds. One third goes to paying down debt - mortgage, home equity, usually, since I don't normally have credit card balances.

Another third goes to saving/investing - for us and/or the kids.

Last third goes to spending on something. Could be a better vacation. Maybe something for the house. Maybe a selfish treat.

What about you??

If it were a big chunk of money our priorities would be
Paying off the mortgage and note
Giving a portion to our two boys
Finish fixing our house, bigger kitchen, baths, bedroom.
New truck

- No credit card balances here, no mortgage either. Probably go on a trip and use the rest for a new entertainment center since I just got a TV for X-mas as a gift that doesn't fit in my old center and put the rest in savings. - assuming the unexpected $ is about $6000. - the more $ the better since the buying power of a dollar has diminished somewhat lately..
My mom always said travel when you're young cause you never know what happens in the future. She had dreams of going on a cruise with my dad but it never happened, - "enjoy life while you are healthy and young" she said - time and time again I've seen the dreams of my friends go unfulfilled with tragedy and time take it's toll, - she was right..

True, WC.

Whats a big chunk consist of?

Enough to pay off my mortgage! LOL

I said a good chunk, not a big one - a few thousand.

Help finance a 'reunion' in Oregon with our kids. Our oldest son's family is always the one traveling here, so we all need to go out there for a change. That would mean travel for 14.

Secondly, we'd redo the 2 bathrooms. Thinking of resale value, that would need to be done.

After that - save/invest.

a few years back i received exactly this type of a surprise - looked at both putting it towards the mortgage or investing it - ended up putting it all into mutual funds, at the time the rate of return would/should have been higher than the mortgage rate.
spending it or taking a trip was not considered since we could do that if we wanted anyway.
still have not pulled the trigger on the camera - need one more conversation about a trip with the wife - this is what i would prefer to do with the miles.

10,000 I would have Jim put it to his tractor loan.

If it was a few thousand it would go toward house repairs, maybe a trip.

10% goes to tithes, part goes in the bank and probably redo our family bathroom

I could have such fun with some extra money! I could answer pleas for money to help with cat rescues and help pay other peoples vet bills for a long, long time. Also, if Sampson needs it, pay to have his leg amputated without asking for help from my friend's children who said they would help with Sampson's bills when I adopted him. (Didn't help with the $700 UTI bill - hmmmm.) I could get a patio door put in the kitchen so I could get to the deck from the house and help my neighbors out by paying them to do it.

Would put it toward a new car....80,000 miles on this one, & don't like to go past 100,000.

80,000 is a good age for a car - what kind?

Chevy Tahoe.....I ran my last Tahoe to 110,000, but then was sinking too much money into it.

OK, you can keep it, I won't come whisk it away. ^_^ Sorry.

Plus DH's car just got fixed today - we thought it was a goner for sure but it just needed a new widget in the transmission!

This message was edited Jan 5, 2011 11:21 AM

Transmission problems scare me!

It was a "nothing" according to the experts (DH and the shop).

new thread
http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/1150447/