Rebate checks: How to spend 'em

Secretary, 47, Newry, Maine

We will be spending our rebate check installing a chimney in our three-year-old home so that we can cut and burn wood from our five acres. We are hoping to offset the work and mess of wood with saving on our oil bill next winter.

Our biggest concern is finding money to keep our daughter in college. The credit crunch is threatening to dry up private student loans. We don't qualify for a large financial aid package, but we also don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spend over the next three years on college fees and tuition.

We're stuck in the middle. My husband worked more hours at a second job last year and that just put up our expected contribution to college, so it didn't really help.

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