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Winning the lottery

(30 Posts)
Mildred Wed 04-May-16 13:18:23

When I have trouble sleeping I usually manage to drift off by spending my win, having read in the paper today about the lady who won £148 million and the trouble she has had, how would you spend a large windfall?

Antjexix Wed 04-May-16 13:19:58

We would buy property for all of our 5 children and ourselves and then travel,travel,travel smile

ninathenana Wed 04-May-16 13:24:07

Very similar to Antjexix We would book the world cruise. Buy D a property and furnish it. Whilst on the cruise decide what next.
I plan all this whilst dropping off to sleep too.

harrigran Wed 04-May-16 13:33:39

Most of my family have two properties already so houses are not needed. I think I would use the money to get all the young people and ex soldiers off the streets and see them provided for.

gillybob Wed 04-May-16 13:47:27

I would hate to win £148 million Mildred . Five would get me off to sleep nicely though. smile

I would see my family okay and then retire.

Teetime Wed 04-May-16 13:55:14

I won the lottery on Saturday- £25 which was nice. If I had a big win like the one mentioned I would like to set up my own charitable foundation probably around education.

annodomini Wed 04-May-16 14:06:06

I'd see all my family comfortable; buy a house close to both families and make ample provision for care in my later years. Holidays for all; first class travel every time. Bursaries for girls in Kenya.

Willow500 Wed 04-May-16 14:40:47

I received an e-mail this morning telling me to log into my lottery account as there was some news on last night's draw! I deliberately didn't so I could imagine what I'd do with the millions I was sure to have won. New house, buy a big one in NZ so we could visit regularly and son and DIL could live in it and give substantial sums to both sons and other family. Of course when I've logged in it was £5.20 so I've ploughed it back into another ticket for tonight and Friday grin Back to the dream!

Mildred Wed 04-May-16 16:22:43

Willow , I too have delayed checking my Friday ticket as I like to dream if I wait until today to check my Friday ticket I have another chance of winning tonight. I don't gamble in any other way, except Ernie. I think sometimes a win of say £250k to £500k would be better than winning a huge amount of money. Harrigran I too would like to help the homeless. I hope we all win on the lottery but our lives are not changed drastically.

grannyactivist Wed 04-May-16 19:12:45

I have never bought myself a lottery ticket so I'd have to rely on the charity of winning family members. grin

But if I did win.........I would use the money primarily to provide work schemes that involve homeless people in building their own homes, support some children's charities in this country and then look at ways of financing people in poor situations abroad to set up sustainable incomes. I like the idea of a 'hand up' much more than a 'hand-out'. I would employ my children to manage various aspects of my charitable work thereby enabling them to have a good income and help themselves too.

I think only one of my children buys an occasional lottery ticket, so I suspect I'm dreaming an impossible dream. grin

Newquay Wed 04-May-16 22:33:28

I can't understand why it's thought reasonable for one person to win so much money? They could have made 148 millionaires instead of one person. It would be SUCH a responsibility to spend wisely and do good. . . .
I'm sure I'm not alone saying I have all I NEED but I'm sure I could always think of some wants. Lol!

Lupatria Wed 04-May-16 23:15:18

first of all i'd pay off my mortgage and get everything sorted inside the house and in the garden [other half starts things but doesn't actually finish them and i'd buy myself a new car]. I think i'd also have my second knee replacement operation.
i'd then make sure both my children received goodly shares so that they'd be able to choose whether to retire or not and i'd probably treat them to new cars too.
then i'd see that my other half had a house of his own [we don't live together] and also a car. he could then stop being a head chef and go back to repairing computers [his first love] again to keep him occupied as I don't think he'd be ready to fully retire.
a holiday home somewhere exotic so that we can all share when we want a holiday.
after that i'd make a hefty donation to the charity i'm a trustee for [if that makes sense] so that research could be done on the rare skin disease I suffer from [together with hundreds of other people].
then i'd hope to be able to do something for the young and the homeless.
i'm a firm believer in the old saying "charity begins at home" so that's where my priorities lie.
of course, it would have to be a substantial win to do all this .................. and i'd actually have to buy a lottery ticket too!!

NonnaW Thu 05-May-16 09:50:33

Houses bought for all the family. Buy a plot of land somewhere great and have the house of our dreams built for us. Also purchase houses in a couple of other countries for family to have the use of. World cruise, first class travel wherever we wanted.
We talked recently about a £58m win, and agreed that if that was us, several charities would each have a £1m donation.

NonnaW Thu 05-May-16 09:51:30

Having said that, I think £9.60 was the most we managed to win!

Stansgran Thu 05-May-16 10:01:05

I read about the woman who won all that money. It seemed to buy an Equal amount of unhappiness . There was no mention of money to charity so perhaps because the money was self self self it couldn't do any good.

Gagagran Thu 05-May-16 11:08:41

I've won 3x£25 in the May Premium Bond draw and am really chuffed with that! I would hate to win mega millions and would give most of it away.

Charleygirl Thu 05-May-16 11:16:29

Gagagran you beat me to it, I won 2x£25 and I was delighted. I never buy a lottery ticket now that I have left work.
If I won a decent amount it would be given to animal charities here and abroad after I had extended my kitchen. My needs are simple also.

inishowen Thu 05-May-16 11:30:33

I would buy a couple of holiday cottages in various locations, all overlooking the sea. These could be used by anyone in the family who wanted a break. Then I'd buy both adult children, and ourselves, a house each. My daughter has always wanted horses so she'd get them, with land and stables. I'd also like to be a secret millionaire, meeting people who need cash badly, and secretly giving them what they need. I like to help people start businesses, because that creates employment. I'd create proper shelters in every town, so there is no such thing as a homeless person. I'd employ teams of gardeners and landscapers, to revamp all the scruffy bits of town, and would open up all the closed shops to those who have good ideas for new shops. I'd pay their rent and rates for a couple of years. Oh, the ideas are endless. What a fun subject.

missdeke Thu 05-May-16 12:33:12

I got an email from the lottery this morning telling me I had a message and congratulations!!! So excited! Turned out to be £25. Not quite the fortune I was hoping for but better than a pole in the eye with a short stick.

Rosina Thu 05-May-16 15:31:20

It would be wonderful to be able to transform lives. I would pay my son's mortgage and do all the jobs he needs done on his house, to see the worry lines and the long hours at work taken away from him.
I would do the same for another member of the family who has a wife with a life limiting illness and is ill with worry himself - money won't cure their situation but it would lift some of their concerns from them.
Another lovely thing would be to buy the land occupied by a local animal sanctuary who are being threatened with closure because their lease has almost run out - how WONDERFUL to be able to stick two fingers up at Tesco!
Then probably like others - help with shop openings, town tidying, young people's welfare etc. But how I do agree that the sum of money won was far, far too much for one person. Fourteen people winning ten million could do all the above and still be set up for life.

sluttygran Thu 05-May-16 17:13:16

If I won a large lottery prize, I would have tea at Claridges, and mull over my spending plans whilst wallowing in warm scones and clotted cream grin
So many people have remarked that suddenly being in possession of heaps of money seems to cause unhappiness, and I can see that it might cause family squabbles over how much was going to whom, but maybe these people weren't happy in the first place - some people are chronically discontented, no matter how much they have.
Anyway, I'd rather be miserable and rich than miserable and poor!

ajanela Thu 05-May-16 20:24:15

If I won a large amount of money, first employ a good accountant so you could enjoy your winnings without worrying. Some luxury travelling, slowly, some beauty therapy, some house upgrading, help the family but I wouldn't spend all that much.

Now comes the problem how to use it to do good for others. 148 million may sound a lot but could easily be used up. I think I would like to invest in help for children who are struggling at school to help them catch up and then reach their full potential. Maybe some scholarships to help pay for extra lessons.

Also other scholarships for poor talented children to meet their potential. I always remember a very bright girl in my class who had to leave school at 15 as her family needed her to work. She went to work in a factory but I heard they moved her to the office so I hope she did well. 55 years later the unfairness still bothers me.

Bijou Thu 05-May-16 21:50:35

I sometimes win £10 on the RSPB lottery and I donate it back.

leemw711 Thu 05-May-16 23:46:27

I agree with Newquay - £1,000,000 is enough so let's have lots more smaller prizes. However I have a friend of a friend who won 30 times that recently and like lots of you, I know exactly what I would do with a large sum: a house for each of my 2 sons, a savings account for grand-daughter so she can afford a university education in due course, a scholarship donated to each of my sons' schools in gratitude for the ones they won as 11 year olds, and a new house for me far away from the bullying neighbours who are currently making my life a total misery. Having been recently widowed I'm reluctant to move from what was a happy family home for many years but having abuse shouted at me in the street by my neighbours' 30-something son is not pleasant but very stressful.

Maggiemaybe Fri 06-May-16 00:50:52

Did everyone see the winning Lotto numbers in last night's draw? 1, 2, 3, 4, 20, 21. Very unusual, but one lucky so-and-so came up trumps.

Not me... Probably just as well, as a fortune-teller told me I'll be very, very wealthy very, very late in life. I've taken that to mean that as soon as I get that big win, the grim reaper will be tapping me on the shoulder. Typical.