Pay off my student loans, put an addition on my house (it's tiny but I love my neighborhood and wouldn't want to leave), and quit my job so I could start a career I actually enjoy. But first spend some time traveling and checking stuff off my bucket list. (It better be a REAL big pot!)
First and foremost, I'd pay off our debt, which is just DH's student loans and a little credit card debt. College funds for the girls. Then I'd pay off my parents mortgage and buy them new vehicles. Buy my brother a nice little place and a new vehicle. I'd also buy my husband's grandparents cottage. My in laws have been trying to sell it for 2 years and they keep getting low ball offers. It's sentimental for DH and his parents are getting too old to maintain that property, along with their farm. I'd want to do something for them as well, but I'm not in the know enough about what they might need and they're generally pretty financially comfortable, so who knows.
Then I'd want to plan a big trip for me and my J16 girls. Our little group has been my lifeline for over two years and I love those girls like family. I'd sponsor an all expenses paid trip for us to get together with our families to relax and just hang out. Nannies included! I'd probably want to do something like that for our families too.
For us, we'd buy our dream home in the town we plan on moving to soon anyways. Nothing fancy. I'm not into fast cars and mansions, but I'd settle for a brand new minivan for me, a brand new Jeep for DH, and a big old farm house on some generous acreage. I wonder if I could rope the Gaines' to come fix it up, hehe!
Aside from that, I'm pretty simple. I don't need much to make me happy. Of course, I'd want to do a little shopping spree and spruce up my closet and I'd probably drop some serious cash at Lush, but I don't need expensive things. It blows my mind how lottery winners lose everything because they buy stupid shit!
First, I'd definitely pay off school loans and other debt.
I've had a dream for a long time now, that I jokingly refer to as "the baby farm." I live in a small urban collective, that has a small yard with gardens, fruit trees, etc. It would be lovely to have the capital to be able to buy some land nearby to the city (maybe half hour to the north, along a bike path here), near a lake or a river, and form an intentional community on some land out there.
Individuals and families could live there and have some private houses/spaces, along with some communal kitchens and gathering spaces. We'd have extra guest rooms or cabins.
The city and country collectives would be linked in some way. City folks could come take a vacation or break up at the country farm, and help out with farming. Country folks could stay in guest rooms in the city as well if they wanted to get some time near fun city stuff.
The "baby farm" would have a collectively run radical school and daycare. It would also have a retreat center for social justice activists to come out and do retreats or events out in the country.
The country collective could help grow some food for their own consumption and the city collective. The city folks could also pitch in some $$ towards the running of the baby farm. The retreat center could also help generate some of the money to sustain the community.
Oh, and hey if I'm dreaming big, we'd also have a collective beach house. In Baltimore, we're about 2 1/2 or 3 hours away from the beaches on the eastern shore, so why not also have a house out there for vacations or retreats for people!
___ Due date 12/9 I can't figure out the pregnancy countdown tickers, but I do know how to make a signature! #40andpregnant
As of 12/15/2017, my new hashtag is #41 and pregnant!
@collectiveliving I love the way that sounds! I've always been intrigued by the idea of collective living with like minded individuals, the problem is finding those like minded individuals! Ideally, I'd love to live off the grid in a private community somewhere in the country where we're able to live sustainably.
Same with paying off debt. Student loans hurt my soul. I would put enough away so none of my kids ever have to pull any out!
First thing I would buy though? A riding lawn mower. My yard is huge and I am DREADING mowing it with a push mower today.
Then I would do the whole dream home/dream car deal. Oh shit. I would hire someone to clean the dream home. And we would travel! DD is dying to see the ocean and we live in the Midwest so I would make that happen. Hell maybe I'd even buy a vacation home on the ocean lol.
Renovate current house with upgrades to everything (roof, siding, furniture, electronics), add bedroom and bathroom, and pay off mortgage. Buy a sweet lake house in northern New England.
Me: 33 DH: 34 Married: Oct 2015 TTC #1: Sept 2016 BFP: 10/19/16 ~ blighted ovum ~ D&C 11/23/16 BFP: 3/24/17 DD1 born 12/2/17 TTC #2: July 2018 BFP: 8/26/18 DD2 born 5/16/19
Pay off current mortgage, upgrade master bath, install solar panels, upgrade insulation/windows, put in new counters and backsplash in the kitchen. Buy house on a lake in the mountains, spend the Texas summers there. Pay off rest of husband's student loans, pay off parent's mortgage so Dad could retire a tad early, pay off in-laws house. Establish college funds for babies! Spend a summer traveling in Europe. Not the super fancy traveling though, just regular traveling. Buy an RV so we could camp with the babies in comfort. See all the national parks in the country. My list is pretty long but not too extravagant I think.
We'd probably move to a different neighborhood with better schools, but keep this house as it's well positioned to be a decent rental. We'd throw some money into the much needed work on this house, and get it renter friendly, set aside money so we could continue to travel the way we enjoy, then spend a little time being parents to this incoming LO before making more choices. I'm sure there'd be a lawyer involved for structuring assets so that they can be handed down when the time comes, but I feel like that goes without saying.
I would like to imagine that that much money would not fundamentally change who we are or how we consume material goods. For example, my car easily has another 5 years in it before we even think about replacing it on our current budget... But, at the same time, I'd love to live even a little bit closer to the coast and in San Diego that's a lot of $$$.
Save most of it, and put it in college funds for the littles. Travel! Pay off our mortgage, update it a bit. Probably buy some more property. A new ride. Right now my husband has his dream fishing boat, but I want a damn pontoon. Odds are I'd also quit my job, but pick up a fun part time gig, or buy a movie theater. I'd also give my Dad some money, he always helped me out, I'd like to pay if forward.
My husband and I play this game sometimes, and he always makes me so sad, because he's like "ya know, if we won a ton of money, we couldn't be friends with any of our friends anymore." Which I think is kind of bologna, but I also get it.
yeah, @vvitchhazel, it definitely has to be the right group of people for sure. Our community right now is just 4 of us, and we all work and live very well together. It definitely feels more like extended family. We are looking to slowly expand, and we do take a lot of time to get to know potential collective mates. We have a pretty thorough process, and even the first year after someone moves in is a trial period for them and us to see how it goes.
Our collective has been around for 14 years (I've lived there 4 and a half), and at the beginning and along the way, we've used lots of the exercises from "Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities."
It definitely takes real work and a time commitment, but to me the benefits are even bigger than the work and effort I put in. We are thinking we will have enough space and stay in the collective at least for the 1st year of LO's life... then we will most likely be looking to either buy a place ourselves, or look to collectively buy something elsewhere with some more space for us, and also researching schools and such.
One of our collectivemates is a professor, and has already said he is happy to do ALL of the cooking in December while he is on break from school and around the due date and the weeks after.
We definitely feel very lucky to be living in our community.
___ Due date 12/9 I can't figure out the pregnancy countdown tickers, but I do know how to make a signature! #40andpregnant
As of 12/15/2017, my new hashtag is #41 and pregnant!
omg I would quit this awful job and tell my boss to shove it. I would buy a lake house and a pontoon boat, and spend the rest of my life wasting away on the water with DH and my kids.
Momma to Amelia Marie (7/14) and Austin Samuel (11/17). Adding baby (girl) #3 on 7/21
Besides what everyone is saying—dream house, paying off student loans & debts, taking care of family, travel—I would also donate a chunk to planned parenthood! I would not be here today if it weren't for them.
like most of the ladies pay off student loan debt and our mortgage, a small expansion on our house. Fully fund college funds for the kids. finish our dream of visiting all the national parks. I'd keep working because I love what I do but DH might become a SAHD.
*TW*
TTC 1/2012 Diagnosed : unexplained infertility 6 rounds of IUI and a MC 2/2014, rainbow twins 4/2015 TTC #3 5/2016 Restarted Fertility tx IUI 2 rounds, baby girl 12/17
Pay off my enormous student loan debt, take care of my inlaws because they have always supported us, buy a bigger car, build a decent sized home to my liking, create trusts for the kids and take a family vacation. Then discuss it with a financial planner the best way to invest.
Besides what everyone is saying—dream house, paying off student loans & debts, taking care of family, travel—I would also donate a chunk to planned parenthood! I would not be here today if it weren't for them.
Yesss, you totally win. I would love to be able to make a really huge donation to PP!!
Just the thought of winning enough money to pay off one of our smaller debts (one of our student loans or car) is amazing. We would probably sell our current house and buy a different one (but if we didn't, we'd pay it off and do some updating), pay off student loans and our car, and then buy a car to replace our older car (an SUV of some kind, probably). College fund for the kid, then help out our family with stuff, and yes, some large donations to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU. And then saving/investing.
Houses: one in our neighborhood, a lake house retreat nearby, an apartment in Paris near the Jardin du Luxembourg, and one (or at least a time share) somewhere destination like Colorado or on a beach.
@collectiveliving I've always had a similar dream but it's more because I'd like my life to be more like the show Friends haha. I'd buy about 30 houses in our neighborhood, as is, and offer them up to friends and friends of friends at a discount. I want to have block parties and regular dinners and for our kids to grow up together. Then I'd subsidize any neighborhood improvement projects like sidewalks, landscaping, or gardening. Plonking a massive community garden in the center or multiple small ones would be awesome!
Hire a cook and housekeeper. Buy some Teslas. Build H a music studio.
My big dream: take the entire family on a luxury vacation. Multiple luxury vacations in different spots. First stop: a massive villa somewhere beachy. Second trip: Europe?
Help my mom figure out her housing situation. She's always talked about hating her tiny house, but she's lived there for 40 years. If she were ready to move and had a house picked out or wanted to build one, I'd do it in a second.
Buy my way into medical school by donating a library or something, or at least fund my own "fellowship" so I can do more interesting research than I'm currently doing. Fund a whole research project that I get to run.
Kay, I'm up to 15M minus the neighborhood redevelopment project. That apartment in Paris really put me over the top
ETA - I was talking to H about this last night and I forgot a really important one to me: send a bunch of money to my close bump friends who are facing ridiculous hurdles to get IVF covered. I hate that this is the thing standing between them and their dream right now. I want them to not even have to worry about the financial aspect and just focus on getting through the emotional and physical challenges.
Me: 36 | DH 35, Married 2007
TTC #1 June 2015 April 2016 - AMH, FSH, Progesterone normal June 2016 - HSG clear *TW* BFP - Aug16, demise confirmed Sep16, incomplete m/c, D&C Nov16 BFP 3/27/17, edd 12/7/17 DS - 12/9/17 TTC #2 December 2018 BFP 2/22/19, edd 11/4/19 DD - 11/1/19 My Chart
Buy a nice house, a lake house, and a beach house LOL. Buy my parents whatever they want in the world.
Fund training for staff to implement new orphanages and schools (sustainability is more important than a supply of money that ends) and then set up the facilities in several countries of my choosing.
Travel more but this time with my kiddos.
Get my PhD.
Wow looking at this list, if I could spend my life maintaining all of these things then wow just wow. OK lottery I'm ready.
Me: 31 DH: 32 DH since 12.2009 Married 08.2013 EDD 12.2017
Build our dream house, buy a small vacation house, and a boat. Buy DH the truck he is dying for. Set up collage saving for kids and my neices. Donate to charity. Hire someone to clean and cook some of our meals. Travel to Bora Bora! Figure out how much and how to save to maintain a comfortable lifestyle for the long haul.
Me 29 I Him 26 Married 4/22/16
TTC 9/2015 **TW** BFP 2/1/16 I MC 3/21/16 (11w) TTCAL 6/15/16 BFP 3/23/2017 Team pink! Quinn Leigh EDD December 1, 2017
First, I'd get a financial advisor and have a lawyer draw up will/trust paperwork. I love SO's current house, but I think we'd like a similar house with more land. Pay off all debt, hire a personal chef, travel, travel, travel, buy my parents and brother a house, college funds for my kids and my brother's kids. A new boat for my SO, a home for his sister and mother, donate to a worthy charity or start my own doing something with kids. Just an FYI, I'm frugal so these homes would not be mansions, but brand new, paid off homes.
@vvitchhazel I feel like my hubby would want to buy a house in TX JUST to work with Chip & Joanna. We love them.
We would probably buy a condo in the New Orleans area (we used to live there and have friends/family there)--just something small, easy to maintain, but that we could use whenever we go down there. We also fell in love with Rockland, ME, this summer, so maybe consider a place up there that we could rent out when not using it (near DH's family). Let DH upgrade his car, quit his job, start his own company. Travel a ton, and maybe take my mom on some trips. She was stuck at home for years taking care of my dad, so it would be nice to give her some vacations. I'd keep my job and our current house for now as well as my car, but do some landscaping in our backyard and put in a vegetable and herb garden. Maybe plan a reunion trip for some college friends and their kids--rent a huge house or some guest houses at a resort and let us all get together for a week. and probably go with @whiska 's plan for a housekeeper. Save a lot. Maybe get a nanny for the kids instead of daycare.
Married May 2014 DD born August 2016 Baby #2 due December 2017
Hmm. Get a lawyer and financial planner. Invest some. Pay off all debt. Get us each matching mom and dad vehicles (some type of SUV- maybe Subaru? lol). Get myself lasik. Buy a nice sized family home in a good area (nothing crazy). Start college fund(s). Go hang out in the Mediterranean for a while, and some other places. Donate to Planned Parenthood.
31 years young from Seattle(ish) 5 years married FTM and PGAL EDD is 12/23/17 -- It's a BOY! ---
I would get us out of debt first, we owe on student loans, farm ground and cattle along with my vehicle! Then I would want to build a new house and upgrade my husband and I's vehicles. I would also want to help our parents and save for our kids college! I really feel like the possibilities are endless!
Oh gosh can we dream!!!!! Pay off debt: husbands college loans, mortgage, car! DH would get a pick up and I would trade out my van for a Tahoe probably!
We'd put out college funds away for the kids.
Probably sell our house and buy a new house with some more property, two extra bedrooms and a garage.
Buy a boat and a cottage on Lake Erie near she family to have our own place when we visit!
Travel to Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, Alaska, Hawaii, and probably a European tour! Once a year... maybe Disney for the kids!
probably pay off our parents mortgages and no one else would really know.
Re: GTKY: 6/27
TTC #1 since 12/2015
BFP 4/4/17, EDD 12/4/17
I've had a dream for a long time now, that I jokingly refer to as "the baby farm." I live in a small urban collective, that has a small yard with gardens, fruit trees, etc. It would be lovely to have the capital to be able to buy some land nearby to the city (maybe half hour to the north, along a bike path here), near a lake or a river, and form an intentional community on some land out there.
Individuals and families could live there and have some private houses/spaces, along with some communal kitchens and gathering spaces. We'd have extra guest rooms or cabins.
The city and country collectives would be linked in some way. City folks could come take a vacation or break up at the country farm, and help out with farming. Country folks could stay in guest rooms in the city as well if they wanted to get some time near fun city stuff.
The "baby farm" would have a collectively run radical school and daycare. It would also have a retreat center for social justice activists to come out and do retreats or events out in the country.
The country collective could help grow some food for their own consumption and the city collective. The city folks could also pitch in some $$ towards the running of the baby farm. The retreat center could also help generate some of the money to sustain the community.
Oh, and hey if I'm dreaming big, we'd also have a collective beach house. In Baltimore, we're about 2 1/2 or 3 hours away from the beaches on the eastern shore, so why not also have a house out there for vacations or retreats for people!
Due date 12/9
I can't figure out the pregnancy countdown tickers, but I do know how to make a signature!
#40andpregnant
As of 12/15/2017, my new hashtag is #41 and pregnant!
my kids ever have to pull any out!
First thing I would buy though? A riding lawn mower. My yard is huge and I am DREADING mowing it with a push mower today.
Then I would do the whole dream home/dream car deal. Oh shit. I would hire someone to clean the dream home. And we would travel! DD is dying to see the ocean and we live in the Midwest so I would make that happen. Hell maybe I'd even buy a vacation home on the ocean lol.
Married: Oct 2015
TTC #1: Sept 2016
BFP: 10/19/16 ~ blighted ovum ~ D&C 11/23/16
BFP: 3/24/17
TTC #2: July 2018
BFP: 8/26/18
I would like to imagine that that much money would not fundamentally change who we are or how we consume material goods. For example, my car easily has another 5 years in it before we even think about replacing it on our current budget... But, at the same time, I'd love to live even a little bit closer to the coast and in San Diego that's a lot of $$$.
Pay off our mortgage, update it a bit. Probably buy some more property. A new ride. Right now my husband has his dream fishing boat, but I want a damn pontoon. Odds are I'd also quit my job, but pick up a fun part time gig, or buy a movie theater. I'd also give my Dad some money, he always helped me out, I'd like to pay if forward.
My husband and I play this game sometimes, and he always makes me so sad, because he's like "ya know, if we won a ton of money, we couldn't be friends with any of our friends anymore." Which I think is kind of bologna, but I also get it.
Our collective has been around for 14 years (I've lived there 4 and a half), and at the beginning and along the way, we've used lots of the exercises from "Creating a Life Together: Practical Tools to grow Ecovillages and Intentional Communities."
It definitely takes real work and a time commitment, but to me the benefits are even bigger than the work and effort I put in. We are thinking we will have enough space and stay in the collective at least for the 1st year of LO's life... then we will most likely be looking to either buy a place ourselves, or look to collectively buy something elsewhere with some more space for us, and also researching schools and such.
One of our collectivemates is a professor, and has already said he is happy to do ALL of the cooking in December while he is on break from school and around the due date and the weeks after.
We definitely feel very lucky to be living in our community.
Due date 12/9
I can't figure out the pregnancy countdown tickers, but I do know how to make a signature!
#40andpregnant
As of 12/15/2017, my new hashtag is #41 and pregnant!
Diagnosed : unexplained infertility
6 rounds of IUI and a MC 2/2014, rainbow twins 4/2015
TTC #3 5/2016
Restarted Fertility tx
IUI 2 rounds, baby girl 12/17
DX Diminished Ovarian Reserve, Factor V Leiden Mutation, Secondary Infertility
MFI (SA #1Count 11mill, Motility: 18%, Morphology: 1%)
AMH .328 | FSH 13.2
TTC #1 since 12/2015
BFP 4/4/17, EDD 12/4/17
DD - 12/28/17
TTC #2 3/2019
BFP 5/2019 || MC - D&C 5/2019
BFP 2/2020 || EDD 10/10/2020
Houses: one in our neighborhood, a lake house retreat nearby, an apartment in Paris near the Jardin du Luxembourg, and one (or at least a time share) somewhere destination like Colorado or on a beach.
@collectiveliving I've always had a similar dream but it's more because I'd like my life to be more like the show Friends haha. I'd buy about 30 houses in our neighborhood, as is, and offer them up to friends and friends of friends at a discount. I want to have block parties and regular dinners and for our kids to grow up together. Then I'd subsidize any neighborhood improvement projects like sidewalks, landscaping, or gardening. Plonking a massive community garden in the center or multiple small ones would be awesome!
Hire a cook and housekeeper. Buy some Teslas. Build H a music studio.
My big dream: take the entire family on a luxury vacation. Multiple luxury vacations in different spots. First stop: a massive villa somewhere beachy. Second trip: Europe?
Help my mom figure out her housing situation. She's always talked about hating her tiny house, but she's lived there for 40 years. If she were ready to move and had a house picked out or wanted to build one, I'd do it in a second.
Buy my way into medical school by donating a library or something, or at least fund my own "fellowship" so I can do more interesting research than I'm currently doing. Fund a whole research project that I get to run.
Kay, I'm up to 15M minus the neighborhood redevelopment project. That apartment in Paris really put me over the top
ETA - I was talking to H about this last night and I forgot a really important one to me: send a bunch of money to my close bump friends who are facing ridiculous hurdles to get IVF covered. I hate that this is the thing standing between them and their dream right now. I want them to not even have to worry about the financial aspect and just focus on getting through the emotional and physical challenges.
April 2016 - AMH, FSH, Progesterone normal
June 2016 - HSG clear
*TW* BFP - Aug16, demise confirmed Sep16, incomplete m/c, D&C Nov16
BFP 3/27/17, edd 12/7/17
DS - 12/9/17
TTC #2 December 2018
BFP 2/22/19, edd 11/4/19
DD - 11/1/19
My Chart
Fund training for staff to implement new orphanages and schools (sustainability is more important than a supply of money that ends) and then set up the facilities in several countries of my choosing.
Travel more but this time with my kiddos.
Get my PhD.
Wow looking at this list, if I could spend my life maintaining all of these things then wow just wow. OK lottery I'm ready.
Married 4/22/16
**TW**
BFP 2/1/16 I MC 3/21/16 (11w)
TTCAL 6/15/16
BFP 3/23/2017 Team pink! Quinn Leigh EDD December 1, 2017
We would probably buy a condo in the New Orleans area (we used to live there and have friends/family there)--just something small, easy to maintain, but that we could use whenever we go down there. We also fell in love with Rockland, ME, this summer, so maybe consider a place up there that we could rent out when not using it (near DH's family). Let DH upgrade his car, quit his job, start his own company. Travel a ton, and maybe take my mom on some trips. She was stuck at home for years taking care of my dad, so it would be nice to give her some vacations. I'd keep my job and our current house for now as well as my car, but do some landscaping in our backyard and put in a vegetable and herb garden. Maybe plan a reunion trip for some college friends and their kids--rent a huge house or some guest houses at a resort and let us all get together for a week. and probably go with @whiska 's plan for a housekeeper. Save a lot. Maybe get a nanny for the kids instead of daycare.
Married May 2014
DD born August 2016
Baby #2 due December 2017
from Seattle(ish)
5 years married
FTM and PGAL
EDD is 12/23/17
-- It's a BOY! ---
TTC #1 since 12/2015
BFP 4/4/17, EDD 12/4/17
We'd put out college funds away for the kids.
Probably sell our house and buy a new house with some more property, two extra bedrooms and a garage.
Buy a boat and a cottage on Lake Erie near she family to have our own place when we visit!
Travel to Ireland, Iceland, New Zealand, Alaska, Hawaii, and probably a European tour! Once a year... maybe Disney for the kids!
probably pay off our parents mortgages and no one else would really know.
Ohhh we can continue to dream!