Thursday, April 16, 2009

Splurges

Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.

Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?

(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)


Don’t forget to leave a link to your actual response (so people don’t have to go searching for it) in the comments—or if you prefer, leave your answers in the comments themselves!


As an unemployed person, I think about this issue a lot. I start many sentences with, "When I get a job, I'm going to buy..." At the moment, there are so many things that fall into that category of "lesser need" that I've had to let go. So today, none of my answers will be book-related. Here, instead, is a list of things I'd buy:

1. A washing machine. Due to some stupid drama with my upstairs neighbor, I can't use the one that's here anymore (because it's suddenly "his," never mind that he didn't care about us using it for a solid year until the one he was using broke). My landlord's going to help us pay for a used one. I've been on the lookout for someone selling a decent used one for a reasonable price that can deliver, but those sell as fast as they're posted.

2. A vet visit for my cat Molly. Why does she hiss and growl whenever we have people over? How come she frequently chooses to pee on the floor? How bad is her vision, anyway, and is there anything I should be doing for her? A vet may hold the answers to some of these questions.

3. New clothes. I'm so sick of all of mine.

4. New rims for my car, so my tires don't keep going flat and I can actually drive the stupid thing. Or new tires, or whatever it actually needs.

5. A dentist visit to get my teeth cleaned. Been a while. I promise to never, ever slack on that again when I'm employed. Ever.

6. A video card for my computer. When I play World of Warcraft, I like to raid, but getting in there with 24 other people just makes my computer cry. Raids would be less aggravating if they didn't look like slideshows.

7. A new couch. The one I'm using was cool in the 80s when my grandparents bought it. Less cool these days. Plus, it has wood on it that doesn't match any of the rest of my furniture, and it's only a loveseat.

8. A new chair. Ooooooohhhhhhh. Right now, I've got one that I purchased at Amvets several years ago. It wasn't all that great then. Now that it's faded further and the cats have clawed it up, I doubt even the bums in my neighborhood would be interested in it. I have it covered with a throw but it still offends the eyes. To make it even better, it's starting to fall apart. One of the "legs" (I guess they're more like supports, they're only about 3 inches tall) snapped off so it's a little wobbly. When you sit in it, you can hear every joint in it strain. I'm convinced it will just snap right in half someday soon. Why is it still around? My significant other absolutely loves it. He sits in it all the time. I can't get rid of it, I don't know what he'd do without it. So I need a new one that's less hideous and in better shape. I'm convinced I could get a better one for free on most trash days, but I have no way of getting it home.

9. A vacation. It would be so nice to get away from all this stupid crap listed above, too. While I have fantasies of making the trip to Hawaii or Egypt, I'd really just settle for somewhere I've never been before. Somewhere natural, like Maine or Arches National Park in Utah.

I guess there's no book-related stuff on this list, just because I don't buy them often. I've mentioned before that the Barnes and Noble giftcards tend to be a bit of a double-edged sword for me. I like getting them, but they also paralyze me and panic me. It's so rare that I buy books that I tend to give my purchases too much thought. Do I really want this book? Will I be glad I have it five years from now? How many times do I think I'll re-read it? Should I maybe just borrow it from the library first, because even though I've liked most of this author's other books, this one might suck? With an unexpected windfall, I'd rather get the rest of this stuff in my life taken care of first.