Christmas money

[juldea]

So, I got money for Christmas. A significant amount. Enough so that, with a little bit of extra from me, I could put it all on one of my credit card bills and have that bill completely paid off. This, however, is not much fun. ;) Therefore I'm debating whether or not to spend some of my Christmas money on TOYS!

What do you think?

[Poll #412281]

Comments

[siderea]

If it's not prying, what percentage of your total debt are we talking about wiping out?

I think you should buy one toy, something which would make you feel especially good to have, and put the rest to your credit card.

Personally, I wouldn't put a "new X" in that category unless the old X really was making me unhappy with its inadequacies. Similarly, any piece of hardware had better be something I think I would use a whole lot. But you're talking to a woman who made a computer last 9 years.

P.S.

[siderea]

Were it me, I might decide the special treat should be not a thing to keep, but a really fancy dinner out with a friend. I tend not to get a lot of pleasure from things (there are notable exceptions), but I get a lot of pleasure out of experiences.

My advice

[anitra.livejournal.com]

Spend 20-30% of it on a toy / luxury that you'd really like. Use the rest to pay down your debt. Toys are fun... but when you are out of debt, you can afford more toys! :)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

The old digital camera is being held together with a rubber band and takes slighly blurred photos. The old TV has diagonal lines running across the screen. Both work well enough but have significant problems.

We're only talking 7% of total debt. Of that particular card, however, 77% (before regular contribution, which would get the card paid off in the next week or two).

[tragicstory.livejournal.com]

I suggest 100% towards debt. I know it sucks but you can put the interest you would be paying towards buying a toy.

Just remember that paying off debt is the same as getting a interest rate equivilant to what the rate of the credit card is.

In other words, if you have $100 credit card debt with an interest of 20% by paying that $100 all at once you are guaranting a return of $20 on your $100. (Due to you not having to pay interest on it throughout the year.)

[tramissa.livejournal.com]

I have to admit, there is something fun about buying toys, but...there's something more fun about getting out of debt...and you have a long way to go.

[en-ki.livejournal.com]

Even if you want toys, you should pay off your debt and then buy the toys on the credit card, unless your interest rate for old debt is substantially better than your interest rate for new debt.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

The Buffy and the Firefly are borrow-able, which may help a bit.

[nemoalia.livejournal.com]

Put most on the credit card (or at least half) and definitely buy a toy with the rest. If only so you can tell the people who gave you the money that you bought something festively fun with their money. I mean, who wants a thank-you card that says, "Thanks for the Christmas gift! Now I'm down to 93% of my previous credit card debt, thanks to you."

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yes, I do understand how money works... but no toys is so boring! ;)

(Translation: I know I'm being silly, but I do like to indulge myself sometimes.)

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Yeah. :-/

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ah, but one point I will not bend on is NOT using credit cards for toys once they are paid off. In fact, this particular one is going to be cancelled once it is paid off...

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Ah, I have all the episodes on my computer anyway. It's just the owning-them-on-DVD fun.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

Haha, I think my dad would like that thank-you card actually. ;) But he's not the only one who gave me some cash...

Obviously

[kestrel404.livejournal.com]

Come now, this is obvious. You should pay off the credit card, then buy a new toy WITH the credit card. Since you're not carrying a balance from the previous month, NO INTEREST! At least for that month. Cat + I do that all the time, saves us lots of hassle.

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

But do you have all the special features on your computer? There's a few Firefly ones in particular that really rock the house...

[juldea.livejournal.com]

I thought you didn't want to be tempting me?

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

Where'd you get a silly idea like that? I *love* tempting you! :-)

Although in this particular case, I'm trying to tempt you to borrow more stuff from me, thus giving me both more excuses to see you, and more stuff to talk about when I do.

[juldea.livejournal.com]

You know, I pondered an edit to that comment right after I made it, but decided to sit and see what you said first. ;)

You make a good point, but what you're tempting me to do is buy these things, not borrow them! ;)

[alexx-kay.livejournal.com]

On a slightly more serious note, while many of the special features are Way Cool, they're generally only worth watching once. Hence, borrowing to watch the special features makes some sense. The episodes are the part with significant "replay value", and you have that part already.