I recently had the luxury of reveling in a fantastic thought. One thousand dollars.
What would you do if someone handed you an extra thousand dollars? The idea is of course to spend it on yourself. But that meaning can be interpreted any way you wish. It is after all your money.
At first I thought I knew exactly what I’d do. But then another idea came to me and another. In the space of about five minutes I had spent it ten different ways.
Do I buy clothes for myself? After four kids and five years of being a SAHM my wardrobe is getting a bit dull. But what if I finally lose the baby weight I’ve be planning on for four years and then all that money went to waste?
Do I put it away and add to it all my spare change every week? And then take the kids camping this summer? Would it even amount to enough anyway?
Do I insist we use it to go see my in-laws half way across the country? And the grandmother most of my children have never met? It would just barely pay for all the airline tickets.
Or ten (non-consecutive) days at the spa? It would be cheaper than therapy, but not leave me with anything tangible to show for it in the end.
I could use it to put the twins in preschool for more than just two days a week. A privilege they beg for on an almost daily basis. But waking the baby for an extra pick up time more than I already do might not be outweighed by the extra few hours of quiet.
Hmmm what’s a mama to do?
What would you do?
Photocredit: Kevin Dooley
Right now? At this very moment? I’d pay all the late bills and then buy groceries. Embarrassingly, everything is late: car note, utilities, all of it. It wouldn’t take the whole thousand to catch up (for the behind months) but it’d be close. If, of course, these bills weren’t behind, I’d put it toward camp (registration for which will be ramping up in DC soon (and believe me, $1K isn’t even a dent in ONE kid’s summer camp fees)).
right now I would so take all my children to Trinidad with me on the 17th and thumb my nose at the hubbie while doing it tooo HAHAHA (he says it’s too much money for all of us to go for just a week)
See, you thought about everyone else first. I have the same problem. Spending on myself is more work for me than spending it on things for my kids and or “family” as a whole.
Yep vacation time is at the top of my list too. But does that really count as spending it on ourselves? Or on the family?
I don’t know… I guess split it. Half for me to spend and the other half into the Disney fund. Maybe all of it in the Disney fund…. it’s pretty expensive for a family of 6.
If I were really given $1000 I would spend it in really boring ways and that’s no fun, so instead, I’m going to say a trip to Napa!