My boy Ramit is giving away $1,001 to a lucky winner in a couple of weeks – as a “social experiment” – so I thought I’d help him out by asking you all what YOU would do w/ the money if you happened to win it yourself? And the odds you’d actually *stick to it* if you really DID win it? (Make sure to enter here though first, or you’ll never even have a chance! ;))
Personally, I think I’d divide it up into 3 main sections:
- The first thing I’d do is dump $500 of it into our baby’s 529 college fund. Which we have yet to still open, haha… though I reckon this would certainly help speed up the process! ;) And I feel like $500 is a nice solid number to plop in for all future months too, but we’ll see how business and life continues… no matter what we’ll be putting in *something* every month!
- Then I think we’d use $300 for a nice trip out to a bed and breakfast somewhere in wine country, Virginia. Every year we try and do this for our anniversary, and those things are always so expensive in the time frames we want to go (mid to late May). It would be awesome if we got this year’s trip covered for completely!
- Then another $200 towards charities of my friends’ choice (since I don’t really connect with any myself). I’ve gotten pretty bad lately of donating money or giving time to any charities now that our own wrapped up in December, so this would be a great way to get back into the good habit of it all again. I miss not having a place I believed in 100% :(
- And the last $1.00 would go to a new lottery ticket! (In May, of course ;)) I figured if I got lucky enough to win this $1,001 in the first place, I should probably try and extend my good fortune!
I’m 99.9% sure I’d do all 4 of these too if I were to really win the money. It’s kinda hard to go back on your word when it’s down paper and you’ve blogged it out to thousands of people, haha… How about you though? What would YOU do with $1,001? It’s certainly not $640 million dollars like the most recent Mega Millions craze, but it’s still just as sexy!
(And remember, you can’t win if you don’t enter! So be sure to spend the 5 secs doing that as soon as you drop your answers down below – I want someone HERE to win that money!!)
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PS: Do you think your odds decrease today since it’s Friday the 13th? ;))
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First, I would START a savings account. Second, I would take my kids to visit family in Indiana. Third, the rest would be just enough to make sure we are fed and paying our bills through the summer.
Save most to get my emergency fund back to $1000 and then use it for debt for sure.
Pay on my student loan – I owe $1,597. After that is paid off I will be debt free!
Yeah I’ll be boring, it’ll go towards the GF’s and my trip to Hawaii in June.
Now that we are completely debt free, I would put the money toward a small car for my husband. We have been a one vehicle family for 6 months now and it would really be nice to have that other car back! Being stuck at home with no vehicle has not been easy.
I would take all of that money, along with some added cash from my savings, and use it to completely pay off one of my two sole credit card, and then close the account. I know, I know, you’re not *supposed* to close credit accounts. “Debt-to-Credit” ratio and all of that. Well, that card has instigated more stress for me than its ever relieved, and that was with the $500 limit it started out with (This past November, the issuer saw fit to do me a “favor” and up it to $4500). Even if it were completely paid, I just wouldn’t be comfortable having that kind of charge power at my disposal. With that bill gone, ill be able to save more anyway.
LOL, winning $1,001 does look good! I would just go ahead and use all of that money to pay down my student loan.
I entered… and then read that it was only open to Americans. Boo that.
By the time the money is awarded I will have paid off my consumer debt, so it won’t be going to that! Instead I’d take the money and use it to open up a discount investment account so I can work on building up some real wealth!
It would go straight into the honeymoon fund! So far we have enough to go camping. We’d like to take it up a notch and maybe rent a cottage? Here’s to hoping!
I entered, thanks for the head’s up! I would throw every single penny at my mortgage principal. Boring? Sure. But I’m focused pretty intensely at the moment on paying that big boy off. Even started selling a few things on the ‘bay to send as much extra in every month as possible.
I would use it on myself. I feel like I need a little splurge.
I would also break up the winnings:
1. First, I would purchase the DSLR camera that I have been eyeing up for the past 9 months. This DSLR could actually bring in income too as I would use it as my ‘side hussle’ and sell my prints and my time as I got more comfortable with the camera
2. Additional cash would go into the student loans. I am working towards paying the highest interest loan off so I can put that monthly payment towards the lower interest rate loans
3. Will purchase a little something for myself, such as a new shirt/pair of shoes – limited to 100$ at most.
I would stick to this, as it is now in writing =-)
I’d put it into the emergency fund that we had to dip into recently for an emergency and is now sitting at 13 dollars.
Like Jaimie – I’d put that $$ toward my student loan – the private one with the crazy high interest rate! $1001 won’t be enough to pay it off in full, but it would definitely help me get out of my parent’s basement faster!
$200 to charity
$500 towards an extra car payment
$301 towards fun dinners on our upcoming vacation (we’re going to Vietnam where that should buy a lot of delicious food!)
I’d put it all towards a house down payment. I’ve literally been throwing any extra money into savings for it…I even mistakenly put my laundry money in savings. Looks like I’m old school hand-washing for now.
$500 would go to my vacation fund – I’m saving up to hike the Inca Trail to Macchu Picchu in the next year or two! I’d make an extra car payment to the tune of $300 or so, and the rest would help update my wardrobe – I’m in serious need of some new clothes!
I would definitely do all of the above. As much as I like to dream about blowing cash on random fun stuff, the accountant in me won’t let me be dumb with money. :-)
Pay for practice management, online therapy software, & phone for a year then get to shrinkin’ :)
Don’t stress J$, you can’t actually open a 529 till the kiddo has a social security number :)
That being said, all $1001 is going into my own kids’ 529s!!!
First of all, I don’t think the 13th makes today less lucky – it makes it MORE lucky (one man’s trash is another man’s treasure…). Second, with $1K, I’d save it for our business. We’re trying to save up to start something, and it’s a long way off (money wise) from being funded by us alone, but we’re going to do it anyway, God willing.
I entered! I’d put all $1,001 towards my car loan. Not fun, but necessary!
I’m currently unemployed with a scant two months left in my emergency fund. An extra $1,000 plus the small gigs I’m able to get would give me another month!
If I was employed, I’d still toss it all into my emergency fund. Working on getting that to $10,000!
I just finished paying off my car loan ::yay:: so I guess I’ll put it back into savings to help build that back up again. Also, I’d probably buy a garage door opener since there has been a rash of car break-in’s in my area and I should save money by trying to prevent a car break-in!
I would take $300 to put towards a trip that we are taking in a few weeks and the rest I would be putting in a savings account to help me towards my goal of a 3 month emergency fund. I currently have 5k more to go for that goal!
I would have to split it $500 in the down payment for a house fund and $500 in the wedding fund. We’re getting married next fall and I would love it if we could save enough to buy a house around the same time!
Then I have to admit that $1 towards a lotto ticket sounds like a good plan to me. I’m a scratch-off gal though.
Well as I have a trip to Vegas coming up, I’d definitely use it to go a little wild. I’m normally extremely cheap and tight with my money, so I think I deserve to have a little fun for once without feeling guilty.
I give most smaller windfalls to charity. I have a new favorite charity (http://calebspennies.org/ The story breaks my heart as a dad of a 2-year old.) so I would give $501 to that and $500 to my wife for her to get some much needed relaxation.
Hopefully, I’d use around half of it to finish off my financial goals for 2012. Then either save, invest or spend the rest. :-) You never really know for sure, but it sounds good.
$300 for school
$500 in savings
$300 for bills
Good luck to those who entered.
Student Loans – I’m already ahead of schedule on my goals for paying this year (I’ll be under $10,000 by December of this year – WOOT!) but it would be awesome to knock out another $1,001.
i’d put it in savings, woohoo! not that exciting…but i am half way through saving up 6 months of living expenses, and that would help. plus i’d get to quit my side hustle sooner, and that IS exciting!
That entire $1,001 would go into the baby fund to pay for day care. I can guarantee that would happen because infant day care is scary expensive!
Hmmm… I’d probably add about $100-200 to my Kiva account, and put the rest in my savings account to put toward a downpayment on a new car.
13 has always been a good luck number for me so I’m taking a chance. Anyway I would definitely do all you are doing except a little different. The chairty thing I would give to those I support now, I support ASPCA, Autism Speaks (my son was dx @ 3yo), and meals on wheels. As for the trip part I would go some place local with the kids as our first family vacation, maybe Viriginia or Mrytle beach for a long weekend. I like scratch off bingo so I need to use $2 instead of $1 :-)
I would accept a job offer I have been toying with in another state and completely get up and move. I have lived where I do now for long enough to know the other job will give me stability which I so desperately need in order to finish school. I wouldn’t wait to move, I would put in my two weeks and just leave. With whatever is leftover I would buy some lottery tickets or something fun, because I never get to do that :)
Ooh, lots of ideas. I’d take $500 and open a roth IRA. Probably put the remainder towards our medical debt.
I would take $500 and split it amongst my 2 boys’ savings accounts.
$200 would go toward this Garmin GPS running watch I’ve got my eye on (1/2 marathon is in 5 months! AHHH!!)
and then $301 would be for a weekend getaway for me and the family to go somewhere in CO during the summer…
I would put it into savings, either by putting it into my savings accounts, social lending, or investing in DRIPs
I think I would fall in the ranks and end up putting $500 in my daughter’s 529. Hubs and I can split the other $500! I’m thinking about a job change and need to update my wardrobe so my half would end up going toward some clothes. Even though I can’t guarantee where The Hubs would end up spending it, I can almost guarantee that he would use it toward something SCCA related for autocrossing. Gotta love my gearhead.
We’ve been doing well on our budget and other financial goals. I’d give it to my husband for splurging. He’s a spender by nature but has been so good at not spending. He wants to build a computer.
Put it towards my bathroom remodels. I need all the help I can get.
For me:
Part to medical bill preparedness – DH has cancer, and that ain’t cheap
Part to mortgage prepayment – cancer diagnosis right as about to get life insurance = Screwed
A little bit for a nice dinner
I’d use it to increase our own “Cash Rewards” 100 Times Face Value project (none redeemed so far!) by adding 5 new eligible $1 bills to our REWARD gallery at http://bit.ly/rATHYU and keeping the remaining funds available to pay winners.
$100 to my favorite charity Carolina Poodle Rescue
The rest towards my 6month emergency fund; currently I only have $2419.06 to go!
The first word that comes to mind is diversity. I am a 1st year MBA student and I have learned that diversity is the best investment. You should never have all your eggs in one basket. This has been proven with the stock crashes and the more recent real estate collapse. I am also a person with emotions and money brings out feelings like when you get a big bonus, when you lose a job or when you are able to help out someone financial.
If I would be given $1,001.00 I would save, spend, give and invest. My plan would look like this:
$200 savings (this would empower me; give me a sense of accomplishment)
$200 donation $100 charity and with the other $100 I would go to http://www.indiegogo.com to donate to someone
$200 bonds variety
$200 stocks variety
$100 smell the flowers enjoy a nice dinner with my family.
I hope whoever gets it spends, saves and invests.
I would put it towards my last credit card!
I really want to take my mom out for some rejuvenation therapy! She’s been working so hard, and misses me. So, I would use it take her to a bed and breakfast or something like that.
I’ve got under 2k to go on my car loan so it would all go towards that.
I would use it to pay off my second to last student loan–I currently owe 1,074 so I’d throw in an extra 73 dollars to pay it off this month. (Otherwise, it will be paid off in July.)
I’d use it all for an extra week of paternity leave for my husband. I think he deserves it, and since it’s unpaid, $1,0001 could help a lot in the missed income!
Hopefully it would be a good investment for my baby son in gold till he is 18.
I would probably split it between my IRA and paying down debt.
I would spread it out a bunch probably… I would tithe to my church. I would save $250 at bare minimum. I would set aside $100 for craft supplies for my kids over the next couple of months. $300 or so to our credit card. And probably just be boring and save the rest, seeing as my 2 year old is getting ready to turn 3… I’m sure the rest of that money could be put towards snack foods for the party and other fun stuff in the coming months!
It would all go towards paying off a credit card.
I would give $300 to my mom to assist with paying her bills, $300 towards an extra car payment, $300 towards vacation (might have to be a stay-cation, or near-cation), $100 towards a few charities/fundraising, and I like the idea of $1 towards a lotto ticket! (I know, the odds are not in my favor, but it only takes one, to win!)
Debt… this would make a nice dent in what’s left! Quite positive it’d actually get used for that.
I’d but $1000 toward the remaining $2000 owing on my car loan and buy a lottery ticket with the remaining $1!!
Well, $1001 is a tidy little sum!
I’d throw it into my investment mix with USAA:
$500 to my emergency fund
$400 to my other funds, split
$101 to me, for some things I need but haven’t bought, due to unemployment
I’d put it towards my last student loan. Paid off 2/3 so far. If all goes as planned, I’ll have ’em all paid off during the first year of repayment, saving myself about $3K in interest over the next 9 years. Woot! Then take the money I was putting towards the SL bill & probably toss it at Roth IRAs or upping my 403(b) contributions.
I’d likely go with putting it in the bank for savings. My car is on its last legs, and I’m trying to pay it off before it dies entirely – and having 1k would make me feel a lot better about a down payment.
I would dump it all into our house fund.
Such a nice giveaway.
I’d put all $1001 in my car fund. I’d love to have more savings for when I buy a new car (the day will be coming up at some point soon…)
Finish building our emergency fund and then play off bills. I mean, I know it’s not fun, but I think about the decrease in stress that would come from having less bills and that to me is exciting haha.
These are great guys! I hope one of you wins it so we can put that “social experiment” to test and see if you REALLY indeed do what you say you would ;) May the best dreamer win!
@Wendy – Oh no! We gotta get you to start an account! Maybe try for $10/mo in there to get going?
@Stephanie (commenter #6) – Ouch, yeah – that would be hard for me too!
@Yardwork – Hey, you gotta do what you gotta do – especially when you know yourself so well like that. Though, I suppose you could always just cut up the card too? Congrats on having it almost all gone right now, you’re getting closer! :)
@Cassie – Oh really? I didn’t even catch that, sorry :( If I win the money, and then the lottery after placing my $1 into it, I’ll give you a bit of the winnings – how does that sound? :)
@Frugal Fries – Haha… that would be nice indeed :)
@Money Gazette – I struggle with doing the same myself. But since I already put in $2k extra every month, I figure I have to have some different kind of fun w/ my winnings ;)
@Kristin – Haha, this is true! I wonder if you could write off your camera too if you made money from your prints/etc? I bet you could cuz it would be a business expense since you make money and all that… so you’d win twice ;)
@Miriam – Oh no, what happened?!
@Cristina – Would that last $1 be for dessert? ;)
@Rachel – FUN!!!
@Cate – Oh really? Good to know! And awesome you’d plop it into 529s too :)
@Sarah – Yikes! I hope you win it then!! :)
@Cheryl – Me too – scratchers are so much more fun :) Congrats on the up and coming nuptials! (I love that word)
@SMB – Right? It’s so hard to do, huh? I have trouble all the time trying to “let loose” a bit w/ money… def. makes it easier when it’s free though :)
@Nick – That charity looks so good! Love the name! :)
@maranda – Haha… so you want to quit your side hustle more than your day job? Usually it’s the other way around :)
@Stephanie (commenter #34) – Love Kiva! Great idea for sure :)
@jesort415 – I’m sorry to hear that about your son :( Great great charities for sure, though.
@LB – Awesome!!!! Two new adventures all rolled up into one – I’d totally do the same, congrats!
@Stephanie (commenter #40) – Love your blog name! Couldn’t access it cuz it’s private, but the title def. caught my attention :)
@Sonja J – That’s so sad about DH, I’m sorry to hear :(
@richard@moneygraffiti.com – Do you know what the odds are of someone finding one of those? I’d be surprised if you got ONE redeemed in the next 20 years ;) Now if you put your website on it?? Oh yeah – a TON more would come forward… maybe you could do that with your second batch?
@Kelly – I like it! Diversification IS good :)
@Laura – Woohoo! You’re almost there!
@SavvyFinancialLatina – Awwwww, that’s one of the sweetest things I’ve heard so far here :) Good one!
@Pops – There you go! I’d love to have been given gold at 18 :)
@Elisa J – Heck yeah. And if you already won the $1,001? The odds gotta be a lot more in your favor I think :)
@skrpune – You’ve got a damn good plan over there regardless if you won the money :) Keep it up!
@Melissa (Miss Lissy) – Heck yeah, no shame in that :) Your $1,001 buys you ease of mind – who doesn’t like that?
J. Money, you ask, “… Do you know what the odds are of someone finding one of those? I’d be surprised if you got ONE redeemed in the next 20 years ;) Now if you put your website on it?? Oh yeah – a TON more would come forward… maybe you could do that with your second batch”
Simple answer, we’d love to, but that would be a major no-no because though writing on money per se apparently is not illegal, any kind of ADVERTISING on it IS, most explicitly. And that would definitely be advertising. So we have to keep trying to get the word out in other ways. And BTW, we’d love for some statisticians to calculate the odds as they are now, even without putting our $1,001.00 winnings into the kitty, haha. Maybe worthy of a future blog . . .
Hmm… you may have a point there ;) Just really hard cuz the odds that someone a) knows about your website and b) finds one of the dollars and then c) REMEMBERS that you have this game going on are all SO very highly unlikely. Which sucks, cuz it’s a brilliant project.
You know about this way more than I do, but how does WheresGeorge get around it? The bills I’ve found from their site has their name/url stamped on it. Maybe they’re just risking not getting caught?
I would use it fix a broken window some punks in the neighborhood broke :\
Dunno how WheresGeorge gets around it. In an article I read, the founder said that the Feds came down on them for selling rubber stamps but once they stopped doing that all was OK. For us, what it will take is for Letterman, Kimmel or Leno to ask their audience to look in their wallets, that will raise awareness a millionfold and we’ll start to see bills redeemed, at which point we can put more into circulation. It’s a numbers game. We have to be able to back all our potential payoffs out there right now, which I calculate is upwards of $7,000. That’s why knowing the odds–for real–would be helpful.
I officially entered! But I wanted to share my answer here.
$200: Put into my work from home fund. I want to use my creative talents in a variety of ways to earn income on my own terms. Designing fabric, teaching classes, running a shop…I am developing a lot of ideas and could use an extra push (financially).
$800: Put towards outstanding debts. They are relatively small, but they could be smaller.
$1: Walk down the street and buy an ice cream sandwich to split with my daughter.
@FB – That is messed up!! I hate disrespectful people.
@richard @ moneygraffiti.com – True true…. well, it’s a valiant effort, that’s for sure! Happy to keep spreading the word for y’all and supporting you – I’m a big fan :)
@Daydream Kate – Awwww, love that last one! And the 1st one too :) And, well, also the $800 one, haha…. okay, so I love them all!
Thanks as always for your kinds words, J. It would be terrific if the very first “reward” bill we redeem were to come from one of your readers! Meanwhile, eager to know who wins the $1,001.
$250 on my car loan
$500 on my student loan
$150 for something fun like new shoes and a spa day
$151 one of my savings goals (probably school costs)
I am going to start school back in the fall full time, so I’d use it for that :)
@richard @ moneygraffiti.com – Yeah! Or even from me! :) I don’t think that $1,001 is done yet – I wanna say we have another week left to find out still?
@michelle – I like the shoes idea :) It’s always soooooooo hard for me to spend $ on shoes – sometimes I wish I didn’t care so I could get the ones I really wanted! Hehe…
@Devin – Awesome plan! Congrats on going back :)
Natch, you’re as eligible as anyone else, J.! Wish that we could put more into circulation to up the odds–but it’s a start. BTW, I wonder if that one-shot bill from Opie and Anthony ever got found?
I don’t know! That’s an excellent question – I wonder too? Those odds are even crazy higher!
I asked Opie and Anthony on their facebook page about that bill. No reply. And you’re so right; the odds on that are astronomical since you’d have to read the serial number on every bill you get (and who knows what that bill’s serial number was?) Our odds are tremendously better, haha.
$50 to get a hair cut, I hven’t had one in over a year.
$50 to boyfriend, so he can get something, too.
$901 to pay off a debt that will free up $100 for our debt snowball every month.
@richard @ moneygraffiti.com – Cool! Let me know if they ever respond :)
@Sharon V – AWESOME!!! Would be nice if you won :)
Congrats on winning! Enjoy the B&B :)
Thanks!!! I was shocked :) New post coming out with it later too – woo!
Am I to infer that J. Money won the $1,001.? If so, congrats!–and how did Jeff McJunkin hear about it? If not, who will make the official announcement and where? BTW, never heard from Opie and Anthony about their $1,000. throwaway bill despite 2 posts to their Facebook page.
I did – can you believe that?? Luckiest thing I’ve ever won! :)
Ramit just blogged about it here:
http://www.iwillteachyoutoberich.com/blog/1001-contest-winner-and-twitter-posts/
Sucks about Opie and them not responding, but hopefully they mention something one day so we can all be kept in the loop… I’ll be blogging about winning this $1,001 soon, woohoo!