Because literal snowflakes are small, there is a misconception that financial snowflakes are always small too. They of course can be, but they definitely do not have to be. Often when one falls into a large windfall or any other unexpected income, it is treated differently than a small amount, and the first thought is how to spend or otherwise use this large amount over and above normal spending. But this doesn’t have to be the case. A large amount can be applied to our financial goals as simply as a small amount can be, and in fact, will make an immediate noticeable difference in interest earned or interest reduced (depending on which side of the debt/savings coin we are working on) and can be a major motivator all on its own.

When my spouse was given a substantial (to us) amount of money by his parents as part of an inheritance his father received, a lot of things went through our minds as to what we could do with it. We came up with a lot of ideas, but in the end, we decided to stick with our original plans for all additional and unexpected money, and snowflake the vast majority of it to our credit card debt. That $1000 windfall ended up being the motivation and push we needed to finish off the rest of our credit card debt once and for all. Not that we wouldn’t have paid it all off without that windfall, but reducing our debt by a significant amount at once gave us a lot of positive reinforcement that made the goal seem immediately achieveable.

Don’t neglect the big snowflakes.  Use those opportunities to give a huge kickstart to your hopes and dreams.