What are Idahoans doing with their stimulus checks? Paying bills, buying local and more
Hundreds of thousands of Idahoans are about to get, or have already received, $1,200 stimulus checks as part of Congress’s $2.2 trillion federal stimulus law to counter the coronavirus downturn.
We asked readers Wednesday what they were doing with their checks. More than 500 people responded through our Google form and in social media comments. The most common answers? Paying bills and buying local.
“I’m paying my bills and trying to stay afloat,” wrote Meghan Lopez, a downtown Boise server. “The stimulus check barely covers one month of bills and utilities for me, and I still haven’t received any unemployment. My tax return and this stimulus check are the only sources of money I have right now.”
Karley Laraine Scott said her check went toward a credit card and into a savings account for her upcoming wedding. Jamie Holaday Stewart said she would use the money to pay off her husband’s car loan.
Boise resident Todd Freer, a financial program manager, said he would spend his check at a local bike shop. Sharon Brunke, a retiree in Middleton, said she would buy gift certificates to local restaurants and other small businesses.
“I’ll buy dinner from a local restaurant to support them,” Deedee Devol, who lives in Mountain Home and works in loan servicing, wrote in the Statesman’s questionnaire. “Then the rest will go into savings!”
Some people said they would donate their money to the political candidates of their choice. One Star resident pledged to contribute the money to President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. A Boisean wrote that he would send it all to Democrats.
Jane Jones in Lewiston wrote that she planned to give her money to Joe Exotic, the former presidential candidate and focus of the hit Netflix documentary series “Tiger King,” “whenever he’s ready to run again.”
Exotic, who ran a roadside zoo in Oklahoma, is serving a 22-year sentence on counts of murder-for-hire, violating the Endangered Species Act and violating the Lacey Act for falsifying wildlife records. His real name is Joe Maldonado-Passage.
A few people are saving the money. Some plan to use it charitably. More than a dozen people told the Statesman they planned to donate their check money to local food banks and other charities. Lisa Dilbeck Trutna wrote that she had given away more than $600 already to single mothers.
Sharon Keller, a retired Boisean, said in an email that she would donate her money to nonprofits that rely on volunteers, including animal shelters.
“They just need it more than I do at this point,” she wrote, “and I’m happy to help any way I can.”
.jpg)