I have a question for you guys… when you get birthday money (or gifted money of any kind, like Christmas, for that matter) is it fun money, or do you add it to your debt relief efforts? I’ve generally subscribed to the notion that you should spend birthday money on something you really want rather than something you really need. This year I was already thinking about using the birthday money to buy sexy swimwear (*snort* okay, okay, just a much needed new swimsuit)… or the other option was to finally buy the books that have been languishing in my shopping cart on Amazon.com. I had almost decided to go for the latter option, but then I spent the weekend taking a good look at my finances and now I find myself leaning towards depositing that money in the bank and sending it straight on to one of my credit cards. So I’m interested in your opinions… does using birthday money to make a credit card payment go against the spirit in which the gift was given (ostensibly to choose a gift for myself) or is it a sound financial decision?