[The following is from Crystal at Budgeting in the Fun Stuff. That’s where she writes about her bills, saving for the future, and making sure to fit in fun stuff along the way.]
Earlier this week, someone asked what I would do if I had to spend $50. So I wouldn’t be allowed to save it or invest it. I’d just have to spend it within a day or two.
Leftovers from My Christmas List
Our parents and a few friends ask me for a Christmas list each year. So I put together a list of every affordable thing that I would want. This keeps them from spending on something that I rather not have, and it keeps me from filling up my house with stuff that I never intended to own.
This year, my list had a few garden gnomes left on it – specifically “Battle Gnomes”. The one I own looks like he is sneaking up on someone with a battle axe. I positioned him to go after another garden sculpture. The two that I have left to collect have different weapons and are in different poses and would cost just about $50.
Gambling
I live in Texas, so my gambling options are limited within the state. But if I wanted to take the shot to turn my $50 into something more, I could buy some lotto tickets or play bingo. The Powerball gets up to over $100,000,000 pots pretty often now, but I prefer something that takes me longer to play. So would bingo be the answer? There are several bingo halls in my area, and $50 would cover quite a few cards, maybe even over a few sittings. I’ve even heard of websites like Gala Bingo Online, so I could take a chance in my pajamas from the comfort of my own home computer. Keep an eye on their Twitter account too and you’ll see they regularly post offers and promotions to help the dollars go even further. Maybe giving you chance to try the games you usually wouldn’t bother with.
Activities
If I don’t want any more stuff, and I don’t want to gamble, I could look into paid activities that are in my area. A new indoor rock wall was just built 10 minutes away. I think I could afford one go on that and a couple of tickets to the downtown zoo for $50. Or my husband and I could do dinner and a movie. That usually falls into that range. Heck, we could just order pizza for the group and do a movie marathon at our place. That actually sounds like the winner to me.
How would you spend $50?