Remember that movie Brewster’s Millions where the main character has to spend $30 million dollars in thirty days? And if he doesn’t he loses out on an inheritance worth $300 MILLION, and he’s also not allowed to tell anyone about it??
Well, today I thought we’d play a similar game, only instead of $30 million dollars let’s go with $50,000, and instead of keeping your mouth shut I want you to tell us how you’d spend it all if you only had this *weekend* to do it ;)
Why $50,000? Because it’s the exact amount that my favorite company in the whole world is giving away right now (USAA), as part of their Live Your Dreams Sweepstakes!! And yes – I’m getting paid to share this today which I happily agreed to because again it’s FIFTY THOUSAND DOLLARS for someone!!
So #1) Play along with me here and share how you’d spend $50,000 in a weekend (and nothing boring and responsible please – let’s have some fun!!), then #2) I’ll tell you how you can enter to win these $50 Gs so we can hopefully make it a reality for you ;)
The giveaway’s going on until November 20th, and you don’t have to be a USAA member to enter!
#1. How would you spend $50,000 this weekend??
I’ll go first… And again, no “smart” stuff here like saving or investing or paying off all your debts… Yes, you can do that if you indeed win the $50,000 – I won’t stop you there – but just for fun let’s get a bit wild and crazy up in here and let out our inner spendthrift for once ;) Ain’t no one wants to read about paying off a fifth of your mortgage or investing it all in VTSAX which is exactly what my answer would be, haha…
What would you do if you weren’t allowed to be fiscally responsible with it?? What have you been dying to get but are too frugal to do it??
Here’s how I’d blow $50,000:
- Pick up this rare book I’ve been eyeing about my hometown ($250)
- Finally get a $1,000 bill to match my $500 (which ironically will cost $2,000!)
- Get lifetime memberships to all my favorite organizations ($6,000?)
- Buy my wife her beloved minivan ($30,000)
- Spend a day taking my kids anywhere they want to go, and any store they want to go in ($1,000?)
- Spend the next day dropping kids off at grandma’s and doing the same for us ;) ($1,000)
- Buy a family cemetery plot, because I finally found where I want to rest in peace!! ($7,500)
- Pick up a new metal detector to enhance my coolness ($250)
- Hand out $100 bills to people on the street who look sad ($2,000)
Boy, that was actually pretty hard! And felt a bit dirty! Haha…
But your turn now ;) How would you spend $50,000 if you had to over the weekend???
Channel your younger self when all you wanted to do was spend money!!
#2. How to enter to try and win $50,000 *for real*
Alright, so to enter you have *three ways* depending on how old school you want to do it ;) Do either of them by midnight on November 20th though and you’ll be entered to win. And again – you don’t need to be a member of USAA in order to enter.
Here are the three options:
- Get a life insurance quote through USAA by going here: www.usaa.com/lifesweeps (you’ll have to answer questions to see if you’re *eligible* to be a member, but regardless of the outcome you can still enter)
- Call USAA’s Life Insurance Company at 1-800-531-LIFE(5433) and tell them you’d like to be entered into the “USAA Live Your Dreams Sweepstakes.”
- Mail your name, address, city, state zip, date of birth, and phone number to: USAA Live Your Dreams Sweepstakes Entry c/o teamDigital Promotions, 6 Berkshire Blvd. Bethel, CT 06801
The winner will be announced around Dec. 14th, and again – either of the three will get you entered.
GOOD LUCK!! And I want a 6 pack if you turn out to be the big winner!!! (And an email with what you’re *actually* going to do with it for real :))
Back on Monday with more fiscally sexy thoughts again…
****
PS: Remember last week when I asked you if it’s ethical to enter giveaways if you have more than “enough” already? Does this giveaway here change anything?? ;)
PPS: As mentioned above, this is a sponsored post where I’m sharing the awesomeness that is USAA in exchange for money… Much less than $50,000 unfortunately.
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Since I’m FI already I’d probably give $47,000 away to charity and buy a nice new bike for myself with the other $3k. Nice bikes aren’t cheap ;)
Another perk of being financially independent – you can give more! Love it!
Easy!
$35K in cash to a contractor to do all the remodeling on my apartment that I’d love to do
$15K on flights for my sister, husband, and two kids for fly long haul to visit me
$3K on super warm winter clothes and boots
$2K on a fancy new bed and fancy new clothes for my whippet and as much organic dog food and poop bags and I have storage for
Nice to dream… now back to work!
Haha… thanks for playing along!
And good job storing a lot of the cash into something that will have a nice return later on too ;)
1) Trip for 5 to Edmonton to watch the Oilers play a home game (big fans, living in Colorado). – $8000
2) hunting & fishing gear – $5000
3) motorcycle – $15000
4) new fence – $10000
5) puppy – $1000
6) book a cruise for the family – $12000?
In reality? Most of it would go to paying off my mortgage and investing into my Vanguard portfolio.
I know you would, that’s why you’re not allowed to with this! For once you gotta live it up and pretend there’s no money nerd living inside of you, haha…
aww, at least get the puppy :)
$10K for an Alaskan cruise for me and the husband
$35K for a new SUV
That money went quick! :-)
Haha… you’re much better at it than I.
$50K provides some food for thought… in this case, literally.
I’d probably take my wife on a once-in-a-lifetime international culinary tour.
First-class flights from Boston to Bologna, Italy: $14,500
12-course tasting menu with wine pairings at Osteria Francescana: $1,050
First-class flights from Bologna to Tokyo, Japan: $7,800
Omakase at Sukiyabashi Jiro: $700
First-class flights from Tokyo to Stockholm, Sweden: $12,500
Dinner, wine pairings, and an overnight stay with breakfast at Fäviken Magasinet: $1,300
First-class flights from Stockholm to Boston: $12,000
The experience: priceless
WOW! I feel like that’s something you should actually try saving up for?? Like as a gift to yourselves after reaching FI! :)
For these places, getting the money is probably the easy part. For Fäviken, just getting there is half the battle. The true challenge is getting the reservations. Even when you manage to check all the boxes and are dining at the restaurant, you aren’t necessarily out of the woods. When we were in Paris, we dined at Alain Passard’s L’Arpège. After a five-hour meal, we were left with a four-figure bill… and our credit card was declined. Fortunately, we had another card that worked, but that was a tense five minutes.
I bet!!
I’d spend it all on travel.
Trips: An epic first-class trip over about 6 weeks to see a game in every MLB park, and an extended tour of Europe. I suspect those two trips would quickly burn through $50K.
That’s a cool idea!
I’d buy a small camper for family road trips and a decent used vehicle to pull it. We’re saving for that now anyway, might as well accelerate the plans. With the rest, I’d probably have a contractor knock down the wall between our living room and family room to open up our living space.
$50K!? Hmm, I think I’d use that to buy a 5th wheel and a truck to tow it around and then find myself a job I can do remotely and travel full time around the US!! (Been secretly having the thought about doing that for a while now anyways :) )
I think you need to make it happen with or without winning this money :) What an experience that would be!!
These days, spending $30 million in 30 days strikes me as pretty easy. Personal yachts cost more than that for some billionaires. So, buy an expensive yacht and you’re done. Once the 30 days is over, sell it and spend at your leisure.
$50,000 in a weekend is more difficult because it’s not really enough to buy one large thing and be done. If I took a high roller trip to Europe for the weekend, I bet I could blow $50,000.
In the movie, he wasn’t allowed to buy assets that could be sold after the fact. He had to spend it / waste it. His rich Uncle was trying to get him to the point of being sick of spending money so the remainder ($300 mil) wouldn’t be wasted. It was a crash course on money and a pretty fun movie.
Forgot that was the point of it!! Such a clever movie, man…
I would buy a Porsche 356 from 1962 (my birth year) and everything needed to restore it. That would keep me busy for a while!
If there is still some money left over, I would buy an e-bike.
Still more left over? I would buy the wood and decking so I could replace the deck on my house.
Can you tell that I like to work on projects?
Can you come over to my place for a month, please? :)
If I had to blow $50,000 ASAP, I’d:
1. Book a vacation to take my mom to Italy for a week ($5,000?)
2. Book a trip to run the Antarctica marathon for myself ($10,000)
3. Buy a new car (Camry, so $30,000?)
4. Book a trip to Hong Kong for a week with the hubby-to-be ($5,000?)
I just realized I could easily blow $50,000 in an afternoon. Wow.
Splurge answer
– awesome vacation for my family at the beach somewhere
– hire a housekeeper for my elderly mom who really needs help
– hire tech consultant to help me get my blogging side gig off the ground (I’m so intimidated by the techy part of this)
– buy a Gator or some other sort of 4 wheeled hauler to assist w/ yard work
Real answer
– pay on the principal for my mortgage
Hit up Grayson Bell from our community for bloggy-tech help, he’s great! And super nice!
https://www.imarkinteractive.com/
I’d go on an around the world cruise and clothes for the trip.
What I’d really do is pay off my car and get new flooring in my house.
Fun spending? Tesla Model 3. Done and gone.
Real spending? Kill off a home reno loan. Stash some in VTSAX. Stash some for the next (responsible) car purchase, a used mini van.
I would zero out all of my loans including credit cards, finish the rest of my basement by adding doors and carpeting and buy a new fridge that doesn’t break every other month…
1. Book a trip to take my mom (possibly others?) to Ireland for a week plus. ($10,000?)
2. Bookstore shopping spree! ($500)
3. Find several good charities and donate 1k per ($10,000+)
4. Get a newer 2015ish car (Honda Fit?) ($15,000)
5. Take my daughter to the gift shop at the science center and let her buy anything she wanted. ($250)
6. Buy a bike and all the gear I need to ride it to/from work and keep it safe ($1000)
7. Book a trip to visit family in Boston again, and pay for their food ($2000)
8. Book a trip to Iceland for hubby and I, since he’s said he wants to go ($10.000? no idea)
9. Give Mr. Steward some extra blow money (whatever’s left)
Honestly, this was very difficult for me. And besides the giving and the trips with my mom/to Boston, I’d rather do the boring stuff I’m not allowed to choose. ;)
We’ll get back to the boring stuff next week, don’t worry ;)
Good to stretch our brains every now and then!!
Let’s see, for me I would allocate:
$15k for new flooring around the house
$20k to update our kitchen cabinets, flooring, and countertops
$5k set aside to re-landscape the front yard next spring
$5k to plan a Disney World trip
$3k shopping trip – $1k each for my wife and I, $500 each for the kids
$2k charities and church
1. Plan another trip to Ireland for 2 weeks….$10K
2. Give each of my children some money $10K
3. Buy my husband a new to us RV $20
4. Put some away for a rainy day $5K
5. Find a few causes that pulls at my heart strings and make a donation $5K
Well I guess it is back to reality and work ………..
If I have to literally blow away the whole pile without a clue until Monday I would rent a renovated 1969 Dodge Charger and hit the Route 66 with the family. Go as far as we can while stop every place we feel so, visit every restaurant/pub we desire and attend every punk concert on the way.
In terms of selfish crazy ideas? Get The Interrupters to play at my birthday party (not sure if 50k would be enough for that)? Buy guitar lessons from Brett Gurewitz (would probably be enough for a couple of lessons)? Go into a casino in Vegas and put everything on the red color on roulette.. three times in a row :) Buy a huge wagon of bullshit and send them to my “favorite” celebrities. I think I have to stop… :D
Sounds like you don’t have a problem playing this game at all, haha…
Spend 50K, in a weekend?
1. pay the taxes 10k
2. landscape the back yard to create a play yard for grand kids 10k
3. buy a huge play structure for the play yard 2k
4. anonymously donate to a Special Olympics athlete’s Polar Plunge 10k
5. build myself a nice HO Scale train layout 5k
6. book a crazy awesome trip for my wife and I. Either a Canadian Rockies train tour or a Panama Canal cruise 13k.
I’ll send an entry in. I would use the online quote, but they require a social security number. They only need the number if I win, or buy insurance.
I’d love to get more into train stuff as time permits later… We go to train shows every year and I’m constantly in awe of how people put those things together! My kids love it!
1968 Dodge Charger!
I’d take the family on a European vacation. Hire someone to clean my house weekly. Get my kids the brand name things they want that i think are rediculous – beats headphones, hollister clothes, expensive shoes.
1. New used cars for me and the teens $22K
2. Book a family cruise $6K
3. Take my kids and one of their friends to see Hamilton as far away as we could go $6K
4. Followed by a whole day at Universal Hogwarts $2K
5. Shopping trips for each kid $1000per / $2K
6. Summer camp fund for nephews $2K
7. Taxes $10K
If you can even GET those tickets to Hamilton!! They sell out so fast, dang! Such a good soundtrack though – I love blasting it from my car and learning at the same time :)
1) $20k to finish renovations on our house (gut the guest bathroom, new countertops in the kitchen, new cabinet doors everywhere, and a lot of painting).
2) $7k A trip to Disneyworld with our kids while all the painting is being done. Bring grandparents along to help.
3) $5k Book a trip (location undecided) for my husband and I (and our 4 month old baby) the week after all the renovations are done to celebrate being done with it all.
4) $5k Book plane tickets to Utah for Christmas so we can see all our family and a rental van for driving around while we’re there.
5) $1k Take our boys to the Lego store and let them run wild.
6) $1k Buy tickets to all the theater shows my husband and I want to go see this year
7) $5200 Book a baby-sitter and buy gift cards so we can do date night once a week for the next year.
8) Split the rest of the money between my husband and I for spending on our hobbies (woodworking and sewing).
#7 is by far the best one ;)
I just moved to Texas with nothing but that basics so I would actually pay someone to decorate my apartment so that it feels cosy and welcoming and put together. I would let my son buy any type of toy trains he wants because he loves trains! I would take all of my close lady friends/family on an amazing Spa day. I would finally go to see Hamilton and pay for front row tickets! I would also take my son Ireland to a friend I haven’t seen in a while :-)
Hahaha, so my boring answer for the real 50k were I to win it would be nearly completely paying off the mortgage (in Wausau Wis, 50k was 5/6 of my mortgage after a more than 20 percent down payment). But I have to say, that’s not boring to me because it would up my savings rate to a point that FI would come super soon! What’s more exciting than freedom!
Otherwise, boy, I don’t spend $50k in two years, so how would I spend it in a weekend? Would booking my next several world traveling vacations count, if I booked them all within one weekend? I would 100 percent finished up my yoga training next year in Germany, book my trip to Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania my sister and I are planning for 2020, and book another trip to Falun Sweden to watch either world cup cross country skiing or biathlon. Yep, I’m a weirdo. Plus I would do plenty of cross country skiing myself. Maybe I would book some place like Monaco that I would never be able to afford otherwise (or wouldn’t try to, anyway). And definitely another trip to the Yucatan, maybe Merida this time instead of Tulum. But I had to try hard to spend even $350 in two and a half weeks in Tulum – definitely not the place to blow money!
Otherwise, I’m happy with my
10k – twin turbos for the daily driver f150
10k – italy trip w the wife
10k – maybe actually pay someone to redo the kitchen tile instead of doing it myself (+ granite countertops that my wife wants but decided to forego because FIRE!)
20k – pontoon boat!!! (more like 36k, but would be a good down payment!)
As someone who benefits from a pontoon boat of his parents, I concur with that last item ;)
1. Re-do my already finished basement into a home gym – $10,000
2. Buy an indoor sauna for the new basement gym -$6,000
3. Install a hot tub – $10,000
4. Buy the 2017 & 2018 top 20 whiskeys from Whiskey Advocate – $4,000
5. New laptop – $2,000
6. Lego Millennium Falcon Collector’s Edition – $800
7. The best Dodge Charger I could get for – $17,200
That was a lot easier than I thought it would be…
The home gym idea is a good one!! Would probably get you to work out 50% more, thereby extending your extra years on this Earth by 50% too ;)
This is fun!!
$22k – Buy a used 2018 honda civic hatchback (my idea of a fancy car is probably different than yours, lol)
$6k – Trip to Hawaii with airfare for my boyfriend and I
$5k – to my mom
$5k – to my dad
$5k – to my grandparents
$5k – to my boyfriend for whatever he wants to buy
$1k – Take a limo to a fancy restaurant and order some of the most expensive things on the menu
$1k – to charity
:)
You forgot me in that list :)
Hello here is my wish list if I was given $50,000:
1) Being a single parent my son and I couldn’t do much travel as he was growing up, he is now 24 years old and I would love to take him on a beautiful excursion just the two of us, to make up for the time we couldn’t afford it.
2) I would gift airfare/spending money to my parents to take their dream trip to Paris.
3) Lastly, I would purchase my very first car ever a used Volvo SUV. I saw a 2013 White Volvo SUV for $13,677, 105,434 miles on Carfax.
4) If I had money left over I would give to siblings, best friend, niece and nephew.
Excellent way to treat everyone :)
1. $10000 on a used 4 door Toyota Tacoma
2. $1000 on a mild suspension lift for the Tacoma
3. $1500 for bigger tires and new rims for the Tacoma
4. $1500 for gas to and from Yellowstone – possibly more depending on the amount of side trips off-raoding (and fixing) the Tacoma – total will cut into #6
5. $6000 for food and lodging in Yellowstone
6. $30000 to cover job hunting time after getting fired for not returning from “scheduled” 2-week vacation to Yellowstone
Haha… I think you should try it out with or without the winnings and see what happens ;)
I could EASILY spend $50,000 and am assuming that charity and paying bills counts as responsible? If not, my list changes drastically. If so, off the top of my head, some combination of…
Perfect size dog crate and bed, $100
Invisalign, $2000
20 hours of babysitting, $500
Family memberships to museums, $1000
A crate of tennis balls for the dogs, $200?
Landscaping for our yard so I can stop battling the six foot tall weeds, $5,000?
Laser hair removal, $10,000
Backpack, $100
Professional window cleaning for 3 years, $2000
Books for the library, $2000
New HVAC, $10000
Water heater, $9000
Electric car, $15,000
I like the crate of tennis balls, haha… Can’t say I thought I’d see that today ;)
If I actually won, I’d be responsible and boring. Hypothetically, if I had to use that much money this weekend, I’d:
1) buy a used electric car and pay for whatever’s necessary to install a charging station in front of our apartment building/close by in the neighborhood (I’ve been happily car free for many years, but responsibilities have increased, and I’m sooo tired of waiting til we find a house…)
2) do something fancy fun for my husband where he gets to go to a game or hang out around around members of his favorite sports team
3) Book a long trip somewhere
4) Donate the rest to charity or perhaps political causes since this is the weekend, and there are issues I feel strongly about.
Buy a Tesla. Not the real expensive ones. If I had any money leftover, use it to jump ahead in line so I don’t have to wait so long to get it.
Teslas are popular here today! I hopped in one the other month and now totally get why!
I know you said to have fun with it, but…
1) I’d pay off my truck, because what’s more fun than having an extra $600/mo!
2) I’d stash the rest of it away into my emergency fund so I can use that extra moolah to pay for a kitchen renovation!
If I’m being super irresponsible though… I’d probably spend it on a new horse trailer with living quarters, then sell the truck and get a bigger one that can pull something that big!
#farmlife
take the whole family to Disney World and Epcot center and stay at the Contemporary Resort on the property, including air fare to get there..$6,000
take hubby to visit ALL 30 major league baseball stadiums, including air fair and hotel stays..$20,000
use the last of $$ to pay house off…its not very exciting but it would make ME very happy
You’re the second person to mention visiting all baseball stadiums! I guess that’s “a thing?”
I’ll be the third to mention visiting all the MLB Stadiums! (if hubby doesn’t want to go with me, I’ll bring my daughter. How did I get boys that don’t like sports?? ) And buy good season tickets to my beloved Red Sox – Throw in a European trip and I think I’ve spent all $50K – and happily I might add
1. Trip to Europe 12K
2. Sod and landscaping for my yard 3K
3. Have my house deep cleaned 1K?
4. New mattress set w/power base 3K
5. Trip to NYC first class for a week 8K?
6. New living room furniture 5K
7. Trip to Florida in winter for a month 8K?
8. Write check to local humane society 10K
Wow that was actually harder to think of than I imagined!
Book a house in Florence Italy for a month. Pay for family and friends to stay with us. And while we’re away, the best contractor ever replaces the siding and windows on our house. Wah. Lah!
Responsible/not-responsible easy answer: use it as a down-payment to buy a house!
Otherwise… ebike conversion kit, a Leaf or some other cheaper electric car… Heck, scrap all that and I’ll put in notice for a year-long trip for that much fun money!
I would have an unground swimming pool with bells and whistles built for my grandson who is autistic and doesn’t like much but he absolutely LOVES swimming.
Awwwww… that would be such a blessing for him!! Maybe you can start a crowdfunding page or something and see if you can raise money to make it happen? I’d throw in a little to help!
$20K – 2 paramotors, one for me and one for my wife. That’s the cheapest way to call yourself a pilot and I’ve been drawn to it for a while now.
$15K – New kitchen & floooring. Our house is a 10 year project but if someone else is footing the bill let’s do it now!
$10K – Kickstart my 4 kids retirement with $2500 each. Can I get a ruling? Is that allowed?
$5K – Give! I really like Paula Pant’s Water project.
Had to look up paramotors – very cool!
(And no – retirement funding is against the rules here – but only for today :))
Dear J. Money,
My first thought was PAY OFF STUDENT LOANS! and then you said that I wasn’t to be responsible with this. oh! rules! well, then I’d buy a new truck! I have a great truck but it has 306,000 miles on it. A new F-250, gas engine (V10) would use up that 50,000 really quickly! and NO PAYMENTS!!
Lol…
cindy
306,000 miles!!! WOW!!! You win the used car game!!
Lemme think.
* Solar panels on the roof ($15k?)
* Pay someone to finish remodeling the bathroom I’ve been working on ($5k)
* An old sedan from the 30’s or 40’s ($1k)
* Restoration costs for the car ($4k)
I’m only halfway to the $50k and I’m already running out of ideas…
Okay, for the remaining $25k:
* Upgrade the entertainment center of my home:
** New TV $2k
** Game systems $1k
** Sound $1k
* New computer $1k
* New car $20k
I guess I have two cars now?
Haha… good thing we enjoy saving and investing so much or we’d be in trouble :)
Fun topic!
Since I’ll be spending this weekend getting ready for host family next weekend (4 adults, 3 kids) in our normal house of 2 I’d….
Hire a painter to repaint the bedrooms (I’ll guess $1,000)
Add a second bathroom to our house ($10,000)
Buy fancy air mattresses for the kids ($500)
Have our mini/early Thanksgiving catered ($500)
… might be cheaper just to put them up in a nice hotel…. ($2000) :)
Take a nice vacation with my husband ($10000)
Give my Mom some money for a new roof on her house and a new car so she can more comfortably retire at the end of the school year as she’s hoping! ($26000)
A Lexus RC in blue. Done.
https://www.lexus.com/models/RC
In reality, it would go into my taxable, Roth IRA, and savings accounts. :p
1) Take family on a European vacation.
2) Every last cent after that would be upgrades on my house.
Hhmmm..without actually researching how much things would cost I would say I would spend half on some home remodeling projects that I am currently saving cash for and the other half on a family vacation (we have 5 children, some with significant others, & 3 grandchildren) so a trip to anywhere significant (Florida and all the parks it has to offer maybe??) would probably eat half up fast!
5 children – wow!! I bet your thanksgivings are so joyful!
Hmm… new EV to replace the 2006 Prius. Depending which one, after rebates, $30-40k? Trip to a F1 race, or an extended trip for 2 races on back-to-back races. Whatever’s left?
or…
New roof & bathrooms for the house. $23-24k plus a couple pretty nice (postage stamp sized) bathrooms. Maybe a battery system for the house to go with the solar panels too….
I’m in with the minivan (45,000$ for the Honda Odyssey)! And a fun vacation in it to Maine with the remaining $5,000 (LLBean stop of course!).
Wow. Wouldn’t 50k be nice :)
1) Get rid of my beater and get a truck (10k)
2) Get a Subaru for my wife (20k)
3) Give to charity (5k)
4) Trick out our old, dank kitchen (5k)
5) Brand new ski equipment and seasons passes (2k)
6) Get a 5th Wheel :) (8k)
I would spend almost all of it on travel. First class flights for that brutal overnight flight to Europe for sure. I’d also get my kids upgraded Apple laptops. We try to instill the value of a dollar in them so they buy their own electronics and we pay the tax and apple care for them. Needless to say it takes them a while to save up but they take great care of all their electronics! They would be blown away to open new top of the line MacBooks totally paid for by us!
Very cool idea on the taxes/apple care! Might have to pocket that one for my own kids later :)
I would remodel my entire condo then give the rest away.
I’m looking at spending something like this next year to buy a travel trailer and a small suv to tow it. Exactly as young fire knight suggested in planning on using it to work remote during summers. A win would just expedite what I’m saving for in a year.
YES!!! I HOPE YOU DO IT!!! What an adventure that would be!
Easy. I’d take the antartica cruise I want to do with the hubby….30000.
I’ve done an African safari, but I’d go do one of those over the top crazy nice camp ones and blow the last 20000.
Two thoughts and a decision when the funds are in my hands:
Rent a castle near Edinburg Scotland for our family of 16 for 10 days and travel the countryside or
Hand out $100 bills to each employee at a nearby Assisted Living Facility (approximately 100 employees) then hire a local theater group to give a live performance of It’s A Wonderful Life onsite along with a fully catered meal for all residents and staff.
Ahhh love them both!!! So creative!!
Ok, if I was to just blow the $50,000 in a weekend I would probably buy a new, not practical toy – a convertible mustang. The semi-practical answer is pay to have someone paint the whole interior of my house (a project I really want done but don’t want to do – or pay for!!) and probably a trip away in high end hotels (I just struggle with the thought of paying multiple hundreds of dollars or more for a night at a hotel). Reality – it would go towards knocking down the mortgage!
Hmmm…for me it would be:
– new furnace $6k
-dog gear for winter: it gets so cold where I live you need the head scarf, ruff wear winter parka, and boots and of course dog treats for 4 dogs: $1,000
– trip to Vegas: first class flights, high roller suite, limo, spa..and more spa, hiking (pretty cheap) and shopping- clothes and eating at all the best places and insane tipping to everybody!
I would probably spend $10k on traveling. Go to a dream destination, somewhere remote and expensive maybe!
The rest of the money would probably be saved for a rainy day.
I would go and buy a car to replace my 16 year old vehicle. $35,000
I would buy a bunch of things for the Christmas Shoes Boxes our church puts together $1000
I would book my childhood dream trip/tour to Portugal $12,000 ( for husband and I )
I would book a weekend beach get-away with my husband $1000
I would book a spa get-away weekend with my daughters $1000
You did say to let the wild and crazy out right!
Bingo!
$15-20K buy an old Carver yacht with a classic interior
Convert it from diesel to electric
$15K two 200+ HP electric motors
$15K two Tesla Powerwalls
Have fun with the conversion and figuring out how to maximize range
I didn’t know Tesla did so much battery/solar stuff??
Just checked out their site – you can get your whole roof in Tesla solar tiles! incredible!
I would get a ton of massages. Realistically, a huge chunk of it would go to political causes if that is allowed, because that would seriously help my piece of mind. I would definitely also want to pay someone to sell my car for me, or if it were allowed pay someone to donate it for me and put what I would get from selling it into a savings account. Getting rid of that thing would be seriously useful now that I live in a city and one where street sweeping and snow mean you can’t go out of town for too long without paying to park the thing somewhere, but I kind of need the money from selling it in case I need a car in the future and also selling it sounds really annoying. Then I would hire someone to get my cats to lose weight so I could then pay $1000 to get my cat’s teeth cleaned because the cost of living here is nuts. But basically I would use it for my peace of mind and to deal with annoying problems that money can fix.
Peace of mind is a hard thing to buy too, so if you can that’s great!!
Hmmm..
1. Buy a business class or first class RTW plane ticket (about 10k)
2. prepay for several visits to an elegant spa (something new for me)- 1k
3. book a yoga “vacation” at some beautiful place and gift same to friends- 2k?
4. Contract with a car service to take me wherever I need to go until the money runs out (I no longer drive, makes life complicated)
5. Hire someone to help me research, purchase and set up a new computer and printer. Prepay for any further help I might need.
I expect the remaining amount to be about 25k. Split between a donation to an organization I love and a contractor for desperately needed work (ok, something serious and responsible, but it would give me pleasure.
Take a luxury 21 day European tour with friend: To London, Paris, Amsterdam, Milan, Venice and stay in fancy hotels and eat in 5 star restaurants.
What’s not spent on the travel will be spent on the Shopping in Milan!!!
My husband and I actually get into a not-marriage-threatening argument over this.
His opinion: pour concrete on the side of our house and buy a couple of four wheelers.
My opinions: remodel our house, including new bathroom add in, new carpet, new kitchen cabinets, and a new deck.
Our compromise: take the whole family on an Asian tour (mainly Vietnam, Fiji, Japan, South Korea, and Thailand).
You can tell we are very good at compromising. Can we up the award to $150,000 instead? It seems like we can blow $150,000 in a weekend :)
And that’s what marriage is alllll about, haha…
I would buy all new clothes and shoes. I hate shopping but like really nice basics. It would be less stressful to do all that shopping if I could enjoy the efficiency of buying it all at once and not care about price. I would also buy all new, expensive bedding for everyone in the house. I would then make reservations for all the amazing places to eat in Portland and take friends and family out to whichever places sounded best to them. Appetizers, cocktails AND desserts for everyone! Then I’d have my husband blow the rest on whatever vintage car project idea he was currently fantasizing about. (It changes often)
I hear you on wanting to shop all at once and then just be done. I do that about once a year for new clothes and then call it a day :)
Tickets for myself and 4 buddies to the OSU/UM game, 50-yard line ($10,150) & lodging ($1,440)
Senior trip to Europe for daughter ($4,700)
7-day Disney Cruise for honeymoon ($4650)
2013-14 Jeep Wrangler ($25,000) + lift ($1,200) + wheels/tires ($1600) + sound upgrades ($1200)
Beer ($60)
Hmm I COULD just spend the whole thing on a new/slightly used crossover SUV (a newer Volvo XC60 or maybe even a used Porsche or Mercedes or Cadillac…). Or I could spend the whole thing on a new roof, which we’ll need sometime in the next few years (includes removing and then rebuilding the rooftop deck that covers our flat townhome roof). But barring that I think I would:
Friday
$500 dinner out with my husband and drinks at a fancy bar with great view afterward.
$1000 splurge on a local hotel suite for the night
Saturday
$100 personal training session or private yoga lesson
$1500 spa half day at the Ritz plus Botox
$5000 – head to the mall for designer boots, a designer handbag, a dress or two
$250 – get my hair and makeup done on the way out
$500 – another amazing dinner/night out
Sunday
$15,000 – Prepay contractor for new windows
$10,000 – Book a long weekend trip for my 5 year anniversary in April and a January ski trip.
$500 – have one of those maid services do a one time deep clean of my whole house
$500 – load up at Whole Foods for a night of grilling the nicest steaks, an amazing meat/cheese board, great wine, delicious sides and staples for the week too.
$500 – hit up Barnes and Noble for a year worth of books to read, plus fun journals and planners
$14,650 still left…guess I’d book another trip and head back to the mall. Maybe some nice jewelry for myself (which I never buy) and some nice work clothes and designer pumps.
Yeesh, I do feel kinda dirty. Fun exercise though! Now off to do a much smaller version of the above list this weekend. ;)
Haha… thanks for playing along though :) Cool y’all have a rooftop deck!!
To just “blow”? Easy. Eithad The Residence NY to Sydney $21,747 each way.
That leaves enough budget for a wild 4 hours in Sydney before flying back (takes 22 hours to fly there). Or not…I think I still need to pay tax and other stuff on the base ticket…fortunately you get very nice ground service and a great private lounge if the tickets alone are more than $50K…
https://youtu.be/1R2sOr6vZqo
Insanity. Now on my bucket list…at least the $3K (one way) version…
Oh wow – yeah, that is pretty wild!
I love these games, I play them in my head all the time with amounts like $10m (what I’d do recklessly before settling into the rest of my FI life, where I’d draw the line among friends and family for paying off their mortgages, etc.)
With five stacks of high society (I’ve been looking for an opportunity to use that phrase for a week or so now, thanks J.) and was forced to do nothing personally financially responsible:
I think I’d take $20k and get a new (used) luxury sedan, as they’re the one frivolous vice I consider myself to have (but I’m not trying to use up the whole $50k on a car)….I found a loaded 2014 Lincoln MKZ on autotrader with ~50k miles for about $17k
I’d give $15k to my best friend of 25 years that recently got married…After some thought, I had to draw a line here; my parents are in a reasonable financial situation, and $15k wouldn’t really swing the needle for them, and I’d want to be able to give enough to be able to do so (so I nixed giving 10 friends $1k, for instance), so it has to go to my main man (he can also be trusted to be responsible with it ^_^)
Then I’d take the last $15k and take the girlfriend on a sweet two-ish week European vacation, destination(s) pending
high society – gonna have to steal that one :)
(also – can we be bffs for future lottery winnings??)
Invest 40K give 10K to my favorite charity…. ok, ok, I’ll play the game!
$20K on a trip to Antartica for my husband and me (yes it can actually cost that much and more)
$2K a new wardrobe for husband and me. To be honest we haven’t bought non-used clothes in years. I really have no idea how much this would cost
$5K on lifetime memberships to blogging tools (not sure it would cost that much, throw in enrollment in a few classes if I need to)
$2k on eating out, this includes really large tips
$21K left….dang this is hard!
Haha right??
Maybe you can sponsor some polar bears or icebergs while down south? :)