If I had a million dollars...

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

Today at work, they're doing a collection for the Illinois Mega Millions, which apparently is up to a whopping $266 Million jackpot. Figuring this was too good to pass up, I forked over a dollar. I could have given more, but I had to scrounge just to find the dollar (I anticipate this not being a problem in the future, should luck be on my side).

As I stood at the copy machine thinking about what I'd do when I won - and in what order - I kept on re-writing the list in my head.

Source

The basic ideas came to mind - traveling, a new house, paying off debts, etc. I also thought how great it would be to fund college scholarships for all of those babies on "16 & Pregnant" so that they have some sort of chance for a good future, or buying wedding gifts for all of our friends who have gotten married in the past few years, since I always feel like we're on a tight budget when weddings roll around.

After much internal debate (ok, like, 5 minutes while writing this post) I give you my "top ten things I'll do as soon as I have cool hard lottery cash in my hand" ...in chronological order, of course.
  1. Pay my parents back for all of the many things I owe them (college, studying abroad, my car, the wedding...you get the idea). I assume they'll be able to retire quite nicely with that chunk of change.
  2. Pay off our debts.
  3. Finish the projects left on our condo (renovate the bathroom, refinish the floors) so that we can PUT IT ON THE MARKET and...
  4. ...buy a bad ass single family home in the city. Fantastically awesome Chicago neighborhood location TBD.
  5. Invest in Steve's business, including buying him a studio space.
  6. Quit my job...so that I can take a trip around the world with Steve, my parents, and sister.
  7. Take a percentage of the winnings and make charitable donations to the organizations that Steve and I care about.
  8. Buy presents for friends and give said presents to friends at the party I'll throw at my bad ass new house.
  9. New wardrobes for Steve and I, naturally.
  10. Save, save, save the rest.
Wish me luck! Seriously - #8 on the list means there could be something in it for you.

What would you do with a few million dollars in hand?

1 comment:

A. Marigold said...

I've thought about this a lot for someone who never pays the lottery. ;) I think the most important thing I would do is not tell anyone other than my husband. That just tends to ruin people's lives. Then I'd pay off both of our student loans, take a trip, and then find a job I love because the money won't matter. Then I'd buy a house and pretend I earned the money for it. ;)

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