OT: Congrats - you just won the lottery! - YouLookFab Forum

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OT: Congrats - you just won the lottery!

Mac

Veteran

Okay. I lied. You didn't win the lottery... but imagine that tomorrow morning you received a telegram explaining that you'd just won the equivalent of 1 million US dollars (= about 790,000 Euros; 685,000 UK pounds or 1.12 million Aussie dollars), and that the cheque would be in your hands on Monday.

What would you do? Take a year's sabbbatical from work? Go back to school for that degree in Art History you always wanted? Get the Bottega Veneta $22,000 purse you've longed for? Buy your parents a condo somewhere warm? Renovate your bathroom? Dream big but also tell us what you think you'd truly do. Because while you might fancy a porsche, if you know you're too practical to actually own the sports car you lust after, I'd love to read about that, too.

General

33 replies

Latest reply was from Scarlet

Ele

(website)

Yay! I'm so happy... wait, I didn't actually win? Pfft.

Well, I like this game anyway If I won the lottery, there is one thing that trumps all others in my mind: PROPERTY. Seriously, I'm such a homebody and yearn for a place of my own, that I can decorate any way I like and finally have all my furniture and art all around me (it's currently half here and half in Canada which makes me sad). For the amount of money you've proposed, it wouldn't be here in the UK- too expensive. I'd buy a little fixer-upper in Toronto and do as much as I could by myself. Then, Andrew and I could live a rent-free existence and use whatever was leftover to start our business.

Now, if we were talking more than one million, well- make that "little fixer-upper" a 5-bedroom on Crawford St., and add to it a Georgian flat in South London and an architect-designed, pre-fab eco home on a lake in Quebec cottage country.

Mac

Veteran

Ele - you're hilarious! And, on a total side note, I hope you move back to Toronto soon. You, Michelle and I can meet up and talk fashion and maybe - if you're very lucky - we'll let you cook for us : )

I didn't know Crawford Street so of course had to look it up. Very pretty! For everyone else on YLF who might be interested, here's an example of a Crawford Street house: http://www.branchplant.com/building/crawford.html

And when you wrote about a house in Quebec cottage contry, I remembered the 63-acre modern house that Halle Berry and her hottie bought on Lake Molson a few years back. Did you ever see pictures? Apparently, they paid $1.6 million for it but now they're splitting, maybe they'd let you take it off their hands for a fraction of that : ) I'll try to find photos - the place is STUNNING.

I purposely made the lottery winning be one $million. Because, it's a huge sum but not so huge that YLFers don't have to be creative in their answers. I mean, if you win $26million (as a friend of a friend, in California, did in 2002), you can probably just buy whatever the heck you want. But for one Million$, you can't buy mansions all over the world... you have to be selective

Sarah Baker

(website)

Thanks for starting this thread!

I would pay off our mortgages on our permanent home and our rental property and our student loan debt. That would still leave about $500K so I would make sure my daughter's college fund was fully funded. Then I would do a tour of the best thrift stores in the country and make a documentary about thrifting. LOL

Dusty

(website)

Hmmmm...well, I'd pay off my student loans for sure and maybe our house (maybe not, though). Then I'd get that new camper we've been wanting and take a trip down to Disney to visit my sister. Oh, and maybe get another Mini (it's been 5 years and I still miss it - although it's not exactly practical). Um, maybe re-do our basement to put in a big storage closet and a sewing/computer room. Oh, and landscape the front yard. Then, if there was any left, it'd go in savings. (well, maybe I'd get new carpet first.

Mac

Veteran

I love reading all your answers; so much fun! Sarah - a doc about Thrifting sounds excellent! I'd definitely pay to watch it. And, if you need an expert with experience in production, you could hire Marianna to help.

Dusty: everyone I know who'd owned a mini has loved those cars. And I might have to borrow your the idea of re-doing the basement!

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

We'd pay off debt, buy a new, bigger house house and invest the rest of the money so that we could remain independently wealthy for the rest of our lives.

Angie

(website)

Fashion Stylist

We'd start another company. Buy an even smaller house.

And throw in a Prada and Chanel bag pour moi.

Mac

Veteran

Pay off debt - SO SMART, Chewy. If only every American, Canadian, Greek, Brit, etc. had this as a goal...

"Buy an even smaller house" I love this! Is your current house larger than you'd wish, Angie?

It's such fun to read the variety of ways we'd spend our millions!

Claudia

Veteran

First, I'd pay off my children's college loans in full.

Then I'd love to be around horses again: I'd buy some pasture land, near a state owned forest/park with trails (although riding wouldn't be important, just taking care of and being near the horses would be enough), and have a small stable with some rescue horses and a tiny cottage house to live in with my dogs. Heaven. Sigh.

Debora

Veteran

I would buy an apartment or brownstone on the upper west side of Manhattan to use as a pied-a-terre. It would be wonderful to be able to pop into the city whenever we wanted to for shows, shopping, or museum visits.

For $1,000,000, we could probably get a one bedroom on Central Park West such as this:
http://www.prudentialelliman.c.....Region=NYC

or a two bedroom such as this:
http://www.prudentialelliman.c.....Region=NYC

Thanks for the fun topic, Mac! I love to peruse the NYC real estate sites, but this is the first time I've been able to do so with so much money in my pocket! We can only dream!

JuliaInGermany

My husband actually won the lottery three years ago. Not a million or even near it, but a chunk of unexpected money. We paid a part of our mortgage but apart from that we were quite at a loss what to do. I realized that I am not into possessions.

My husband bought himself some new gadget for his camera and I bought a new mattress for our bed. Hahaha. We thougth about buying a new car for me, but my 12 year old Volkswagen still does its job, so why spend the money?

So most of the money is still in the bank. It's acutally good to know that if the car breaks down, the washing machine dies, or the roof leaks we'd have the money to repair or replace things.

If we'd win a million dollars perhaps we'd buy a house with 2 more bedrooms and a small garden (and a gardener). I'd like to have a sewing/crafting/hobby room. Though I really love our apartment and don't want to move out. Perhaps we could buy the apartment next door and connect the two. Now that would be very nice!

marianna

Veteran

I'd buy myself a nice condo or house... I never want to have a rent/mortgage payment again! I'd furnish it beautifully.

I'd buy some fabulous clothes.

Then, I'd save the rest/use it to live on. Who knows when I'll find a job?

Isabel

Veteran

WARNING : I am very practical and pragmatic. I would invest it for a couple of years or more so that it would grow and then maybe it would throw off enough in capital gains or interest so that my husband could take a job he loves. Or not take a job.

I don't need to live big.

Louise

Veteran

Pay off debts,
Buy house with walk in wardrobe,
Visit Angie in Seattle and go shopping,
Get the turbo fixed on my car! x

Theresa

(website)

Veteran

What a fabulous thread!

I would firstly buy the house I'm currently renting - I love it! That would be around 1/3 of the money if it were on the open market, but seeing as I may have to sweeten the deal to convince the owners to sell, i would expect to use up to $500K on it.

Then, I would buy a new car - mine has a few issues and this would be the only chance I would have to buy a new one. $30K

Definitely put a big chunk aside for each girl for when the are older and also a chunk invested for me. $500K

So that leaves about $170K...

I would probably give the girls dad some of that to help reduce his debts so he could take a lesser paying job and be happy - and if he's happier the girls would be happier and so would I... Maybe the $70K...

I would actually give my two littlest brothers some too - they both told me if they ever win lotto they would buy me a new car, so I'd probably give them $25K each.

So then I'm left with $50K - some would go into accessible savings ($5-10K), the rest would be spent travelling - I'd take that 2 month trip to Italy and fly home via Seattle so I could go shopping with Angie.

Now, of course this will never happen because I never buy lottery tickets LOL

Kristine

Veteran

Pay off our house (or actually move to a slightly bigger one, ours is tiny!)
Buy a modest but nice car, $10,000-15,000 or so?
But a new couch, we've never had one
Take a nice trip (but probably still relatively modest)
Invest the rest, probably keep working at least part-time for a while to let it build up

marianne

Unfortunately, a million is not enough to quite our jobs, buy an apartment in Manhattan, another one in London, and for me to go get a phd in classics.
I think I would probably dump it into kids' education funds and use the rest for the house upgrade...

taylor

Veteran

Pay off my house, my childrens homes:)

Then I would open and fund a safe shelter for women and chidren.

Oh, I would get that Birken bag too:)

Mellllls

Veteran

Definitely involve a house. We are from the East Coast and our jobs necessitate working in urban centers so needless to say a house where we end up settling may even cost upward to a million. I'd probably use 500-750k for the house and be willing to finance the rest because it would be worth it for a nice house without a long commute. I'd invest 150k as a nest egg and I'd start a scholarship fund at my alma mater.

Normally I'd say I'd plan an elaborate vacation with some but having just planned (and paid for) my honeymoon I'm not sure what I'd want to do to top it

Elizabeth

Fun thread!

I would take a vacation to the Galapagos with my best friend, buy a Subaru Impreza, buy new furniture (hello Room and Board!), and go to medical school. Then I'd save/invest the rest for a future home.

Mac

Veteran

Ladies... I could seriously read these answers all day. Questions like this are the sort of things that my friends and I discuss, debate, and brainstorm over 4-hour dinners. Thanks so much for playing along!
Isabel: I love your honesty and self-knowledge. You definitely wouldn't be one of those (many) lottery winners who was broke within 2 years.
Pregnantmom: how cool it must have been to win the lottery! Your jaw must have hit the floor when you saw that you had the winning numbers.
Claudia: I'd want to please visit and help out with the horses one long weekend : )
Marianna: when I received an inheritance, that's exactly what I did. Now I own a wonderful little house and no matter what else goes wrong in my life, it gives me a heavenly feeling of security.
Debora: I'm a huge Manhattan fan, too; I'm always scanning NYC real estate, just like you. Maybe between your million and my million, we could do a co-share of a pied a terre? : )
Louise: ahhh, time with Angie! Then you would LOOK like a million, too.
Theresa: You make me grin with your well-plotted budget... so very thorough!
Kristine: a new sofa is such a delightful luxury. Bought the one I'm sitting on about 15 years ago - fresh out of grad school - and I love it still.
Marianne: I know; isn't it shocking how a million dollars is not enough to quit jobs and buy real estate in NYC and London? When I was younger, I thought that if I had a million dollars, I'd basically be able to live like a princess for the rest of my life.
Tyler: Birken: yum! What colour?
Elizabeth: I dream of going to the Galapagos, too. I want to see those strange beasts in person, instead of on National Geographic TV!

Laura

(website)

Veteran

Take a year off and write my novel.

Beth

Veteran

I'd pay off the mortgage and invest the rest. Possibly go back to school: either vet school for large animals or a degree in architectural history.

Maya

Veteran

1) Pay off loans

2) Get out of the country.

I have always wanted to live abroad without any kind of deadline by which I must return to the US. I want the assumption to be that it is a permanent move. But it's extremely difficult to do unless you have a reason (other than "because I feel like"), usually either work or marriage. I have not chosen a field that is conducive to relocation and I'm not pinning my hopes on marrying someone foreign, so I just don't know how to make my way in.

If I had the money, I would just get up and leave. I'd have enough saved to rent an apartment and live comfortably for a while as I get to know people and make contacts. I would most likely move to the place I studied in in France and work at a cafe there. What better place to meet new people! And who knows, maybe I *would* meet someone there and marry him!

Dawn

(website)

I think I would end up funding a couple of years travelling and returning to school to do a PhD, and donate half of it to the World Health Organisation and Kiva. I think there are much better things which could be done with money than spending it on material goods but I would also buy a new mountain bike and a new Mini Cooper S. I would then put the remaining money into a saving fund and use it as a support base for starting my career.

Katiepea

(website)

Veteran

Oh, this is just a lovely thread!

Firstly, I would establish a scholarship in my mother's name to financially assist young women from rural areas wishing to study commerce at the University mum gained her degree from. (My mum won scholarships which enabled her to go to university. As such, I think it would be a fitting tribute to her to be able to do the same for some other young women.)

Then, with the remaining money I would pay off my mortgage in full; do some further renovations to finish off my house (it's nearly there, but just requires a few finishing touches); buy a "new" second hand car (mid range family car about one year old - I can't stand the thought of depreciation with a brand new car, even if I did win that much money!); I would take my boys on another overseas holiday to visit family in England again; in a year's time go on a separate trip with boys to Europe and they year after that, a separate trip to America.

With the left over money I would put that aside for my children's future. Then, after all of that, I may splurge and buy myself a pair of Jimmy Choo shoes or a Valentino handbag....

Mac

Veteran

-First $100,000: give to charity. It's too easy to say, "I'll give later" and keep saying that 'til the end of my life. I'd give it right away (5 x $20,000 donations).

- Second $100,000: house stuff. Renovating basement and kitchen; energy-efficient washer & dryer; replace rotted front porch and back deck; landscaping garden; any remaining money on art & furniture. Happily, I have no mortgage.

-Third $100,000: play money! Some fantastic trips: South America, Galapagos, South Africa, visiting orangutans in Borneo and Chimps in Gombe. Classes: tennis, oenology, skiing, Spanish, cooking, investing. Fitness trainer twice/ week. Personal stylist twice every year: not just shopping but also going through closet and figuring out what no longer works. Find and buy the watch of my dreams.

- Remaining $700,000: invest and, hopefully, some day figure out a business I'd like to start and run.

Mac

Veteran

Oh, and see if Belstaff would consider custom-making me a pair of their delicious boots, with calves wide enough to accommodate my hearty legs.

http://www.designer-shoes.org......0Boots.jpg

Debora

Veteran

Hee hee. I just showed my husband the links to my dream apartments and he wants to buy the first one. Now I have him dreaming, too!

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