by Sarah Miley

STAFF WRITER

To spend or not to spend? That is the question many people, including myself, have been asking ever since the government passed the economic stimulus package earlier this year.

In an attempt to resuscitate an injured economy, the government has decided to award tax-paying citizens varying amounts of money. For my husband and I, that means an extra $1,200 that we're expected to spend on a flat screen TV, patio furniture or a vacation.

If it were solely up to me -- which it's not -- I'd take the patio furniture and a vacation. If it were solely up to my husband -- which it's not -- he'd put all of it in the bank. So it looks like we'll compromise.

While the tax rebate is meant to stimulate the economy, I must confess that over the last several months I've done my fair share to pull us out of a looming recession. In January, we bought a house, which inevitably forced me to purchase things I never needed in an apartment -- a rake, shovel, curtains, etc. It seems each day brings a new repair -- broken hot tub, garage door -- requiring a new purchase.

I must admit, though, that my favorite purchase is a sectional for our living room that should be arriving any day now. The sectional -- which our $1,200 will more than cover when we put it in the bank -- will mean our living room will no longer be a smorgasbord of furniture resembling a college dorm room -- purple papasan chair, speckled two-seater sofa and hard folding chairs when we have more than just a few people over.

With these recent purchases made, my husband is already talking about putting every penny of our one-time payment from the government into our savings account. He is addicted to saving money. He loves saving money so much that he lives off of teriyaki chicken ramen noodles smothered in sauce from free Taco Bell packets for a grand total of 10 cents for dinner.

While the government has already begun pouring money into bank accounts across the country, we will be among the last to receive ours since the last two digits of his social security number are much higher than the last two of mine. In addition, we have to wait for snail mail to deliver our stimulus.

I can guarantee I'll be checking the mailbox diligently until it arrives.

I suppose with the higher cost of gas, oil and food, the money we're all getting will just offset those expenses, meaning the consumer spending the government is hoping for may never materialize.

But who knows, maybe my husband will splurge and lay off the ramen noodles for a few days and spend a couple more cents on something like, I don't know, a spaghetti dinner.

swest@tooeletranscript.com