how do you deal with bonuses/extra money in your houshold? - Page 2

[mustangtbn]

It depends. Back when I was working full time so we had more money, and our savings goals were always met, I think roughly 30% went into extra payments on the mortgage, 30% went into retirement, 30% went into other investments and 10% was spending money. Also, bonuses were rare back then, maybe once a year.

Now, I'm working very part time, we have a tight budget and DH's salary structure is different, so his bonuses are a lot more common, but we also have to plan and use them for bills. Nowadays the first thing they go toward is shoring up savings, and it's been quite some time since we had any left over after that. But, if we did, we'd do a split similar to what we used to do, but now that there are no "other investments", it would be more like 10% spending, 30% retirement, 30% mortgage, and 30% towards saving for some high-priced items/projects we've been wanting and will likely never get because that money always ends up being needed for some other emergency.

[Literate]

We just put my bonus into the college funds.

[sanguine_speed]

Any extra money that comes in goes into a pot. We decide what it's for. Lately, any extra money has been saved toward our house that is being built. When DP gets pay raises, I am happy to encourage him to spend the difference of his first paycheque on himself. Last time, he bought a nice guitar.

[Belleweather]

Last year my bonus went to keeping our heads above water while I was on maternity leave. This year we'll probably have a fancy night out and put the rest into the emergency fund, because I'm nervous about the economy.

Generally, we take a little bit of that money for having fun and then put the rest toward savings. If we had no debt and 6 months living expenses in savings, I could totally see blowing it all on something fun though.

[Sailor]

Bonuses are fun money for us as well. But, we also don't have any debt. Not even a mortgage. So, we're in the clear on that front. And we put away monthly for our savings anyway.

We spend bonuses together. Both of us are minimalists, so we usually put bonuses aside for "experience" gifts. We don't like a lot of stuff. But, we LOVE to travel. So, any bonuses get put aside for adventure in the area of travel.

[Pinoikoi]

We don't get bonuses, but when we DO get money outside of our normal cash flow, we decide as a couple what to do with it.

This year, for example, we got extra big dividends and energy relief checks. We paid off a car, bought a RELIABLE vacuum (with a LONG warranty!), paid off some small debts (we don't carry big credit card balances), put some in the kids' college account, and saved some for holiday purchases..

[Contrariety]

... go out to dinner, hit a movie, buy an outfit... have some fun! That's precisely what we do when mad money hits our pockets. Sure, we could save it, but an occasional break from financial doldrums is much appreciated around here!

[Dandelionkid]

Never just his money. He somewhat thought it should be. I get two bonuses a year- went directly to debt. Dh was pretty astounded when he found out weeks after kinda a lightbulb moment for him.

[sofiabugmom]

When we had debt, we always applied his annual bonuses to it first. Once the debt was gone, DH and I took the amount, put 50% to savings and allocated the rest to household repairs, then to fun stuff for us individually and as a family.

But we always treated it as family money, not his money.

[texmati]

Just wanted to update-- i was shocked, hubby was like "I think we should just put it in the bank. (Unless, of course, somehow UT still makes it into the championship against OU and then he'd like to go to that game)." I was super impressed.

Sorry... I should have added-- We don't have any debt-- except the mortgage, which is a ton! , we've also maxed our retirements for this year, so we can't put it there, and our emergency fund is payed up to a point we are both comfortable with. We don't have any kiddos, so we are thinking now of just socking it away in the bank or putting it on the house.

I'm still thinking of doing something special for him-- he's had a tough year. But maybe more along the lines of muffins (from scratch!) and a massage... not a new tv.

[zinemama]

We give it away.

The way we figure it, this was unlooked for and we would have been fine without it. It's an opportunity to do some good.

[Amys1st]

Depends on how much it is. If its a few thousand or several thousand its one thing, but if its a few hundred dollars thats another.

[brooks97]

We usually split it three ways; paying bills, savings, and fun money.

[kdabbler]

Originally Posted by texmati

Just wanted to update-- i was shocked, hubby was like "I think we should just put it in the bank. (Unless, of course, somehow UT still makes it into the championship against OU and then he'd like to go to that game)." I was super impressed.

Cool!

If a large, unexpected bonus happened to us (I say, "us", because we pool our money), it would all depend where we are financially. If we had debt or upcoming bills, it would go to that. Next, we would probably look at our wish list of big purchases: new mattress, windows, any house reno needs (we live in an OLD house). Then, there's always vacation that it could pay for.

Sounds like he might have a trip coming