Money is coming my way!
On my paycheck next week I will be getting a $250 bonus and I also got a $1 an hour raise. I have already reassessed my budget and added in the $1 increase. I am just no so sure what to do with the $250 bonus.
Trying not to think in my old mind set.
If I listened to my old mind set about spending money I would send it on something frivolous and most likely would regret the purchase in the end. I have been trying to think of what would be the most worth while way for me to spent the bonus.
There are so many choices.
I have made a list of what I think I should spend the money on.
1. Get my hair cut and colored along with a pair of shoes for work. I have not had my hair cut or colored for about 6 months. So I need a trim and my highlights have close to 6 inches of growth. I do not color my hair myself due to an incident in high school when I dyed my hair gray. The cost to fix that was over $400. The shoes are to replace the flats from work that are getting pretty worn out. I would still have some money left over so the rest would go into my emergency fund.
2. Take a weekend trip into the mountains. All the money would be spent on gas, hotel and food. I have not taken any sort of vacation in more that 3 years.
3. Put it all in my emergency fund. I have a little over 2 months of pay saved up already. I do add to this fund every chance I get.
What do you think?
Please comment and let me know what you think I should do with the bonus. I’ll let you know what I decide to spend the bonus on in another post. Thanks for you help everyone.
Best regards,
Maeghen
{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
IMHO, you should try to treat the money no differently from any other money. You can apply the same system (such as a budget) you use to determine where to spend non-bonus money.
I think you’ll really turn a psychological corner when you have your 3 months’ pay saved up, so that should be a priority. I would put it all toward your saving, unless your other needs (shoes, hair, etc) are bad enough that you were trying to work them into your budget before you knew about the raise.
I would find a cheap place to get my hair done and save the rest.
honestly i think you should take the mini-vacation. everyone needs a break & if you’ve been sacrificing vacation time to pay for debt/put towards savings, then you deserve to reward yourself! though i can also feel your pain about having 6 inches of growth on your highlights!
funnel the $1/hr pay raise into savings from now on… and spend the $250 0n a vacation! The raise will really help your savings quick, and you deserve a one time splurge w/ the $250.
If I had $250 I would sent $200 or $225 towards savings or paying down debt. Whenever I get an unexpected some of money I try to put the majority towards savings or paying down debt then a little bit for me. Unless you are just $250 or $300 away from paying down the debt or making that 3 months in savings. That could be a big in mentally showing yourself on how this is paying off. As much as I would like to throw every penny I had towards the debt, I sometimes do have to buy something cheap to keep me going. Might not be the best advice but kind of like dieting, if you eliminate meat or sweets cold turkey, you are bound to go back to it in the long run and ruin any progress you made.