What Can You Do With $1,000?
It used to be that $1,000 was a good amount of money. Then again, it used to be 1980 once too.
Certainly time and inflation have eroded the value of what one grand can buy, but Kiplinger's says there are still several useful things $1,000 can do. Their list supposedly contains 37 "new" tips on what to do with $1k, but they read like a who's who of tried-and-true tips: invest it, save in a 529, give to charity, yada, yada, yada. In other words, we started yawning on tip #3.
That said, maybe some of the "best" ways to use $1,000 are the most basic -- saving it, investing it, using the money to pay down debt, and so on. If pressed to recommend what someone should do with an extra $1,000, these suggestions would probably be among the first we'd offer up.
But what would you do with $1,000? Anyone for something a bit more exciting or unusual like taking a unique trip, splurging, or starting a pretzel business?
What $1,000 Can Still Do [Kiplinger's]
— FREE MONEY FINANCE (Photo: Earth2Kim)
Post a comment
Comments:
Give it to the cat, as he/she's obviously enjoying it greatly.
OK, getting serious, I'd use it to help get a new car. Or a new used car, rather. Mine is getting up there.
I could also pay 2.5 months of rent, but I normally don't have a problem with that anyway.
Enter in the $1000 WSOP No-Limit holdem event.
Either that or simply, two chicks at once.
Try being creative with the $600 Bush gave you--now that's a challenge!
"I Am Rich" 2.0 app. Duh.
Donate to my favorite non-Republican candidate.
Realistically? Just putting it towards the last bits of medical debt I still have.
If I didn't have any outstanding debt? Maybe use it for a small vacation. Nothing too crazy (ie: out of the country). But with how things are anymore, spending $1,000 on "fun" things comes back and bites you later.
buy the receiver and a couple of the speakers for home theater system.
Probably pay down a debt - I have a few to choose from ;)
I thought $1000 was still a good amount of money. I'll be using mine that I get from my grant to help pay for school and to help pay for an cheap economical car. Wise and healthy spending and saving being the key.
fix the sweet dent in my car that a box truck just gave me
:(
"you mean other than 2 chicks at the same time"
I'd use part of it do the 100k mile maintenance on my car and the rest would go into savings.
@stanhubrio: You would donate that much money to someone who is already rich?
I'd go on a much deserved vacation, somewhere where the American media cant reach.
$1,000 doesn't cover the drink tab.
@Murph1908: I don't know about the kind of chicks that would be down for only $1K.
I would go with gamble/fun it away, unless you mean I earned the money through hard work and dedication. in that case I would be responsible with it.
I've always wanted to build my own computer. Especially since computer equipment is so cheap these days, I think $1000 could get some pretty good parts. Pretty geeky, yes, but my current computer is ~7 years old. Yeah, it's slow.
Either that or I would take a little mini vacation.
Buy Captain Duvel Moneycat approximately 250 bowls of Starbuck Oatmeal. Take pictures, share with others.
I'd invest in Euros.
@Lo-Pan: "I don't know about the kind of chicks that would be down for only $1K"
I do. They're all over Craigslist. Watch out for law enforcement!
If I gained a grant illicitly, clearly the only answer is hookers and blow. Thankfully I don't steal money so that won't be an issue.
buy the 5-9 & the 6-8, $100 on the line (back it up with $300), green chip the hard ways all around, $50 on the come & a $25 YOOOO!
*shake* *shake* *shake*
let's do this!
I'd buy groceries for needy-looking strangers at the grocery store.
That's my answer in my current mood. Most likely, though, I'd waste it on crap.
@lalaland13: The cat in the picture reminds me of an episode after our latest garage sale.
We had a large amount of dollar bills laid out in $5 piles as I was counting them. Our cat started scratching at them in a way that meant she was about to pee on the money.
As I picked up the cat and took her into a different room, my wife said "Mo money, mo problems."
Putting it towards home improvement. I could use a new back deck, or to put in a fence.
Vacation, debt, university tuition fees... I can think of a lot of things to do with $1000 that don't involve drinking it away.
Step 1: Buy 10 barrels of light, sweet crude
Step 2:
Step 3: Profit
At Chateau Montelena they have an article on the wall that says the same thing and in the top 10 list a guy recommended buying Montelena Cab futures...
That is what I would do.
@dinger_82: Great. Now I have to put the $1K in savings to cover the market wackyness that a private citizen buying 10 barrels of light, sweet crude would induce. It'll go up $3/barrel if an ant farts sideways in the middle east.
Seriously though...I would save it. Not to cover the cost of gas, but, as has been previously pointed out...you just never know when hookers & blow will be coming to your local craigslist pages... ;-)
Debt. But assuming I didn't have any debt, I'd probably buy some gaming systems (and games) and figure out all those little buttons on the XBox and PS3 controllers.
Our only debt is our mortgage and the last six months of a car loan, so I'd give a quarter each to 1) the local food bank and 2) Planned Parenthood. The rest I'd put in our travel account.
@dmuth:
Ahh, so you are a buy high, sell low kind of investor?
Dollar is low right now. Buying Euros will only make you lose money.
$1000USD? id buy euros :S
Well, I could make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl!
$1000 would buy new French doors for my living room to replace the current patio doors that leak air like a sieve, won't stay on the tracks, and won't lock. They would pay for themselves in one winter (by cutting a third off my $500 electric bills!)
Hookers, Blow and a bottle of Bacardi. It would be the best 15 min of my life.
@SkokieGuy: Buy Captain Duvel Moneycat approximately 250 bowls of Starbuck Oatmeal. Take pictures, share with others.
...heck with the rules; you get the +1 for my day.
@NoWin: There are rules? Says who? I'd like to make a rule that a gratuitous Mr. Moneycat reference be made at least once per day in the comment threads.
Put my soon-to-be mother-in-law on a plane destined for a country where English is not spoken.
I'd buy supplies for the local animal shelter. $1000 buys a lot of kitty litter.
I'd put new gutters on my house.
@tman996: Just because this is Consumerist.com, I'll give you some free advice: pass on the Tag Heueurs. They're tarted up crap. Also, buy something that DOESN'T require a battery.
Have my floors refinished. Or buy $1000 worth of heating oil in advance so I don't freeze to death come December. But right now the floor guy comes in two weeks, so I need to prioritize!
Da cat's a playa yo.
Wait a bit longer on the mortgage downturn, then buy 3 or 4 houses
- maybe turn a profit a bit later by selling a couple of them to McCain.
In my current situation? Straight to my credit card bill. I managed to rack up more than I would have liked during my year of unemployment (moving, groceries, and an ER trip will do that to you).
If that were (or when it is -- another 18 months!) paid off? I'd probably buy a new work wardrobe. I lost 35 pounds this year and I'm coming to work dressed like a clueless teenager of the baggy-pants era just because really nice office-wear is EXPENSIVE.
Smoke it up!