Cash Burn

My week of babysitting is officially over. I am jumping up and down in my mind. :-) My life is mine again, sort of. That is to say, as mine as having 4 children, including a teenager, tween, child, preschooler and a dog can be. We do have company arriving tomorrow, so I have quite a bit to be doing. Instead, I am sitting on a computer thinking of the countless ways I could spend the money I just earned. Not what I should spend the money on, but what I want. Do you know what I mean. There are so many things I SHOULD spend the money on, including savings. I am not going to list those important items for fear of guilt getting the best of me.

What I want is to decide what of the many different things I am listing I should get with my cash that seems to be burning a hole in my pocket. So for any of you who read this and care to share an opinion I am all ears.

Here are my options #1

We are very much due for a new coffee table. The one we use now is a piece that we got in student housing in college. Dumpster Diving is what we called it. :-) Now it has been painted Hunter Green with a stained top and at the moment it is black, but showing its wear. We got it almost 14 yrs ago. Little bit of an eye sore for me. This is furniture that I love. I have the bedroom suite and I love most of their designs. I would be thrilled to have my whole house done in this furniture. The nice thing is that it has interesting features that intrigues the DH. Hence, he often approves of the furniture, which is actually kind of a miracle.

#2

A dining room table. This is purely a want. We have one that we got for a steal at a yard sale. Probably the best deal, other than the dumpster diving. It is not my style, but it was a great price. This table will seat 10 when both leaves are in place. It is more my decor, but can't afford table and chairs. So downside would be no chairs to match. But beautiful table that would fit everyone at Christmas, Easter, Thanksgiving etc.

#3

The washer that we have is running on duct tape and a paperclip. It has broken 3 times in the last 3 months. Luckily the DH is a great Handyman and a kind of Maverick and puts it back together. Even he however, is unsure how it is working at the moment. It is due to die and not come back to life any minute. This is a little more practical. I do want a front load washer.

#4

Lastly a new dishwasher. Ours is the builder grade dishwasher that came with the house when it was built like 20 years ago. It works, not great, but it works. With 6 of us, we run this daily, at full capacity, I might add. How it would be to have one that actually cleaned the dirty dishes instead of cleaning the pre-cleaned dirty dishes. I hope you all understand, pre-cleaned dirty dishes. To use the dishwasher, we actually wash the dishes first and then load them in. Silly isn't it?

So these are my options, I am sure there could be many more, like a day at Wolf Lodge or clothes or many other items. Or savings, college funds etc.

I am trying to be slightly practical with my spending. I don't want to waste the money, I do want to contribute to things. This is my idea of compromise. Not to frivolously spend the money but to put it towards something that we don't necessarily need, but would be nice to replace the old item with something we like.

Which option do you think I should take?