Friday, January 15, 2010

How much do you reeeaaallly need?

I often wonder, how much do I really need?

We have a lotto syndicate at work where we all put in a dollar a week. Obviously we haven't won big yet- I would have told you-  but I have constant disagreements with people about how much is enough.

Think about it. How much do you reeeallly need?

Enough to pay off your mortage/ buy a house?
Enough to buy a new(er) car?
Enough for a trip around the world?
Enough to take your husband to a few michelin restaurants?
Enough for a  trip to Melbourne for a week to so shopping and eating???( and visiting bloggy friends)

One of my pet hates is when the topic of winning money comes up and people will say  "a million dollars is not a lot these days". This comment , probably more than any other, (actually that's not true, the "I am not racist but" probably come in in first place...) ahem.. this comment really makes me feel frustrated. I just cannot believe that people think a million is not enough.

A million dollars.

1 million dollars.

That is so much money I cannot beleive you couldn't do a lot of good with that. I think, you could change your life completely with that. Completely. And the fact that you are going to be given it for nothing SURELY makes it an even bigger amount of money doesn't it?! Its not like you have to earn it? Or some horrible tragedy occured and you got it in compemnsation. You are getting it- hypothetically- for nothing!

My other issue is when they have prizes that are for $10million or $200 million. It is ridiculous to give someone that kind of money. Why not divide it up so a whole load of people in $500 000? Its just to stressful- mad to think it wouldn't make there life difficult!

See, when I wish to the lotto gods I just want $30 000. To do all the bits to the house that we want to do.
Thats all. I would be happy with anything probably squeal over $100! But $30 000 would do me.
 how much do you really need?

20 comments:

  1. Oh here here, funny how people who have nothing, win that $1M & manage to lose it?? I like the idea of sitting on it for a year. Then there are the huge HUGE winners who just do what the hell they want to like ride those All Terrain Vehicles in the mud right up to their door & walk mud through the mansion as they have staff to clean it up while they play more games & someone makes them dinner.
    Me, well i'm already a housewife & running a lovely little business, the chidlren are growing up, so it would be a case of my husband retiring & never having to go to war again. Retire to a cottage by the sea, simple not flashy, love Posie

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  2. I once won £60 on the lottery. I was most pleased! Anything more than that would now be a bonus. Seriously. A million would be nice though, I mean, how does it feel to know you have a million???!!!

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  3. I think enough is whatever makes you feel secure. Paying off the mortgage, having a decent and safe car, and no credit card debt is certainly enough for me. A guaranteed income stream from investments would be nice too of course.

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  4. yeah, I agree with Cam, that would be a great win but saying that, my partner wins $38 on tatts & smiles for ear to ear!
    it really does depend on what kind of a person & lifestyle you lead, even if I won a million , I'd still get up the next morning & do what I normally do & maybe pop into the local oppie for some shopping. :)

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  5. Have had this conversation with friends over the years usually preceeding the Desert Island list ones.

    I agree that $1 million is loads (even with the exchange rate;-) but do you think our ability to be let ourselves be happy with the winning enough is linked to the kind of crafty, makey, wing-it outlook we all have anyway?

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  6. I hear you!
    I'm like the guy on the recent scratchy adds.
    He has the biggest smile on his face & the lady at the counter looks at him frowning & says 'you won $3!'
    And he nods his head, as proud as punch. ;)

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  7. I just imagine that the people in Haiti could use even a fraction of that money to make a big difference. Puts things in perspective, eh? A million bucks is a whole lotta cash. I know I could put a quarter of that to really good use!

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  8. great question and great point - $1 million can be a LOT of money, no matter how you slice it...

    ...but sometimes it can slip out of your fingers faster than you realize - look at the J. Paul Getty Museum! Billions of dollars in trust dwindling to mere millions ;)

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  9. I too think a Million is a huge ton of money, a quarter of that would be nice. The first thing i would do for myself is to go up in an air balloon over Melbourne, with my best friend This is something she would like to do. Pay for someone to teach me how to organise my craft stuff would be nice too!

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  10. A million dollars is heaps I would be over the moon with that amount of money and the freedom it would give. Right now thou I could do with $650 to pay the traffic fines my husband and I have clocked up over the last 3 weeks! We both got a ticket speeding in the same spot, doing a u-turn when it was prohibited and a parking fine. :-(

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  11. I'd probably give most of mine away anyway.....I'm hopeless when it come to excess anything...it just has to go!!

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  12. i like your suggestion about dividing it up, very good idea. its just being greedy otherwise. i dont know what i would do faced with the choices to spend a large amount of money, its nice to dream but i have only ever bought a couple of lottery tickets so i dont think i'll be winning big soon. i'd just be happy to win the boystown house and not have to pay rent anymore!

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  13. ha! There are some people down the road from us that won a million in the lottery and they still live there and really don't do anything different! It makes me feel I must live in a good spot!

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  14. I think we need a lot less that we think, and often there's an inverse relationship between the amount of cash you have and how happy you are. I also think that our ideas of what we NEED are completely skewed in our comfortable, first-world society. There's a number of things I would like (a nice house in the right part of Melbourne: north of the river & close to good coffee(!), more books, more music, more crafty supplies, etc) but I don't actually need any of these! The situation in Haiti will hopefully let most of us count our blessings, at least for the immediate future!

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  15. You are so right Cath!
    I would be more than satisfied if the lotto Gods could arrange $30k! But I would want a little more...ie the 'God of Fix-it' to make sure that the things we spend our money on to get fixed, Stay fixed and we do not have to spend money on the same things over again!
    Michele x

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  16. I love that you posted about this topic. I wrote a similar one a week or so ago here about stimulus/influence/drive and how money isn't what does it for me, but I wouldn't turn down a lottery win - even a small one. We don't have an office pool, but a ranch pool. Still haven't won anything over $39.00, but there's always hope!

    I have said that same thing about our lottery here for years as well. They start it out at $7 Million and it goes up from there if it isn't won. I wish they'd just pick 7 winning tickets each time or even 14 for 1/2 mil each. Can you imagine the difference that could make in several lives instead of just one person?

    Lottery officials need to take notice!!

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  17. A friend of mine's sister won lotto. A really, really big one. She gave each of her sisters a quarter of a million, her parents half a million and she and her husband kept the rest. Sounds peachy doesn't it! However, her relatives wasted the money they'd been given and then asked for more. And more. And more. Everyone kept wanting more. She ended up cutting them off, and not speaking with them. Interesting, isn't it! I wonder how my family would deal with one person suddenly having a lot more than everyone else?

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