Maybe the title was a little dramatic. Oh well.

Next Saturday, my paycheck will contain an extra $500 or so - thanks to my second job - that I planned to use to buy an iPad. However, a comment from Dee on my previous post got me thinking. Although I’ve been saving for an iPad for awhile now, maybe this isn’t the right time to buy one. While part of me wants to dismiss this line of thought, another part really wonders if I should wait awhile longer. I figure I have three choices in this situation:

1. I buy the iPad. This will allow me to blog, websurf, pay bills, keep up with my bank account, and (I’ll admit it) play Words with Friends without draining my phone battery 100 times a day. I won’t have to fight my son for the desktop computer at home anymore. I’ll be able to take notes in meetings at work without a million pieces of paper in my purse and on my desk. The best part is that this money isn’t part of my budget - the point of the second job is having money that I can spend or save as I see fit, since every other dime is budgeted so carefully. If I choose the iPad, future earnings from the second job will be used toward debt and savings.
2. I use the money toward my Dell credit card. $500 paid on my final credit card balance means I would be completely out of credit card debt by July instead of November. I would then roll the $130 I’ve been paying on credit cards into my car payment, paying the car off about 1.5 years early. If I choose the Dell card, I’ll be out of debt sooner than I thought.
3. I put the money in savings. I could put the entire $500 in my emergency fund, or I could split it among the e-fund, vacation fund, and Roth IRA. This would get me closer to meeting the target dates I set when I stopped being afraid of goals. If I choose savings, I’ll have more options in case something catastrophic happens.

I can find good and bad points in all three scenarios, so I’ve decided it’s up to you guys. Vote in the poll below and let me know what I need to do!