If I won the lottery...

I don't want anyone to think that I spend all day thinking about what I would do if I won the lottery. The whole thing seems stupid and irresponsible. I can't say it's a moral issue, although I do suspect that many people who really can't spare five bucks spend their kids' milk money on lotto tickets. That doesn't make the lottery itself immoral, but that and the ridiculous odds keep me from buying tickets ordinarily.

However... my office wanted to set up a pool when the mulit-state powerball or whatever it was approaching $200 million. I really hated to part with my $5, but I sure as heck wasn't going to be that one bozo interviewed on the news the next morning explaining why I chose not to play along. So, I succumbed to peer pressure, and naturally I spent a few minutes in the car on the way home deciding how to spend my winnings. We'd have had to split it 24 ways, which would only be $2-3MM after taxes, but let's assume I had it all to myself, or how about we just say I had enough money to buy whatever I wanted, okay?

First of all, yes of course, charitable contributions, sharing with relatives and friends, etc. etc. I would have to give all that a lot more thought. But today I'm just thinking about what I would buy for myself, once I'm done being generous. So here goes.

-House - No matter how wealthy I was, I would feel ridiculous living in a mansion. I just don't care to have more space than I really need. In fact, we probably wouldn't even leave our current house for several months because we'd be too busy traveling (get to that in a minute). But once we were ready to come home, I'm thinking we'd be more interested in having a pretty little plot of land. The house wouldn't matter much because you wouldn't be able to see it from the road. I don't know how many square feet exactly, but I'm thinking we would like one big bedroom for the boys to share (I know, billionaires and still making our kids share a room, how cruel... but I think it's good for them to be together, and they actually like being together.) MommaLlama would like a craft room, and an ultimate homeschool classroom. I'd like a separate office (our computer is in the master bedroom these days). Really nothing too extravagant. It's about a few wooded acres and a modest swimming pool. I've always liked Spanish mission style architecture with stucco walls and tile roof. Other than that, the house is not too important.

- Car - I have always been a huge car nut. This would be a tough one because while again I would feel guilty owning a car that costs more than most homes, I really really really want a Ferrari. Red, of course. My latest crush is the new California roadster. It just does it for me. I might convince myself that a Corvette was enough. Or I might convince myself that the Ferrari was a good investment/collector's item. However, I intend to actually drive my Ferrari as much as possible. I don't care what that does to the resale value. I'm rich, remember? I think my Mazda would still be fine for day-to-day use. And our current SUV would still be fine as a family car, see no need to upgrade there. No Rolls Royces or Mercedes for me, I would feel like a show off driving something like that. The Ferrari is different though. That's not showing off - that's driving the car that I had posters of as a kid. That's a dream come true, not just conspicuous consumption. Are you buying that excuse?

- RV - I would definitely need an awesome Class A motorhome. I'm not talking those crazy $2 million gold-plated rock star tour buses. Again, that's just over the top. And I don't want lots of TVs and electronic junk in it either. Just something big and comfy so that we can take homeschool on the road for a few weeks at a time. Unit study on geography, and then a trip of the Grand Canyon, the desert, the Rocky Mountains, the Pacific Coast, all the way up to Alaska. And a convertible Jeep towed behind it, because you need something small to get around in once you park and set up the motorhome. Nothing extravagant, but the boys like convertibles, and going off road.

- Travel - Rome would be first. Not sure what next. I don't think we'd want to be gone all the time, but we would want to see many interesting places. And we would fly first class because it is really cool. I had the chance to upgrade with some of my frequent flyer miles in the past couple of years when I was traveling for business a lot, and it is just really comfy up there with all that leg room. I know it's kind of wasteful, but you know, that's how we roll.

I think it's a pretty short list. I'm more about interesting experiences than simply acquiring things, you know. Alright, so that was all silly and frivolous, but there you go. Feel free to do your own and let us know in the comments.