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

bluebag

No, because I would want to use the money to help everyone that I could. So many of the youngsters in my family are struggling with college AND a part time job, often working seven days a week and still having no money to spend. Also a single parent neice that works really hard full time and rarely has anything for herself. Bless her.

I'm middle aged and have run out of stamina for anything wild, so I would try and give them all a boost with it.
Guess I'll still be stocking b*g roll and collecting bubble wrap then.

ifonlyitwaseasier

with a "windfall" we'd hopefully be able to buy a home, get the kitchen to how i like it and then continue to OS, cos i like it

PipneyJane

It's funny you should ask this question: I have just received a small windfall (just over £20k) from my late uncle's estate. We've split it three ways: £5k to debts, £10k towards IVF and £5k towards a new kitchen roof. DH and each got a small amount of "mad" money to spend, too, on anything we wanted so I've blown mine on a Kenwood Chef. It's not a life-changing sum of money, but it will help us sleep at night to know there is cash in the bank for when the kitchen roof deteriorates. (OK, it might be life-changing if I get pregnant...)

To me, a life-changing sum of money would be one that cleared all the debts, including the mortgage. If that happened, £600/month would be sufficient to cover all the household bills and the housekeeping, so every extra penny we earned could get saved up for holidays, a new car and investments. We wouldn't be able to retire tomorrow but I think people appreciate money more if they've had to earn it first.

rachbc

lostinrates wrote: »

For me a huge part of the right thing would be enpowering people, and providing good, standard setting employment and facility...teaching a man to fish 'n' all that. DH and I have also said, if we are talking millions and millions, or billoions (how big is this windfall) that a research and education foundation would be a must for us.

well is we are talking telephone no amounts then yes definitely I would set up trusts and bursaries. I see in my work how hard some people struggle to access education and that would be one of my priorities. And if we are talking mahoosive amounts they probably establish my own educational institution offer life changing experiences/ education to people who the mainstream can't cope with

deb68_2

no i dont think i would,i like this way of living more old style more relaxed more happy,as long as we could pay our bills,
if it was a decent size i would give to chairity,open an animal sanctuary, an go to newzeland to see the lion man at his park an give him money,if i could have a walk with the cubs how awesome would that be

But i am happy living within our means,i like us cooking from scratch noing thiers no crap in our food,
we have learnt the hard way,it was a long hard struggle but now we are happier than we have been in a long time

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

If it were a huge amount, I would

Buy a house that was big enough to have a white grand piano. The house would be decorated exactly as I wanted by professionals. The appliances would be the most reliable, durable and economical ones available. Everything would be designed around using natural materials with a minimal environmental impact and to be as energy efficient as possible.

I would get a cleaner in, so that all I needed to do was potter around making things look pretty.

The garden would have a naturalised pond with fish in it and ducks on it, a cherry tree and an area near the pond with bonsai growing. Part of the garden would be left to grow as a meadow and provide habitat for wildlife.

Another part of the garden would have the chicken run and DD2's rabbits I would let her have.

I would have the best, most comfortable bed I could possibly find. So would DD2.

I would have a heated pool and gym with a physio/trainer visiting twice a week.

There would be no waiting for hospital appointments, medications approved by the PCT or cancellations due to Trust timetable changes which meant not receiving medication for 11 months after it became very, very necessary again.

Both DDs would have the best orthodontic work and DD1 would be able to have the whitening work she so desperately wants.


DD2 would have a soundproof room for the drumkit of her dreams.

I would have a Fender Bass, three colour sunburst with chrome pickguards, ebony fingerboard and strung with flatwounds. I would have a Jazz size double bass, a decent head unit and speaker combo, a custom acoustic bass and guitar, banjo, mandolin and any other musical instrument I felt the urge to try. Plus books, mp3s and sheet music. This would be an ongoing expense as I'm terrible at resisting music stuff already.

I would also have a fantastic computer updated when necessary.


DD1 would get help when she genuinely needed it. Things to help her develop independence. (including CBT if she needed it). If she is ready, I would help her with getting a home of her own and she wouldn't have to worry about student loans, just like DD2.


We would also get a dog and have roughly 3 holidays a year.

The fluffy cat would go to the groomer's once a month and look neat and lovely for a whole 5 minutes every 28 days.


If there was more money than I knew what to do with, I would set up a Trust whereby all adults who wished to learn to play a musical instrument could take three months of lessons free from participating tutors. If they still wished to continue after that point, and the tutor felt that the person was genuinely benefitting from tuition (attending, practicing, learning), there would be further assistance for another three months, and so on.






However, I wouldn't buy things just for their 'poshness', I wouldn't buy more food than we need, I would cook from fresh and I would still grumble 'why offer BOGOF when I would rather have one at half price?'. Things would only be replaced when they could no longer be repaired and I wouldn't buy things just because they were new and shiny.





I had a windfall last year - I went on my first holiday abroad (3 nights in Paris), bought a pair of bright yellow Converse, a bass guitar and all the gubbins that goes with it. 3 things I had wanted for ages.

Had I received it 6 weeks later, it would have mostly gone on an unscheduled housemove, including carpet fitting and flooring.


Although I would still have bought the bass.

valk_scot

Some things would change..OH would retire early and we'd get a bigger house so that he could have a games room, I could have a crafts room, the kids could have a study/lounge together etc. And I'd like a big kitchen with an AGA and the sort of freezer you could hide several dead bodies in. And a big safe garden for the cats (plus a few more!), chickens, a greenhouse and a veg patch big enough to let me give up the allotment.

Holidays? I want a camper van, a small one. I really don't give a rats about cars other than that, apart from not having to worry about the costs of the mOTs and repair bills.

I'd definately have a cleaner and a part time gardener. Actually I wouldn't mind having a cleaner that also did some cooking and a gardener that could do some DIY. So perhaps we'd better have a cottage at the end of the drive for them to live in?

I'd be able to shop in John Lewis for furniture and carpets etc, rather than the local charity shops!

I'd be happy knowing I could pay the kids through any university course they wanted, set them up with a flat each when they settled down, cough up for a really good party each when they got married. (I would NOT pay for a Bridzilla & Cupcake wedding though, sorry!!) and be able to ensure they had some choices in life rather than having to drudge through it worried about every penny.

Would I give up all my thrifty ways? Well, I do think there's a difference between spending money wisely and wasting it. Spending wisely is buying one beautiful pair of expensive leather boots and wearing them to death. Wastage is when you buy the same pair of boots in all six colours and hardly wear four pairs of them. I'd be happy to upgrade some of my spending but my basic needs would be the same. Nicer ingredients, better quality clothes, more accessible holidays, more comfortable house yes, buying piles of pointless consumer goods that I'll never use, too much food that just gets wasted, status symbols that really don't say much about you other than you've got too much money? Err, no.

Ladyhawk

I don't think it would change me too much, as I can afford little luxuries already. I would move house though to somewhere bigger... and maybe a mailorder husband....

Softstuff

Any windfall over $100 arriving up to the mortgage amount, assuming we still have a mortgage would go there. Anything over that would go to a car for hubby, a kitchen with drawers that still open if I have the oven on and a new bathroom.

If I got seriously rich, there's a long list of people who would have much easier lives for remarkably little money, and I'd spread it around to them.

GreyQueen

Hmmm, I think being OS is so entrenched that it would be hard to give up. Howsomever, there's what I'd do with various calibers of windfalls...

£10,000 would mean I could have a little second-hand car and run it for a few years. That would be a life-changing thing whilst it lasted.

If I had £200,000 I'd buy a modest terraced house and leave my tiny council flat for somone who didn't have a windfall. It would also mean that my disabled brother could live with me if necessary after our parents pass over - he lives with them at the mo.

If I had a few hundred thousand, I'd like to help out some relatives who work every hour and still can never reach security; particularly their just-about-adult youngsters who just can't get work no matter how hard they try. I'd aslo like to leave paid employment and spend my time on voluntary work, travelling and studying.

If I had a telephone-number windfall, I'd like to set up a charitable foundation to supply grants to people who want to do worthwhile things but need seedcorn cash to get things going.

I'd also be really nice to have enough spare so that I could be one of those random and anonymous angels who give something to help strangers in their hour of need.:o

Overall, I'm not terribly into things and what would really change my life (not having my health problems) ain't fixable by cash in any case.

Oh, and I'd have a cat. Or maybe even two. If I had a place with a garden and enough cash to settle their vet costs as needed. But they'd have to be rescues, and perhaps elderly ones which other people wouldn't take on but they could have a few last good years with me.