Today’s post should have been my stock project update, but I haven’t had the time to do the analysis of it that I want to, so instead, you get to hear a little more about my lay off planning.

I found out earlier this week that my current employer will be paying out bonuses related to 2012. Those of us whose positions have been selected for elimination will still be receiving that bonus. Through a bit of complicated math, mine is coming out to right around $1,900 before taxes and will be paid on my second April paycheck. The questions becomes, what do I do with this money?

Given that we are in a financially secure place, I don’t NEED to save this money to cover expenses while I look for work. It is a completely unexpected bit of money that I do not need to make the budget work. This gives us the freedom to do something fun with it, if we so choose.

A number of people, both on this blog and in “real life” have suggested C and I take a vacation, perhaps escape the clouds of the Pacific Northwest and go somewhere sunny. C isn’t taking classes at a brick and mortar school this quarter, so that could easily be accomplished. But where would we go? Most of the places we’ve talked about going to recently are places that we want to visit as family vacations, once we  have a placement. I keep trying to think if there is someplace we really want to go that would be best done as a couple versus as a family, but I am not coming up with anywhere. (Please remember that C and I both lived in Reno for a number of years, so Vegas and other adult oriented destinations don’t really appeal to us.)

If we don’t go on vacation, we could spend it on something fun. I’ve mentioned before that I really want a new laptop, one that could possibly be a desktop replacement for me (and then would allow us to replace my desk in our room with another bookshelf or perhaps a wardrobe). This would be more than enough to get exactly what I wanted and then some. We might even be able to get me the laptop that I want and get C a nice tablet. But again, this is not a need. It is very much a want. My current desk top and laptop both do exactly what they need to do, which is why I have not replaced them yet, despite really, really wanting to.

But then there is the practical side of me. As nice a little vacation sounds, as much as I want a new laptop, I am about to be out of a job, severance and unemployment notwithstanding. We need to get a plumber in to look at a number of small issues, and we need to call an exterminator as, after a two year hiatus, the ants are back in our kitchen and bedroom. This money could cover most, if not all, of that, without then having to eat into any of our other savings or income. However, we can afford both of those needs without the bonus money, so it’s not like we won’t get them done if we don’t spend this money on it.

At the moment, I am leaning toward getting myself the new laptop I want. But that’s because it’s a want I have had for a while. But until I actually pull the trigger and buy a new laptop, I honestly do not know if that’s what we will do or not.