Stimulus money

[lemoncupcake]

Obviously if you have suffered financial losses (unemployed, cut hours, salary cut, etc.) the money would be used to cover your expenses. 

But if you haven't seen any financial impacts so far, what are you doing with your money? Saving it to cover any future impacts? Donating it? Spending it in your community? 


I feel guilty that we already received ours when we aren't the ones who need it most. We are both still working full time, but could see pay cuts at our companies in the future. Layoffs are unlikely for DH but possible for me. We have an otherwise healthy efund in a savings accounts plus investments (which are obviously in the crapper right now, but still available to us if things got dire). 

[samanthamkm]

My husband works in the restaurant industry so we are saving as much money as we can. I got laid off because I work in a non essential retail store. I also haven't worked enough hours to get unemployment.
We were following Dave Ramsey's baby steps so after we are in the all clear we will pay off our debt. If we were in a better financial place we would have donated or shopped with local places.

[dcn]

We are just sitting on it for now. We will probably donate a big portion of it and use the rest toward something local once we can leave our house again.

[buckeyegirl]

Our jobs are stable. So . . . For now we are donating about 1/4 of it and then waiting to see what we can do with the rest. Right now we we are donating to local food banks and women’s shelters.

[AdaraMarie]

I think I am using it toward having the outside of my house painted.
I was supposed to have it done last week and delayed due to uncertainty about finances and the shelter in place, but between the painters offering an additional discount and the stimulus money I think I am going to go ahead with it next month.

[winecat]

Apr 19, 2020 19:10:33 GMT -5 samanthamkm said:

My husband works in the restaurant industry so we are saving as much money as we can. I got laid off because I work in a non essential retail store. I also haven't worked enough hours to get unemployment.
We were following Dave Ramsey's baby steps so after we are in the all clear we will pay off our debt. If we were in a better financial place we would have donated or shopped with local places.

Did you try filing and noting that your job loss was due to COVID?  It might be worth trying since they've changed other eligibility rules.

[ellipses84]

Our plan was to save it for a worst case scenario emergency fund, which has basically now happened to us. DH is furloughed and I got laid off. Up until that point we’d still been paying for some optional services we weren’t receiving to help support small local/ non-profit businesses.

The good news is that with the additional federal money for unemployment, the income we will be bringing in, at least through July 31st, isn’t that different and I think we’ll be ok. The stimulus money gives us extra buffer. I received our tax return and had used it to pay off some bills immediately before Covid hit the states and I’d really been wishing I’d put it in our e-fund instead. I got severance, vacation payout and the stimulus money which makes me feel much better about our e-find, as it may take a while for us to actually start receiving unemployment benefits. Still a little nervous how long this will last and how it will impact my industry even longer term, but I’m thinking if it does, they may extended federal unemployment help since it’s an election year...

[samanthamkm]

Apr 19, 2020 21:57:05 GMT -5 winecat said:

Apr 19, 2020 19:10:33 GMT -5 samanthamkm said:

My husband works in the restaurant industry so we are saving as much money as we can. I got laid off because I work in a non essential retail store. I also haven't worked enough hours to get unemployment.
We were following Dave Ramsey's baby steps so after we are in the all clear we will pay off our debt. If we were in a better financial place we would have donated or shopped with local places.

Did you try filing and noting that your job loss was due to COVID?  It might be worth trying since they've changed other eligibility rules.

I did. I only work weekends and just started in August 2019. After Christmas I was only working like 8-10 hours a weekend. We don't need the money as my job is more for my mental health than anything.

[carmenere]

The IRS website says we're getting some money. I assume it's based on our 2018 income, since we made too much to qualify last year. We will donate it, but we're not sure where yet. There's a possibility I may be laid off after July but we'll get by with H's income, and there are people who need the money more than we do right now.

[Cappy]

Saving it. I work in higher education and anticipate pay cuts and/or unemployment are a very real possibility. Friday announced hiring freeze, pay freeze, and future layoffs or program cuts. I won't know about those until around July 1 so I'm doing all I can go save, save, save. My job will be very difficult to replace.

[madringal]

We made a donation with part of it, and are saving the rest for now. DH and I are both still working full time, but I work for a tiny credit union. I can definitely see being laid off if we have to keep our branches closed for too long, so I am trying to just save everything we can. If we don't need it to actually pay bills or anything, our plan is to use it to pay DD3s PreK tuition in full in August.

[ny96]

We’re sitting on it in case we need it, but most likely we’ll donate it to our preschool which not asking for tuition, but still partially paying the teachers and covering their health insurance premiums.

[wildrice]

We are moving into a new house in 2 weeks, so we will probably use some of it for stuff related to that. We are planning to buy an elliptical machine, outdoor furniture, and possibly a second TV to put in the exercise room. We also need a bunch of random stuff like curtains, an extra bathroom set, and I'm considering a desk/chair for a workspace. So we could easily spend the whole thing on all that (and then some).

That said, I really would like to spend the bulk of it locally and a lot of that stuff is probably not that easy to get right now without ordering online from larger retailers. The downside of buying from local retailers for stuff like that is that it's generally a lot more expensive though, so it's also possible we'll just get whatever we need online with "other money" and then plan to do takeout more frequently, be more generous with charity donations, and hire some local handyman/contractor sort of stuff with our stimulus. I'm also considering doing a CSA this summer which would keep it local.

I think our jobs are stable but there is also a part of me that thinks we should hold off on all of the above (or at least a lot of it) until the dust settles a bit. I'm pretty sure we're going to do the elliptical/outdoor furniture no matter what because those are things that would really help with wellness during being stuck at home. But nothing else is on fire so we might just let it sit in savings for while until we know for sure we are safe. No idea how long it will be until we can truly say that for sure though.

[jentervention]

I’m a teacher, H is a grocery store manager. Income is stable.

We are:

“Adopting” 4 high school seniors - 2 from my alma mater, 2 from H’s.

Putting the rest toward debt.

[just]

Good to know in relation to this discussion ...

“Incentives for charitable giving: Taxpayers will be able to deduct up to $300 of cash contributions regardless of whether they itemize deductions, and the limits on charitable deductions for those who do itemize will be increased.”

investornews.vanguard/what-the-cares-act-means-for-markets-and-the-economy/

[dochas]

Mostly saving it. It's unlikely, but there is a chance my husband could be laid off. I'm donating small amounts, and using a little to try spread a little joy. I gave money to a small local food bank. I bought color your own kite kits to leave on the porches of my son's friends that live nearby. There's a tulip farm that has not been allowed to open for tours, so I'm going to go and buy bunches of tulips and leave them on doorsteps of some friends. I don't want to risk our security, but it's nice to have a little extra to be able to support some small businesses and help others a little.

[ssmjlm]

I put the child portion into her saving account.

The rest we plan to donate over time. We've already donated some, so now we're looking at expanding those donations, either increasing, or adding additional organizations.

[sadlebred]

I used mine to pay off a bill instead of doing an installment plan.

[flygirl]

We saved ours for now. There is still some question on whether my job is ok.

[aspentosh]

We are trying to support our local restaurants more than normal and are giving fairly big tips (like the cost of the bill or even more) so some of it is earmarked for that. We're also sending grocery store gift cards to local food banks.

But H really wants a foldaway home gym since he can't work out right now so a large chunk will probably go towards that.

[fernweh]

We are saving. H’s job is stable but mind definitely is not. I’m the primary earner so that’s scary to me. I’m WFH right now but given the context of my job I won’t be able to much longer so I like having a little extra cushion in our savings.

[namasteak]

Our fence is in sad shape and we have over 200 feet so this will pay for a good chunk of that.

We will save our entire tax refund (which is quite large due to Harvey write offs) to pad savings for now and eventually do a garage conversion.

[chpmnk1015]

We put it in savings
.. my husband hasnt been working and so far unemployment hasnt been approved. Im still working but who knowz whats in store.. we may need it

[egeiger]

We are buying a few cows. Freezer beef for us and whomever else needs it.

[lust2hart]

We will donate the majority, and we’ll spend the rest in our community.

[galaxy8227]

We put half towards our CC Debt and the other half in savings. Our main jobs are stable, I lost my part time job (waitress) so I wanted to put some in savings incase we need it.

[seeyalater52]

We are using it to pay off some of our IVF debt before baby comes. It is great timing actually because we should be done paying off our no interest credit card by Oct with this extra help so we can start with a clean slate.

[hurricanedrunk]

We paid off my car and the rest went into savings. Half to a house project & the other half to the emergency fund.

[winecat]

Paying my mortgage and buying food. I'm really lucky that I bought a small house 20 years ago so the stimulus is enough money to be able to pay for it and at least a month's worth of food.

[idahome]

We are using ours for a patio addition to the front of our house. I’m excited to be able to spend time out front this year (bonus: using a local concrete guy for the work).