If I had a million dollars
When Jim and I were first married, we were pretty darn broke. We stayed home nearly every Friday and Saturday night, playing backgammon and gin rummy and dreaming of better days to come.
"If we had all the money in the world," I'd ask, just to break up the monotony of me him winning all the time, "what would you want to be doing right now?"
His response and our discussion to follow usually went far beyond what we'd be doing that night if we had money, evolving into how we'd spend the entire stash if we won the lottery: fancy dining experiences, fast cars, hip clothes, trips to exciting/interesting/exotic places, attending concerts across the country of our favorite bands.
Fast forward 28 years.
While we no longer stay home every Friday and Saturday night, we do still talk often about what we'd do if we won the lottery. And those conversations are where we really show our age.
Here's the list of things Jim and I are adamant about doing if when we win the lottery, in order of priority:
- Tithe
- Pay off our gargantuan PLUS loan we took out for the girls to get the educations we didn't.
- Pay off our gargantuan house loan.
- Support our moms.
- Pay for lots of things for the girls (cars, homes, etc.).
- Hire a weekly housekeeper -- who, at Jim's request, would do the windows every other week.
- Dole out one-time cash gifts to our siblings plus a few nieces and nephews.
- Buy the house next door and totally raze it, allowing us to have back our view of Pikes Peak and making way for the most awesome play area for the grandkids.
- Put a 10-foot fence around our property.
- Buy a cabin in Flagstaff.
- Visit the Pacific Northwest ... often.
I'm sure we'd do a little clothes shopping, a lot of book shopping, a little dining out and add trips to NYC, DC and Bruges. But on our current list there's nary a mention of fancy cars, fancy clothes, wild and exotic trips.
Nope, the majority of our plans for the load of cash revolves around making life a little more comfortable on the homefront and for our family. We're getting old, it seems, and relaxing at home and knowing our family is safe and financially sound is really all we're looking for at this point.
Although ... those concerts mentioned years ago ... we'd still shell out bucks to catch concerts across the country. We're not that old yet!
Today's question:
If you were to win the lottery (regardless of whether you buy tickets or not), what is the very first thing you would buy once you claimed your prize?
My answer: Dinner at a NON-fancy restaurant after picking up the check at the lottery office. We're not fancy restaurant kind of people; a modest restaurant that serves excellent steaks and even better lemon-drop martinis would be our ideal celebration spot.
Friday, April 2, 2010
Reader Comments (12)
The very first thing? Take out and a few really nice bottles of wine.
We would definitely buy a new car first! And then hit the stores...we would probably have a good chunk of it spent before we even collected it! But hey, we're young! :)
I would pay off all my kids' home mortgages, my own, buy new cars all around, pay off any student loans, tithe, but first, I'd buy some expensive shoes that don't hurt my feet...or, maybe, buy some new feet!
We would probably go to Annapolis for dinner and spend the evening at Barnes and Noble and buy the whole stack of books we're looking at instead of picking out just one!!
Haven't you always wanted a monkey?
I would buy a house with room for horses.
Pam: I was SO hoping someone would write that!!
I was also thinking, I'd buy you a green dress -- but not a real green dress; that's cruel. :)
I would go buy all the shoes I've ever wanted! Then pay off the mortgage!
I just won $12 on a scratch ticket and I'll probably use it to play poker tonight. Does that count? :)
If I won a lot of money the first thing I'd do is replace my Vespa with something really, really nice.
This is a hard question, Lisa! Does buying one's own house from the bank count?
I would take all of my 4 kids, their spouses, and my 11 grandchildren on a cruise - I might even let my husband come :)
Interesting counter blog to today's post.
Do you think your priorities have changed in the last year and a half?