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Where is your tax rebate going?

Single Mom seeking economic stimulus

by Rachel Sarah  |  696 views  |  8 comments  |        Rate this now! 

If your “Economic Stimulus Payment Notice” has not come in the mail yet, it might be on the way. More than 130 million American households are getting rebates, and I just found out that $600 is on its way to yours truly.

Here's where my rebate will be going: my car.

Yesterday, I brought my car in for its 30,000 mile tune up. When I left, I'd added a total of $717.67 on my credit card. Dang.

I felt like I needed an oil change after that.

BabyCenter blogger Beth Hering explains in "How will you spend your tax rebate?" that according to the Chicago Tribune, the general breakdown is $600 for individuals earning $75,000 or less, and $1,200 for couples earning $150,000 or less. Additionally, you'll get $300 for each dependent child.

For a single mom like me, what to with my rebate is a no-brainer. No, it's not going towards those new hot leather sandals. In her recent post, "What to Do With Your $600 Tax Rebate?" About.com's Jennifer Wolf says, "I understand that the purpose of this plan is to get more money into the hands of American families so that more cash can be pumped into our economy."

But before you buy that big screen TV, Wolf asks single parents to pause and ask: Do you have any outstanding bills that need to be paid?

Good question. In fact, I cut our cable plan to the cheapie "limited" schedule in order to save some cash right now. My car registration is up for renewal, not to mention the balance on my credit card I need to pay off.

(By the way, if you're in the middle of a divorce, make sure that you've crossed all your Ts when it comes to taxes.)

As a single parent, putting that extra cash in an emergency savings fund is a smart idea. Or, maybe you can start saving up for your child's summer camp? I am.

Do tell: Where is your rebate going?

About the Author

Rachel Sarah is the author of "Single Mom Seeking: Play Dates, Blind Dates, and Other Dispatches from the Dating World" and the single-mom columnist at Lifetime TV. She blogs at Singlemomseeking.com.

Read more by Rachel Sarah

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8 comments so far...

  • We are not going to be stimulated by Uncle Sam and I'm bitter. If we were in a position for a rebate it would be half to savings and half on summer fun.

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by klg on 22nd April 2008

  • We have a strict no-credit policy in our household, so we are hoping to use our stimulus to purchase some items for our yard that we have been waiting for! We need to do a little excavation work and put up a play-set for the kids. Granted, we could have done this already and then paid it off when the check arrives, but its not a necessity so that was out of the question. We also will be taking the car in for the full-tune up. I'd love to go shopping, but feel that our kids play yard is much more important... not to mention sanity saving for me this summer!

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by Yes, Mommy has to work today on 21st April 2008

  • Lucky for us people with BIG families, we are looking forward to a nice size paycheck from Uncle Sam. But like everyone else - it won't be going to buy new clothes, sandals, TVs or anything of the like to stimulate the economy.

    We, like everyone else, have large expenses and that money will be going to paying down the bills and savings! We have summer camp, credit cards, 2 summer weddings and most of all - we need it for GAS to get my husband back and forth to a job that snatches $300/wk from our income. Go figure.

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by caramelsugarberry38 on 21st April 2008

  • Tax rebate..yeah right, that would be nice!! Sorry, I am still angry and bitter about that huge check I had to write this week!!!

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by Evansmom on 17th April 2008

  • We are also paying down our debt - credit cards.

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by Blarney on 16th April 2008

  • Unfortunately, due to some old investment items that we have to count as income for 2007 even though we didn't receive it last year, we aren't getting a tax rebate. Instead we had to write Uncle Sam a big, fat check. Maybe next year, if it's repeated...

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by Jamie AZ on 16th April 2008

  • Us too, mamajama! Nope, we won't be among the millions out buying fun stuff, er, I mean, stimulating the economy.

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by Diane on 16th April 2008

  • We're paying bills with ours. Yep...credit card balance is going to be almost nonexistant...yesssss!

    Flag as inappropriate Posted by mamajama on 16th April 2008

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