you have a £5 million lottery win, now how Old Style are you?

MuchAdo_2

OH and I were discussing it last night...

It came up as a friend had an unexpected windfall last year - perhaps not a life-changing sum to everyone, but it certainly would be for us!

I said I would want to pay off the mortgage & debts, reduce my working hours and have more quality time. OH said he would buy a new car, move to a bigger house and go on 5* holidays - probably sums us up!

If money were no longer a problem (i.e you could comfortably afford your basic needs and whatever luxuries you like), would you keep your OS lifestyle, or elements of it? Or not?

To me, it would be nice to reduce the penny-watching, but I'm not sure I would ever want to lose the majority of my OS lifestyle. I certainly never want to go back to how I was 10 years ago, or re-join the stress of the 'my house/car/designer bag etc etc is bigger/better than yours' mentality of my former life - I genuinely hope no amount of cash would make me do this, although I guess it would be a test!

Just got me thinking

rising_from_the_ashes

It would be fantastic not having to watch every penny!:D

However, I think so many years of doing it are pretty much ingrained and I can't see me every going back to wasting money.

It would be great to be able to get something that you need (for me at the minute a garden shed is at the top of the list) when you saw them on a great offer, rather than having to pass them up as there's no money spare.

To be mortgage free and to maybe only work part time would be wonderful - I'd move to somewhere with a bit more land as have always wanted chickens, veg patch etc, so this would still be very OS!:D

adelight

I think I'd keep most elements.

I like cooking from scratch but I would probably buy better ingredients, better sourced quality meat and some exotic veg. Actually, if it was enough money I'd want enough space to grow lots of my own food and keep animals.
I'd still want to make things by hand, I'd possibly even make more if I could afford equipment/materials just 'cause I like things done exactly my way

I would still do all my own cleaning, I just find it ridiculous and lazy that some people have cleaners when they are able to do it themselves. There was a family in a paper recently where the husband was unemployed and home all day and they were struggling for money but still had a cleaner :eek:

sistercas

i think i would keep some of my frugal habits but the thing i would change is to buy locally sourced good quality foods

if i had enough money though i would buy a new car

quintwins

i wouldn't get a cleaner but i'd pay someone to do my ironing

i would build a house and ofcourse at the point i wouldn't have to pay rent so would have more income anyway at which point we could afford a nice holiday from that money, i have no desire for a nice shiney new car and neither does hubby so we'd prob stick with ours, i'd still cook from scratch and watch the pennies but not as much and there'd be alot more steak and meals out, and i'd buy nice fancy bedding and new furniture for our room and a nice new table and chairs as were using 2nd hand gifted ones for the forseeable

the_cake

I think it would give me more choice - not always having to choose the cheapest of everything.
More freedom - I love travelling and have not been able to go anywhere for a very long time.
Also, freedom from anxiety would be heaven, not waking up at 3 a.m. worrying how to pay the latest bill.
A newer car, so I don't have to worry about how expensive the latest funny noise might be...
Apart from that - OH and I are extremely lucky - we are happy and healthy, and really "need" for nothing, thanks to the incredible generosity of all the MSE posters sharing their ingenious ways of not only surviving, but thriving!
the cake xxxx

QueenieB

This happened to us fairly recently. I've paid off all MrQ's debts, bought a fancy toaster(for me) and a car(for him) and that's about it really. It's nice to be able to afford stuff like proper butter, and not to worry about what I'd do if the washing machine broke again, but I'm not spending heaps of money.

rachbc

yes in that I'd still cook from scratch etc but I'd work less and have more time for OS 'hobbies' like preserving, crafting etc - using lovely expensive yarns!

I'd also have nicer food - shop at the farmers market, eat lamb and fish more.

But I'd still hate waste!

desert_rose

Definitely. Don't see the point any more in spending what you haven't got on what you don't need.

Learned my lesson with credit cards and bank loans and living month to month on the overdraft until my light bulb moment five or six years ago and its fairly ingrained now.

These days I get far more satisfaction from simple pleasures like the garden or making things from scratch. More spare cash would likely go on materials for making things, more garden related stuff and just maybe, a better bottle of plonk at the weekend.

Living_proof

I think it would be really hard to give up being frugal, although I guess you would be rather mean if you could afford a comfortable life and still scrimped. I would move to a well insulated, easily run house with a nice garden and probably somewhere warmer. I wouldn't work 50 hours a week any longer but cut down to 2 or 3 days a week until my early 60's and by then I would be used to the transition in my lifestyle and I may feel comfortable doing my shopping at M & S and occasionally paying full price for something! The sense of security would be wonderful.