The government started depositing thousands of rebate checks in taxpayers' bank accounts on Monday. The Bush administration hopes the payments will help jump-start the weak economy.

The check is in the mail, or should we say electronically deposited in your direct deposit a week early. It's money coming to us to help stimulate the economy, so will it?

The government started depositing the checks around 7:30 a.m. The Internal Revenue Service goal is to complete 800,000 direct deposits each day over the first three days of this week. No deposits will be made Thursday while the IRS prepares a big batch of five million direct deposits scheduled on Friday.

Paper checks will start going out May 9th, also earlier than expected.

The rebates, which are expected to reach 130 million households, range up to $600 for an individual and $1,200 for a couple. Families with children will get $300 per child.

"Everyone's favorite topic they know nothing about,” says Chris Perry of Omaha. That's understandable since anything that has to do with the IRS can be confusing.

"I have two sons,” says Perry. A manager at Camille's southwest Omaha restaurant, he expects to receive $1,800.

"It's probably all situational. Some people will spend, some people will use it to go on vacation or do something nice for themselves. We're planning on using the money to help finish our basement."

"I've been a little bit busy, but I know it's coming up in May and I'm excited about it,” says Abbie Winters of Omaha. What will she do with it? "Use it toward bills."

A recent brokerage house survey found that 85 percent of those asked plan to pay off debt or save the rebate, not necessarily stimulate the economy by spending it, which is the opposite of what the government had wanted when it decided to dole out $100 billion.

Nurse Liz Greisch isn't among that group. "I'm buying something for my house or going on vacation maybe."

Many businesses have special deals if you spend it with them. If you bring in your $600 check and buy $600 in gift cards at Baker's, you'll get an additional $60. Similar deals are being offered by Sears, Home Depot, K Mart, and Radio Shack.

An easy way to find out when we get our checks is to go to the IRS Web site and enter in the last two digits of your Social Security number.

For people receiving direct deposits, those with a Social Security number ending in 00 to 20 will have their economic stimulus payment deposited to their bank account by May 2nd.

Those with Social Security numbers ending in 21 to 75 will get their direct deposits by May 9th and those with Social Security numbers ending in 76 to 99 getting their deposits by May 16th.

It'll take longer for those receiving paper checks.

The rebates were the centerpiece of the government's $168 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February and are designed to bolster consumer spending and lift the economy out of the doldrums.

While many economists believe the country has fallen into a recession, President Bush last week disputed that contention, saying he believed it was a period of slower growth, not an full-blown recession.

"It's obvious our economy is in a slowdown, but fortunately we recognized the signs and took action," Bush said Friday in announcing that the rebates were going out a few days earlier than expected.

The rebate checks are coming as the IRS wraps up sending out the normal refund checks to taxpayers based on their 2007 tax returns which taxpayers had to file by April 15th.