Sort of a Lottery Question JFF

I love this question-- thanks for asking! I would follow the sage-old advice of my mother and do the three "s's". Those are: save some, spend some, and share some. I would save some so that, one day, we could have a house, spend some on fun stuff like a trip or pony rides (something we could really enjoy, but couldn't afford otherwise), and pay off bills (like the medical ones hanging over my head right now).

pay off my debt which is a little less than 10,000. Go on a nice vacation with my boys, and put the rest away.

Hide it under my mattress.

I would buy a new house, I live in a mobile home and you can buy a used one for less than that, 4 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms, 2 living areas...2200 sq. ft. for about $45,000. I look at places like sherlockmobilehomes.com or other places like that.

If I didn't do that I would buy a program vehicle, wish would be a suburban style with the extra space behind that 3rd row seat. We do BMX, gymnastics, tumbling, football, soccer, dance, etc and need that extra large space and comfortable seating. It would, of course, have to have a built in DVD player too.

If there was any money left over I would get my teeth fixed. I lost a tooth on top in front and I get embarrassed by it all the time. I would love to be able to smile and not feel self-conscientious. The last estimate I had for getting them totally fixed including teeth pulled (being put to sleep), partials, and all that goes along with it, about $7,500.

But wishes are nice and I know me, I'd spend it on things for the kids and look back and wonder where it all went. Then I'd see the new TV's, decorations, clothes, shoes, all that stuff.

Now if I had $100,000 I could do it all....and in style!

What would I do with 45K?

Well, after reading this link, www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/09/largest.refugee.camp,

I don't think I would feel comfortable without donating it to Unicef or some other reliable aid agency.

The things that are going on in Somalia in these refugee camps are just heartbreaking. I read this story while sitting on my butt in my office of my two-story home that has warm blankets, cable TV, running water, relatively happy people with clothes on our backs, an obnoxious little black and white cat, and a refrigerator full of food. I bet if you all read what I did, you'd feel the same way I do.

As for what I would do with it for myself, I don't think I would do anything with it for me. Sure, we've got plenty of debt, but it pales in comparison.

E.

Student loans then pay down the house. I really don't want for anything right now. :)

Donate some, take the family to Disney World, save the rest.

take $5k and go on a nice family vacation - put the other $40 towards debt - would take care of all our credit card debt, the remaining balance on our car
and one student loan. sigh...now who is going to give me $45k? :-)

As much as it pains me, we would have to spend $20K on a septic system. Yeah, $20 grand for a hole in the ground full of human waste. We would then pay down our non-mortgage debt ($15K), probably spend $5K on a vacation and put $5K into a CD or money market account. With the debt paid, we'd be able to save about $900 a month in payments and would use that to bump up college savings. Geez we're no fun at all!

It would be enough to pay down our debt. New car for me - mine's about to kick it. Maybe enough left over for a good used car for husband. Then, after a small weekend in-the-states vacation, we'd look at the single penny sitting on the table. It's all we'd have left.

That would do it.

First: give thanks for the money! :)
Hmm. That is kinda fun, but a little harder, lol. Off the top of my head: 10% tithes (4,500) and 10% savings (4,500). (Is this after taxes? If not, set aside the additional taxes this will bump me up into the cash savings account so it draws interest before I have to pay in next year). :P
First thing after that: take a family trip to England to visit my mil and spend some time loving on her and making sure she's doing well and everything is as it should be. Set aside the money to take our boys to Disney World, a vacation (including my mom) in Costa Rica, and the solar paneling to assist with my friend's energy woes in Africa. If there is anything left, it would go to the cash account making interest until needed, but going towards my school which I start in January. (We'd do other things with the interest, like putting it in our charitable gift fund for my husband's company to match their portion; the gift fund is for various projects).

Agree with the Disney world, I would also do that, and 45,000 is no where near enough to buy a mansion, so I would take 20,000 and pay that toward the principal of my mortgage, 5,000 to fix up our cars how we want them, they are both paid for, So you know, new paint, motor work, basically have them looking like new cars. I would put 10,000 in savings, the rest I would go to DW, new carpet, updated fridge, and the rest on either clothes, shoes, (for all of us), and home furnishes.

Invest it in my business.

ROFL... okay! Offically a stumper. (My favorite part is give or take 2k, btw).

The hardest part for me, right now, is the fact that I've got a 130k list that I'm saving for PURELY for the house alone (the investment will double or triple my outlay), plus another "happy" list of about 50k worth of adventures (trips and classes) and "stuff" (nouns, from a trampoline, to leather boots, a gasmask, lingerie, photography equipment, surgery, etc.)... So that means choosing from the list.

Option A:
5k off the top to my mom
10k to me
10k to my husband
5k to son's education fund
5k for travel
5k for the house
5k for a rainy day

On my portion (10k) I'd stick half in savings, spend $2500 on a travel, save $!k for clothes, flitter away $500, and put 1k down on a camera (camera itself is about 5k).

On the house's portion, first order of business would be hiring a maid... and then 2nd would be pouring a foundation for the garage, pouring (or cobbling, I haven't decided which, yet) a driveway... and then we'd see what, if anything, was left. (It's a DIY world, overhere, I make dollars streeeeeeeetch when it comes to building. Even if it takes me a month to dig a foundation by hand rather than an afternoon of hiring someone with a digger-ma-thingmy to do it for me.)

OptionB (if it were "just" mine)

10k off the top to my mom
10k stacked against a rainy day.
5k in kiddo's education account
20k to play with :)

Disney Land, Trip back home to SC, trampoline ($247 for enclosure/trampoline combo I really want), pool ($250), donate, pay off debt (approx 4K in random debt) and save the rest (about $30K) for my baby girl's college and a house down payment/closing costs.

Some other moms gave me some good ideas. I would so get a Rhino and some 4 wheelers and 2 dirt bikes. Riley reminded me too, I'd pay the 2K back to my folks for wrecking (I mean totaling) their 88 mitsubishi truck when I was 16 and giving me the money to pay for my mustang repairs when the guy sprung on me that he wanted it all up front (there was a different agreement beforehand).

I think I would also go on a vacation in the future from the savings, when my daughter is old enough to really enjoy it... like the galapagos or paradise island or Costa Rica.

Pay off car loans if I had any left.
Put a big chunk towards the mortgage.
Put some into savings.
Then have a little fun: fun trip w/family to Disneyland or Tahoe etc.

Wait, 45k? Forty-five thousand dollars?

Pay down debt, duh, not pay OFF debt, it's not enough, just pay DOWN debt. sigh.

Any other 'jff' questions?

:(

one nice trip for the family....& then save for retirement. (my DH is 57....It's coming waaay quicker than I want!)

Pay off debt (all of the credit cards and part of my students loans) with about $30K of it.

Put $5K in savings.

Go on a vacation to someplace tropical.

And put a down payment on a new car!

Thanks for the fun question to think about!