# Stimulus Check, what are your plans? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 11, 2020, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543 "2020-04-11T02:01:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/41 "2020-04-12T04:17:04Z")
> [@susan](#): > > Sensing incoming cash, the washing machine is having fits and may die tonight of a paroxysm. Back in our working days, our two cars would sit in the driveway next to each other, and concoct intricate schemes on how to destroy us. Their most effective way was to have something expensive go KABOOM! right before payday.:eek: ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![pullin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c57346/32.png) [@pullin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pullin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/42 "2020-04-12T09:48:35Z")
Retired, but we’re over the couple’s threshold so nothing for us. Ditto for eldest kid. Youngest still in college and only one of us eligible – got hers last week. She put it into savings for tuition/books/etc. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/43 "2020-04-12T10:47:31Z")
OK. This thread just reminded me to transfer my monthly donations I have deducted from credit cards to my bank account. We have paid off the credit cards with savings (the balances weren’t much), but we have switched the autopays from “full balance” to “monthly minimum,” and now I am moving any monthly regular deductions to the bank account, if possible, or the debit card, if they insist on a card. All the credit cards are getting put in a drawer. We are not using them unless we need to for emergencies, which will probably mean we are getting low on cash, so that’s why we have switched to monthly minimums. We can always go to the account and pay more if we want to. I’m glad we decided to keep up our monthly giving, even though we are worried a little about cash flow. We also do yearly giving to other organizations, but we do that around the high holy days, so it all went out in October, and we will have until the Fall to see what we can afford this coming year. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/44 "2020-04-12T11:23:24Z")
$2400 is a spit in the ocean in comparison to the hit my 401k has taken these recent months. I’m not feeling particularly windfall-y. I’ll probably just bank it. mmm ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/45 "2020-04-12T13:28:21Z")
Another “Won’t make up for investment losses” person. It’s basically not anywhere close to making a difference in any way. It’s like asking what do I plan on doing with the nickel in my pocket? It gets mixed in with the rest. Money will be spent and/or invested. What sources provided what money for something is not trackable. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/46 "2020-04-12T14:02:49Z")
> [@ThelmaLou](#): > > Wow, what a fascinating site! I’ll have to spend some time looking over all the options. I’ve been trying to find a certain kind of wrap dress and they just might be the people to produce it. 🙂 So what if I’m only going to wear it around the house for my cats and dog. 😛 This will be my third dress. I can spend hours on the site, customizing the dresses. I’m leaning toward a red one this time. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/47 "2020-04-12T14:50:45Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Another “Won’t make up for investment losses” person. > > It’s basically not anywhere close to making a difference in any way. It’s like asking what do I plan on doing with the nickel in my pocket? > > It gets mixed in with the rest. Money will be spent and/or invested. What sources provided what money for something is not trackable. We got out of the stock market months before the pandemic hit. The stock market was falling a long time before COVID-19; not as precipitously, but the bubble had burst. We still have a mutual fund, but it’s not doing so badly. As far as we are concerned, any little bit helps. The money we will be getting is 3.5x our rent, so that’s May, June, July & 1/2 of Aug that are taken care of. I have a tiny annuity I set up when I got some money after my mother died in 2017 that just about covers gas (heat), electric & cable. So the checks mean a lot to us. As long as one of us does not get sick and run up huge medical bills, we should be OK. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/48 "2020-04-12T18:03:18Z")
We will not be getting anything. ---
**Author:** ![pkbites](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pkbites/32/204_2.png) [@pkbites](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pkbites)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/49 "2020-04-12T18:18:24Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > We still have a mutual fund, but it’s not doing so badly. I lost over $115K in the blink of an eye from my deferred compensation plan. Sad thing is I could have started taking withdrawals from it starting next month. I had flirted with the idea of retiring for good in November. Now I may have to work 2 more years to try to build more up in that fund. My store is making money hand over fist thanks to increased gun an ammo sales. But I’m only banking the extra income, not investing it. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/50 "2020-04-12T18:34:52Z")
I had to replace my 42-year-old furnace a couple weeks ago, so it’s helping to offset that a little. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/51 "2020-04-12T18:38:53Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > We got out of the stock market months before the pandemic hit. The stock market was falling a long time before COVID-19; not as precipitously, but the bubble had burst. We still have a mutual fund, but it’s not doing so badly. > > As far as we are concerned, any little bit helps. The money we will be getting is 3.5x our rent, so that’s May, June, July & 1/2 of Aug that are taken care of. I have a tiny annuity I set up when I got some money after my mother died in 2017 that just about covers gas (heat), electric & cable. So the checks mean a lot to us. > > As long as one of us does not get sick and run up huge medical bills, we should be OK. “We got out of the stock market months before the pandemic hit. The stock market was falling a long time before COVID-19…”??? Dow highest close 29,551 February 12. Bottom 18,591 March 22. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/52 "2020-04-12T20:21:11Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Back in our working days, our two cars would sit in the driveway next to each other, and concoct intricate schemes on how to destroy us. Dang. I knew that cats acted this way, but cars? 🙂 I am going to have to add that idea to a story. ETA: Oh yeah, the stimulus cheque. In Canada, it’s a little different, but I got my first monthly payment of $2000 last Wednesday. Unless work starts back up, there will be three more, then it’s back to regular unemployment benefits. What am I _doing_ with it? I threw it into savings, paid off some of my credit card, then sent some to my friends to deal with expenses. Since we are in lockdown, there’s nothing else to do except order things online, and I don’t want to distract myself too much from writing… ---
**Author:** ![VOW](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/vow/32/3043_2.png) [@VOW](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VOW)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/53 "2020-04-12T20:50:44Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > I had to replace my 42-year-old furnace a couple weeks ago, so it’s helping to offset that a little. Contact your utility company, whichever one feeds your furnace. See if they still offer energy credit or rebate for installing a more efficient furnace. ~VOW ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/54 "2020-04-12T21:17:33Z")
> [@VOW](#): > > Contact your utility company, whichever one feeds your furnace. See if they still offer energy credit or rebate for installing a more efficient furnace. > > ~VOW Thanks, **VOW**! Yeah, I already did, and it wouldn’t pencil out unless I live 50 more years. I got several bids, and paid $3000 less than the high bid, so there’s that. ---
**Author:** ![LH75](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lh75/32/4438_2.png) [@LH75](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LH75)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/55 "2020-04-12T21:30:36Z")
By closing all of the hair salons and barber shops, the County Health Department has put my self employed daughter out of business for the foreseeable future. Sunflower and I will set our stimulus checks aside to help her through this. As an aside: I saw the Mayor’s press conference yesterday. Her hair looks great, as does the Female doctor who is running point for the county health department. Both of them are women in their sixties and would definitely be showing their roots by now. If you know what to look for it is not hard to spot a professional color verses a box color from Wallgreens, and a professional comb and blow out are easy to spot too. Hypocrisy runs rampant… ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2020, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/56 "2020-04-12T21:41:21Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > I think the idea is to get some money flowing again through the economy, mainly your local one. I don’t think that’s necessarily the idea. Many people have either lost a significant portion of their income, or have lost their jobs entirely. Paying off bills and ensuring their finances stay in the black should be priority number 1. My tenants back in the states have been unable to pay rent, so I’ve lost income and I’ve made up for that by using a low-interest credit card which I intend to pay down with the stimulus check. I expect they’ll use their checks to keep up with their car payments (no doubt to a far away bank) to avoid repossession, to keep the electricity on, and to keep their kids fed. Luckily, I still have my primary income intact. I might even keep the credit card balance where it is and buy some more shares of certain stocks. I should be able to easily beat the credit card interest on the returns from those shares once those particular companies fully recover from the effects of the pandemic. > [@Mangosteen](#): > > “We got out of the stock market months before the pandemic hit. The stock market was falling a long time before COVID-19…”??? Dow highest close 29,551 February 12. Bottom 18,591 March 22. No shit. Color me equally confused. The market was skyrocketing before this pandemic. From November to February, one of my stocks had more than quadrupled. Last week was supposed to be “peak week” for virus, and the DOW finished the week at nearly 24,000. That’s still 40% higher than it was when Obama left office. That’s hardly a death spiral considering how much of the global economy is shut down right now. It’s going to recover just fine. ---
**Author:** ![Chicken\_Fingers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Chicken\_Fingers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chicken_Fingers)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2020, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/57 "2020-04-13T05:25:42Z")
Getting nothing. I’m in one of the slip-through-the-cracks categories. Yet our household still lost 85 percent of its income because of the virus, and we were already living paycheck to paycheck. Sucks. I’d rather see every living person with a social security number get money, whether they need it or not, and drop the 'qualifiers" that are leaving out so many people who really need it. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 12:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/58 "2020-04-14T12:43:01Z")
> [@nonacetone](#): > > We’re going to bank it. I’m sure they’ll want it all back, eventually. So, if we put it in the bank, it won’t hurt when we have to give it back, since we didn’t spend it. Same situation. But to add insult to sodomy the amount we will now owe next April will probably be high enough to incur us an underpayment penalty. Were it “free money” I’d have donated it. But now I’ll just hang on to it so I can give it all back (plus the penalty for being an American living under Trump). ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21906_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/59 "2020-04-14T13:45:51Z")
We just got ours deposited to checking. Anyone else seen theirs yet? ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 14, 2020, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543/60 "2020-04-14T15:26:47Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > We just got ours deposited to checking. Anyone else seen theirs yet? Ours is pending for deposit tomorrow. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stimulus-check-what-are-your-plans/851543.md?page=4)