Because they were breaking down and they’ve been old and junky since I moved in, I bought a stove and refrigerator. I could have taken a shot at having them repaired, but I upgraded instead.
I’m kind of gleeful about it. They’re bigger and better than the old ones, and they’re still shiney. When the whisper in my head tries to make me feel guilty I grin and tell it I’m stimulating the economy.
Anyone else stimulating the economy?
I bought my iPhone. I’ll be stimulating the economy in July, unfortunately it’ll be the UK’s as I’m going on vacation. Hope the dollar does OK over the next couple months.
I bought about 5.5k in computer parts, my dad died and apparently wise quite miserly. He lived in a trailer but had something like 50-60k stored away and I inherited about half of it (I just wish he lived a little better before he died, I never really liked him that much but I hate to think he was dying of lung cancer in a tiny trailer with money stored away he could have used to comfort himself a little).
I’m going to college, at least I hope the price of tuition counts as economic stimulus. If not consider my training to make eventual contributions to the world stimulus.
Does a trip to Saipan count? It’s not finalized or anything but I’m in the planning stage.
Also, I dump about 100,000 yen into my Fifth Third account every month to pay for student debt. So that’s money entering the US economy, I suppose.
When I get home I’m going to ship the wheels off of my 1952 Triumph TRW to the England to be restored, so other than shipping I guess I’m stimulating the British economy.
Unclviny
I just bought a dress I totally didn’t need, and today I plan on buying some outrageously high-priced mousse ($25 a can!). It’s not a vanity purchase; it truly works way, way better than other mousse, which is important when you have baby-fine hair.
Oh, and I also bought some lightweight 100% silk long johns. If my office is going to be kept at 65 degrees, I need to wear something under even woollen slacks to stay warm. They were $30.
Will that do?
What’s the name of this wondrous product? If it’s sold down here, I’d be willing to fork out the money to help stimulate the Aussie economy AND improve the style-a-bility of my hair.
I’ll answer, if nothing else to convey something other than gloom and doom.
Finishing 1500SF basement.
Expanding office.
Hiring additional personnel.
Expanding my marketing campaign.
Traveled to San Diego with the family, traveled to Dallas for professional reasons, took the entire company to Vegas for a convention, and thinking about somewhere this spring with the family.
Upgrading website, hired an interior decorator, thinking about another work truck and trailer.
Paid off debt, investing more into SIMPLE plan.
But I am trying to keep more cash on hand, just in case.
Things are going well.
I spent about $20K on furniture, rent, office equipment etc and sent $12K to the IRS last month so a banker can fuel up his jet.
I got a mini-fridge for the office. It was $80. Then I also got an HP 9800 so I can print tabloid-sized drawings. With shipping, it was $114.
I’m afraid that’s all I’ve got right now. 
I got to pick up the extra work after they laid off the other person in my department, for no money. It means I get to pay the babysitter about 6 more hours a week @ $12 an hour. They even gave me the ‘be grateful you have a job’ speech. :dubious: yay me!
I’m about to. The sprog asked for a rather expensive Nerf gun for Hanukkah, which we weren’t in a position to give him. We’ve now got the money, so we’re going to make a special trip to Toys R Us to get it.
Robin
In the past 45 days our household has added a new 50" HD Plasma, an x-box 360, a new entertainment center for said equipment, and an iPhone 3G.
The truth about even the Great Depression was that for the 25% who were unemployed life sucked. For the 75% who were employed, eveything was on sale.
I’m buying a new $400 phone today. May well order a few grand of landscaping improvements. I’m actively looking for a high end used car and will buy when I find it.
Funny the OP mentions a refrigerator. Mine probably needs replacing in the next couple of years, and just yesterday I was thinking maybe I should get one this summer, if I still have my job. Part of me wants to clamp down and delay the purchase. Part of me thinks that people clamping down is part of the problem, so unless I’m out of work, I should buy one.
I’ve been bailing everything I can into savings since last August, when my company laid off a bunch of people just as I finished paying for badly needed home improvements (replaced deteriorating chimney, leaking roof, etc.). In April, I should have enough of a cushion built up again that if there’s still money coming in, I should loosen up a little on my spending.
After going a few years without buying any decent shoes, I broke down last week and spent about $250 on four new pairs. Having let the djinni out of the bottle, I then found myself inspired to buy new clothes, too, to the tune of another $570. I felt a little uneasy about the expenditure, but the clothes were badly needed – my baby’s three and a half months old, I can’t keep wearing maternity clothes but I don’t quite fit into my pre-pregnancy wardrobe either. On top of that, I considered the economy-stimulating factor. 
I just paid off all my debt, right before my tax refund came in. So I decided to take 1/3 of the refund and buy stuff I’ve been putting off since I started working on paying off the debt.
I spent about $750 on a vacuum, range hood, and various knick knacks for the house like a towel rack and hanging mail file. I’ll be spending the rest of my “fun money” on having my bathroom painted.
I’m trying to decide now if I should be 100% committed to saving every penny or do some sort of “surplus split” and put some away and use the rest to have a deck built.
Things are indeed going well over here, too.
I just dumped $750 into my car for new brakes.
And within a couple of months I’ll either put another couple thousand into the old junker to keep it running another year, or give up and buy a whole new car. That should help stimulate something.
I got a Wii (whee!). I will buy some games for it soon. Then I’m done stimulating the economy. Unless fridges go on sale. I hate my fridge.
I already bought some courses and stuff. Next pay I am paying off my credit card. Then I can think about something more, like two new chairs at Ikea.