What would you do if you won the lottery?

It's such a ridiculous question because the odds of winning the lottery are like 1 in 3,000,000, but it is nice to dream about what you could do if you ever won that big jackpot lottery game.

Yea, yea, yea... I know, you'd donate half of your winnings to multiple charities ... I call bullshit! Maybe you will... but most people, don't and won't, we have worked so hard to maintain, many working paycheck to paycheck.  Those are the people I like to see win the lottery.  Not the already independently wealthy person that does not need the money.

My husband and I only play the lotto when the jackpot is crazy high, like $300 million or above.  We figure at least this way, we'll have at least $150 million to play around with after Uncle Sam gets his share.

Me ... Well, first and foremost, I wouldn't quit my job.  I know a lot of people think that's just crazy, but honestly, lottery winnings would have come so easy to us, taking for granted it would be there long term is just foolish to think that way.  So, I'm keeping my job... maybe go to part-time... but probably not.  I guess that would depend on how much we won. I would definitely take time off, a lot of time off!

We would give each of our children a million dollars, and we'd set up trust funds for our grandchildren, 1 million dollars each. At the time of writing this, that would be 10 million dollars.  We would also give our parents 1 million dollars each, so we are up to 12 million dollars.

We would, obviously, invest about a million dollars, and put a million into savings. Now that we know our families are set, and we have made some wise choices to bank some of our winnings, we can spend the remaining money as we see fit.

*side note* this is where we would also set aside a few million dollars for charity. <-- yes, we really would do this... and is always something we talk about when this topic comes up (more on this at the end of this post).

I would then pay off all of our bills ... It would be so nice to have NO bills (well, except the nagging electric, gas, water, cable, cell phone, etc.).  Not having a car payment, house payment, student loans, credit cards, etc ... This means that instead of 3/4 of my paycheck being spent on those bills, we can bank that money. 
To not have to worry about money would be an amazing feeling!!!!  I could sit here and dream about that all day long!

Then, we would buy our dream house in the woods, the one with more acres then we know what to do with.  We would have chickens, cows, goats, and maybe even a few horses.  We would run on solar power, have a pantry that is stockpiled with all of the canned foods that we will grow on our land.  We'd grow tomatoes, zucchini, lettuce, peppers, carrots, corn, beans, cabbage, spinach, onions, potatoes, pumpkins, herbs, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, blackberries, raspberries, and watermelon.  We'd have apple trees, pear trees, peach trees, and cherry trees.  We would also have a stand on the roadside where we would sell any excess fruits and vegetables that we wouldn't use.  I'd hire a cleaning person to come and do the cleaning, because, well, I hate cleaning.  We would have an underground bunker, with a stock of necessities. We would have Friday night bonfires that result in Saturday morning coffee on a beautiful summer day.  We'd have enough rooms for guests to stay, or they could bring their tents and camp on our land.

Next, we would buy our dream vehicles.  Mine happen to be a 64 1/4 Mustang Convertible and a beefed-up Jeep Wrangler. 

Now, we travel!  I have so many places in the US that I want to visit, so we would buy an RV and hit the road!  

I have long wanted to drive Route 62 from Niagara Falls, NY down to El Paso, Tx.

Of course, driving the infamous Route 66 would be amazing as well!

And then the ultimate road trip in an RV would be to hit every state, seeing as much as possible.



After we see the great sites of the United States of America, then we'll hop a plane over the pond to Scotland!  My dream vacation spot!  We would have to go for an extended period of time so that I could do genealogy research while there, since much of what I'm missing in my family tree cannot be found online and is only available in the paper archives, in Scotland!  While there, we would visit Ireland and England, of course! 

Then we'd go to France, Germany, Poland, Greece, Spain, and Switzerland.  We would then end our worldly travel in Italy.  Tuscany, to be precise, where we will purchase our very own little piece of heaven.  Our retreat where we can go anytime we want, for as long as we want. 

We would also buy a house in Hawaii, so we can celebrate Christmas there every year.  Instead of cold and snow, we'd have sunshine and beaches!!! 

After we have had our fun, we would take that few million dollars we set aside earlier in this post and invest in creating a living space for women and children who have nowhere to go, we would provide them with a place to live (an apartment setting, not just a cot in a room), and the resources for getting back on their feet. 

When all is said and done, we would return home and resume our normal lives.  Whatever money remains, would get put away for a rainy day, or our next adventure. 

Now it's your turn.  What would you do if you won the lottery?