A recent news article on MSN caught my eye: “Stimulus Plans? Gadgets Worth Blowing Your $600 On.” The article, of course, was referring to the Economic Stimulus Act monies that Americans began receiving at the beginning of the month. As a married couple who filed our taxes electronically, we received our $1,200 check a few weeks ago…and promptly deposited said check in The Trip Fund.
You may recall me writing here last February that I was I feeling a little guilty about using our rebate check to stimulate foreign economies. To assauge my guilt, we decided to put that money to good use by using it as fodder for the blog. After reading that PC World is encouraging Americans to put their money towards such useful items as $1,200 Japanese toys, a space-age looking gadget called a “modular synthesizer,” and something that allows you to pretend to be a rock star (something I do in my head on a daily basis without the help of any electronic device, thank you very much!), any remaining tinge of guilt faded away. (Only two of the fifteen PC World employees suggested that they might use their money for non-electronic-related purchases, like paying down existing debt.)
As I am fond of telling my career counseling clients and students, values aren’t good or bad: they are simply a reflection of what’s important to us. My mission is not to tell anyone what they should and shouldn’t spend their money on. I have no doubt that there are readers out there who consider traveling around the world to be a foolish waste of money. But I know myself well enough to know that I value experiences over things. People frequently ask us, “How can you afford to take a trip like this?” It’s certainly not because we’re independently wealthy (despite my best efforts to win the New Mexico state lottery). Travel is simply the thing we value most, and where we choose to spend our money. The editors at PC World would be disappointed in our spending habits: we’ve never had the latest TV or cell phones, we own approximately 10 DVDs, and I’m just now joining the iPod age.
As we promised a few months ago, we will be begin reporting how we spend that $1,200 — peso for peso — when the trip commences. It’s a big job, but somebody’s got to do it. In the meantime, if you had to spend your Economic Stimulus Act monies on travel, where would you go? What would you do? Or, would you spend it on something else entirely?
If I could spend it on travel, I’d go to Thailand, get me one of those $25 a night bungalows on the beach, spend the day drinking banana smoothies then hop on my Moped at night in search of Thai food.
Since I’m stuck in limo land for the time being, I bought a Vita-Mix (regularly $600, on sale at Costco for $400) so I can make said banana smoothies and drink them on my mother’s porch while looking out at the lake. Check it out: http://generationv.blogspot.com/2008/05/oh-yes-i-did.html
Correction: That was “limbo land”, not limo. I certainly wouldn’t put that $ towards a limo; I’d go for a Vespa and be living somewhere sunny where I could drive it. Like Albuquerque. : )
Why is the man who invests all your money called a broker?