We have officially spent our stimulus money! Since my first post on this – A Corona Stimulus Well Spent: How We’ve Spent our Stimulus Money, we have managed to spend the rest. When you’re frugal and only shop with a purpose it can take a little longer to burn through $3400 than you’d think.
As outlined in the original post, we had only spent $886 of our stimulus money. This post will outline how we used the rest. And yes, I still consider this to be a stimulus well spent!
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HOW WE SPENT THE MONEY
This stimulus was well-spent in a lot of different ways! Let’s break it down some.
IMPROVEMENTS TO A LIFE ON A DIME
I invested more in my site. A lot more. I upgraded from shared hosting with my old service to self-hosted with Lyrical Host. It was so worth it! My site speed and performance have improved tremendously and their customer service and tech support are top-notch!
In addition, I also invested in some professional graphic design; I turned to the wonderful Pam at Highheels+Highchairs to create my new logo as well as graphics for the launch of my budget coaching services.
She also created Pinterest templates for me, which save me so much time. They are also far better than what I could come up with on my own.
And that’s not even all! I also invested in the legal disclosures and the Amelia app. This enables you to schedule budget coaching services without leaving my site. It’s pretty cool with PayPal, Zoom, and Google Calendar integrated.
Oh, and one more way this stimulus was well spent on the site; I got Mediavine Grow for my social buttons. They’re so pretty! It’s customizable and works so much better with my new theme. The theme was free.
All said and done, I invested just over $500.00 on the blog. I likely won’t invest any more money until it is time to renew hosting services. This is money I definitely wouldn’t have been able to pull from the regular monthly budget!
LOTS OF TAKEOUT
We enjoyed “stimulating the local economy” by ordering takeout from some of our favorite local joints on pretty much a weekly basis. This has been enjoyable, I may or may have not gained a few pounds over the last few months.
Unfortunately, this has also left us with more trash as even after the Styrofoam ban in one local town none of the plastic containers are accepted for recycling around here. Seems a bit counterproductive to me…
A FEW NEW THINGS FOR THE HOUSE
I finally ordered blinds for our naked living room windows. It is so nice to block the sun when you sit on the couch in the afternoon and not be able to see straight through the house at night!
After getting a local quote that was too steep for us I lucked upon a 50% off Memorial Day sale online. I managed to get both large windows covered for $205 with tax. And, the company we went with didn’t charge $30 to place the wand on the opposite side.
We also ordered a storm door with a retractable screen. We’re really excited about this one! Our house has rustic red and charcoal gray metal siding exterior. We have a bright blue front door and the storm door is black.
The door was installed two days before this post was scheduled to publish! The storm door set us back about $500.00. The cat is clearly a fan as well, nosy thing! I still have to clean the glass.
And lastly, we bought a second-generation fire stick to replace our first-generation one on our living room TV. We didn’t trade it in; it may be quirky but it still works and now we can watch Disney+ (Marvel) in our room.
It was worth the $40; our old one overheats occasionally, so I think occasional use will suit it much better! It also curbs the urge to buy a newer smart TV. You’d think they’d be smart enough to download more apps…
SOME CLOTHES
We treated ourselves to a new outfit each and a few other odds and ends. I won’t bore you with all of that. We spent about $260 on clothing.
MORE OUTDOOR PROJECTS
The handy hubby stained the fence addition to finish out that project and built the lean-to on the side of the storage barn. The front porch looks much better without a lawn mower parked on it! He purchased metal for the roof as well as concrete and boards, but was able to use left over paint.
He also bought concrete and posts to give the dog a proper run. They are all in the ground and as I write this post he is staining them. Web wire for the fence and the materials for the gate will be done next.
He is also going to build a small structure to provide shade. I picture it as a smaller scale loafing shed of some sort. The dog run is key because it will enable us to get chickens next year! We can’t have a dog chasing chickens around all the time!
So far the dog run project has set us back about $165. That leaves just over $100 to go toward the materials for the gate as well as the wire fencing.
ALL IN ALL, I CALL IT A STIMULUS WELL SPENT
We were able to cross quite a few projects off our list and really put our stamp on the property. It would’ve taken a lot longer to accomplish any of these things with our regular monthly budget.
Which brings me to the issue of a second stimulus; if you live in the US do you think we will be getting another one later this summer? There are currently lots of ideas floating around and direct payment is something the Executive branch supports.
Don’t get me wrong, I love what we’ve been able to do with our stimulus money, but it won’t hurt my feelings one bit if we don’t qualify for a second. I think families whose finances have been directly affected by COVID-19 should absolutely get assistance during this time.
I just can’t help but wonder who is ultimately paying for all of this, and believe the burden will eventually be on the shoulders of our children. So while I could probably find a way to put a second stimulus to use, we should be just fine without one.
Hi, I really enjoyed your post and that was a stimulus well spent indeed. I really love the blinds and the door 🥰. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for reading Rebekah!
Whoop, welcome to Lyrical Host, they are absolutely amazing, aren’t they! And this was such a good list of stimulus spending, I think you’ve really squeezed out everything you could to the max 🙂 I love your new logo, it looks so professional. And your blinds are fab – we got some recently too and they make such a difference, the filtered light they give is lovely 🙂 Lisa
They really are amazing! I ask them a question and they offer to take care of it every time! I love my logo too! Thank you, I love my new logo too! Blinds are so nice! And I don’t have to worry about the wood stove like I would with curtains. We sure tried to get the most bang for our buck!
We used ours for home improvements as well! It was a little relief that we didn’t have to use our savings and was able to cross them off the list! Great job Cassie!
Yeah! I’m curious what you got done!
Looks like you guys really got to do a lot with it! That’s awesome. Hopefully all the blog investment ends up helping out. I’ve been investing a bit into it lately, and am probably going to pause that for a while.
Definitely slowing down! I did upgrade to Canva Pro, but it was time. I started out the cheapo route and my site speed and views showed it! Things are improving though!
Sounds like you got a lot out of your investments! I hope your blog succeeds further with all this investment. I am with lyrical too and I love it!
Em | http://www.loveemblog.com
They are just the best, aren’t they?
It sounds like you spent that money really well! So nice to get all of those projects done too, I bet! I’ve been lucky to still have my job (up here in Canada) so haven’t qualified for the government support, but am glad that it’s been there for so many people who’ve been impacted by this year.
Thankfully we weren’t affected too badly. The handy hubby works weekends at a retail store, which was closed for two months, but we were able to make it without the additional income for that short amount of time. It also gave him more time to work on all those projects!
The home improvements look great. Seems like you put the money to really good use. We bought a stove, which was perfect because ours had been broken for months, and then I did the most boring thing imaginable with the rest: put it toward the mortgage. Thanks for sharing.
We debated putting some toward the mortgage, but it’ll be easier to pay it down faster since we refinanced. I can’t imagine going months without my stove! Glad you were able to replace yours!
They are some really great ways of spending the money. I’ve heard so many good things about Lyrical Host.
They’re amazing! I didn’t lift a finger for the migration after I gave them access. They will even implement new themes for you and tweak them until you’re satisfied before going live with it. I got excited and did it myself, but they went back and fixed some of the kinks I couldn’t work out. And they recently changed and redirected my permalinks. No more dates! If you’re ever interested in switching I have a discount code.
Sounds like you guys have been busy! My partner and I are still not working. We both work in tourism in Hawaii where the 14-day quarantine for everyone coming into the islands has been extended until at least Sept. 1, but likely longer. That means no tourism for the near future. So while I would’ve liked to have used my stimulus to help do my part to bolster the local economy, I ferreted the money away in my emergency fund so I can hunker down the next few months with no work. I too worry where the money is coming from though, and have concerns about that.
Oh no! I’m so sorry you’ve been out of work! But I’m very glad to hear you have an emergency fund! You’re actually the second blogger in Hawaii I’ve “met” now! I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a mental list going on what to do if we get a second stimulus, but I’d rather it just focus on extending unemployment benefits and helping those directly affected by COVID. We’ll be alright without more money.
I definitely agree that your stimulus check was well spent! I like how you invested in your blog – I did the same during quarantine. I upgraded to Canva pro, purchased a new theme, and invested in a couple of blogging courses!
Much love always,
GABBY | http://www.gabbyabigaill.com
I ended up going for Canva Pro as well, but didn’t spend stimulus funds on that. I’d used and canceled about as many free trials as I could! It was just time. Thank you for reading!
This is such a great post. I am sure many people just blew their stimulus money instead of investing it or saving it for something that really matters! Thanks for sharing!
I’m with Lyrical Host too and it’s definitely money well spent.
Yes! They are so helpful! They’re even changing my permalinks for me and writing redirect rules so I don’t have to use a plugin! They’re awesome!
Those are such responsible ways to spend your stimulus check! It can be tempting to blow all that money on something flashy but I like how you used it for useful things you needed! 🙂
Thank you! We almost knocked off all the projects on our list!
You guys built so much cool stuff!
I went back to check on where the $1700 I got for me and the kiddo went. And as far as I can tell… we didn’t do much of anything. I made some extra buys into my IRA, but that’s about it. I do remember a whole lot of takeout as well.
Great job on tracking everything so meticulously!
Hey, that takeout was “stimulating the local economy!” We did plenty of that too! And any extra money sent to your IRA is awesome!
I’d for sure say that this was a stimulus well spent! Looks like you got things you needed and wanted. A great combination!
Yes! And got most of the projects on our list done as a bonus! The rest we will just work into the budget over time.