If The Magical Money Fairy Showed Up Unexpectedly, What Would You Buy?

Now let me preface this all by saying, I am married to a very, very careful spender. Apparently this is genetic because my father-in-law shows similar restraint in his finances as does Talented Hubby's brother. It comes as no surprise to find that my FIL made a career in finance.

I adore the quality in men (better a frugalite than a spendthrift!) - most of the time. Then something like receiving a very nice sum of unexpected money from the government happens and what follows is several weeks worth of heated respectful debate over how to best use the money, LOL. Call it fun money and spend the lot (for the record - we realise this is a bad, bad idea!)? Fix up some things around the house? Put money aside now for Christmas? What about a weekend away? What about my thirtieth birthday? Talented Hubby may have been happy enough with a cake for his but I intend farewelling my twenties properly!

To understand this dilemma, you first have to understand what kind of people TH and I are. We are most definitely not frivolous spenders. TH had perhaps a better financial grounding than I did growing up but the bottom line is, we don't have expensive hobbies and our leisure activities tend to run more toward the 'DVD and popcorn' variety. We have already decided the portion of money we are getting this month will be spent on the house (the specifics of which is another debate for another day! LOL) but we are also due a smaller portion of money in April. Talented Hubby surprised me by suggesting we might be able to split this money down the middle for our own personal spending.

Without going into specifics, it equates to a comfy amount. TH recently bought his 'dream' camera, paid for in cash with the earnings from his previous exhibition and online image sales, so his Extra Special Thing just got crossed off his list. I, on the other hand, don't readily get so much money in one lump sum and I'm at a bit of a loss as to what to do with it. It would be enough for a good general sewing machine or a clothes-buying spree. I could do some real damage on Amazon or Etsy with it too, LOL. But I don't have that many personal 'wants/needs' at the moment. About the only thing that springs to mind is that I've wanted a decent desk for a while now (I currently blog at the dining table).

If we decide that yes, we will split this smaller payment in April and each have some spending money, I want to be wise about it. My initial thought was that a sewing machine would be beneficial to the household as a whole, and not just me, so its priority goes up a few notches - but it's a want, not a need - and I already have a sewing machine. It was third or fourth hand and I never worked out how to do anything more basic than straight and triple-stitch (thank God this didn't have any curves!) but it's in working order and probably totally fine for my sporadic craft attempts. It would be lovely to have a new machine though, and I would gift the old one to someone who needs it. We bought a large-screen TV last year with money we'd saved specifically for that purpose, so that was another Extra Special Thing ticked off. TiVo is something I've been considering - TH could care less, LOL - and this amount of personal spending money would get me three-quarters of the way there (by the way, sell me on TiVo. We've only just had it come to Australia in the last few months. Good idea? Bad idea? Best features?)

Our other sum of money - including our furniture fund - will cover things like a utility cupboard and a couple of small pieces to help organize the entryway, so 'my' money doesn't have to get put aside for that, which is nice. Brand new books in the mail is a delight I'm sure you're all able to understand, LOL, and I might still indulge in one or two, but certainly not the entire amount.

As for my thirtieth birthday (which isn't until October) - Talented Hubby and I have already considered including a weekend away using some of March's money, and we could kill two birds with one stone and do this in October, making it a 'big deal' birthday thing. I quite like that idea. I could also save this spending money for that weekend (though that will be decidely more difficult, LOL).

Auuugh - what would you do, or buy, if you suddenly had several hundred dollars to spend? For the purposes of this exercise you are not allowed to pay off extra on the mortgage (which we're also doing with the larger sum of money) or put it toward bills. What personal wants have you been hankering over lately?