Alright, so I just got a mileage check in the mail, for over $300. I had to do a lot of driving in December, and now the company's paying me back for it.
So now we've got $300 burning a hole in our pockets. Part of what got us here was the overwhelming desire to spend every penny we got, and some we didn't. So now, we're locked into a tight budget, where every penny we've got (and some we don't) are all spoken for, and it's like somebody who just got tied up discovering he has some wiggle room.
Your brain focuses with laser-like intensity, on that one spot you can move.
So now we've got $300. We know there's a bunch of things we could use. My wife needs a new sewing machine. The refrigerator's about ready to go. The rice cooker went out, the crock pot's cracked, etc, etc, etc.
We also know the car needs some work done on it. We did a quick fix job on it (I cleaned the spark plugs) but didn't really address the real problem (something is leaking that needed to be cleaned off the spark plugs). Technically, the money is meant to fuel and maintain that car.
Actually, to be even more technical, the best thing you could do with a mileage check is save it to pay cash for your next car. Helping pay this car off would be the next best thing to that.
Of course, I could also put it away, and use it as an emergency fund for whichever of these becomes a crisis first.
In other words, there's a whole bunch of logical, sensible stuff this could go to, that would either curtail a future problem, or shore me up for when it happens.
So why is it my first reaction is still, "Hey, I got some money. Let's order some pizza!"?
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