HisHersMoney

Right now we have about $17,000 in savings. Some of this money is already spoken for, ski trips this winter, money towards our Roth IRAs, etc. I have to say it wasn’t as hard to get here as I thought it would be. I can’t tell you the last time I went clothes shopping like I used to, or the last time His went crazy buying electronics or video games.

The biggest enabler for us was learning to live on one paycheck so that the second one goes right in savings. We still have two checking accounts. His paycheck goes in the main account and Hers still goes in Her credit union. We live on His to pay all the household bills and insurance and the only things that comes out of Hers is one car payment and the ski condo expenses.

This is currently allowing us allocate $1850 from His paycheck towards debt repayment / savings and about $3500-$4000 from Hers paycheck each month into savings. Our goal is to reach $5000 a month in savings outside of our 401k and Roth IRa contributions.

I think it is completely in our reach!

So I received my direct deposit “stimulus” check this week. It was a big whopping $296. Let me tell you, I wasn’t overly stimulated when it arrived. Yes, it is certainly better than nothing but really what am I going to do with $296? I guess I could buy five weeks of groceries, or maybe get my hair done twice (not including tip) or pay a fourth of my car insurance bill. None of which are very exciting if you ask me.

I really think they missed the mark on this one and I’ve thought this since they announced it a few months ago. I think a better program would have been a “Pick a Pot Hole Campaign” where each taxpayer could pick the pot hole they hate the most on the under maintained roads and they would come in a fix it. I personally hate pot holes.

How about a “Cow for Everyone Program” where you could get a cow’s worth of steaks per person, enough to last the entire year. I would even kick in the cost of the A-1 out of my weekly grocery budget!

So, what will I really do with my humungous stimulus check? Probably nothing. I’l put it in the checking account, add it onto the current balance number and move on. HIM should be getting the entire $600 which will be a bit better but we still aren’t going to be hitting the local mall armed with fistfuls of cash ready to stimulate the heck out of the economy!

Hey who doesn’t love free money? For a limited time, Revolution Money Exchange is offering a free $25 to anybody who signs up for a free account before April 15th. Their website seems pretty straight-forward. It’s basically paypal with a web 2.0 front-end. I just signed up using a link from Jim at Blueprint for Financial Prosperity and they’ve already credited my account. Now I just have to wait for the bank account verification process. If you’re looking to get some $$$ and help a new blogger out, sign up using the link below to send some referral greenbacks my way.