One Million Dollars in 24 Hours? I'd invest in my Family and in HOME.

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I have seen this "What Would You Do with One Million Dollars?" challenge around and I've been wanting to do it, because the idea is on my mind quite often (my dreams and positive thinking is soon to be revealed with this writing challenge!)

Anyway, I was nominated by the @honeydue who had been nominated by @ladyrebecca to do a fun challenge!

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If I won a million dollars right now, and only had 24 hours to spend it, what would I spend it on?? There is a catch though...it cannot be Steem related!

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Well let me start out by saying that I've lived the majority of my life in a fairly broke state. Paycheck to paycheck at best... and not because we have debt or extravagances, but because for our adult life, we chose to live on one income so that I could stay home with our kids. We didn't have cable, haven't had a car payment for almost two decades, no health insurance, didn't go out to eat, etc.

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That one income varied a lot, but was usually well under what a typical US family lived on. Still, it was okay. Stressful, but doable. It was what we chose to do because it was just more important for me to stay home with the kids. With my own emotional/mental issues, I'm not sure how well I would have done as a working mom anyway, but that's all water under the bridge now that our kids are pretty much grown and mostly out of the house anyway.

We've also lived with extra money for a time and I can tell you, having enough is FAR better than scrimping just to get by. Not just a LITTLE bit better, but life changing, stress relieving in ways that people who haven't lived with less could ever understand. My MAIN goal with one million dollars would be to set up some security in the form of a home/land that we could all live on.

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***THAT BEING SAID, If I got one million dollars right now and HAD to spend it in 24 hours, I would buy land. I know that might stretch the boundaries of spending it within 24 hours, but I'd say showing up and signing papers for cash on a property counts as spending it ;)

Very specifically right the hell now? THIS LAND right here! If that specific land wasn't available, I would spend half of that money on a piece of at least 40 acres of land (however much I could get, honestly) where we could build houses.*** A house for us and space for my kids to build houses for themselves (they can spend their own money building their homes).

Patrick and I would go for sustainable living (and I know my kids are interested in that as well), off grid houses as much as possible. We've already lived off grid on a boat, so my husband is well versed in that technology. He could buy/order a shit ton of supplies to build a sustainable home: Solar panels, wind generators, wood stove, and who knows what all we could get. I'd definitely spend whatever was left stocking up on food so that I didn't have to leave our land again any time soon! (The land linked above already has a home on it, but that could be used for either a rental property for future income or a family gathering place, whatever. I mean, if I have to spend one million dollars in 24 hours, you can bet your sweet ass that I'm going to get as much long term value as I can out of it!

We would plan on raising chickens for meat and eggs, gardening and maybe even hunting for meat.

That would be the bulk of our spending, is making it so that our living expenses are pretty much taken care of, requiring us to need very little in terms of regular income.

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That would be spent and done, but because we wouldn't need to be meeting mortgage payments, that would free up other money to do other things, like investing, building a retreat cabin or two... How that would play out, I'm not 100% sure. I would probably like to build a cabin or a tiny house or two to have available for friends or people who need a break from regular life who can't afford to rent a cabin in the mountains. Being able to get a break from the daily stresses of life might not seem like much, but it can be HUGE when it's needed. I would love to be able to supply that for people.

So basically, I would invest in my home and my immediate family having a solid place to live that took the financial pressures off for a long while to come. We could all still work and make money, but it could go towards savings, helping others and maybe even doing fun things like tropical vacations.

For me, the most important part would be the long term financial stability. Knowing that I would always have a home without a big mortgage payment or rent to come up with every month. Plus... that VIEW!

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And I nominate @mariannewest @trucklife-family @jaynie

(No pressure, of course, but if you have the time! It was a fun challenge to take my mind off of real life for a bit!)

Click the icons to read some of my other posts!

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And some of my other more recent posts:

Weekend Freewrite: To Change Our Fate

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Sunday Funnies: When Cats Get Bored, Letters from a Boat Cat

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Mommy Monday: Puppet Making, Part 4 (Making Poseable Hands)

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Try Something NEW Tuesday: I did a Rap Karaoke Video!

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Fiction: Short Writing Challenge "A Dog's Story"

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Photo by Patrick hendry from Unsplash

Sharing Our Steemit Work Space: My Steemit Office

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Photos & graphics are mine except where they are credited to their source under the photos
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I was thinking about that, too! I'm getting more interested in off-grid living (seeing this mad world we live in, how can you not) and this seems like a superb idea. Plus, I'd imagine a happy life. <3
You have a beautiful family!

Thank you! I have a pretty awesome family! Off grid living was just such an eye opening experience. It made me realize just how much money gets sucked down the drain every single freaking day for "necessities" because of the way our lives are set up here in the US. I look forward to the day that we can do that again.

Living the dream and enjoying a healthy future, summed up well.

Land out in an area you always dreamed about, nice @byn

I am very much looking forward to it! I hope my kids all find partners that want to come and live nearby, too!! :)

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YASSSSSSS. Please, let's do it!

Sooooooon!

If I had a million dollars to spend in one day I would do the same. Not having to worry about where to get the money for major things like mortgage (and even food- it's amazing how much you can save per year when you have chickens!) is a huge load to take off. I would definitely buy some horses with some of the money left over, too :)

My husband also wants to get goats or sheep, something for our herding dog to work at :)

And YES, its amazing how cheaply we can live without the constant drain of the typical mortgage, utilities and grocery shopping all the time! When you have to plan ahead for food in bulk, it can make a BIG difference!

Damn good idea, get off the grid and just try and live a happy life :) If you plan, work hard, it could become real ;)

I'd love it and it is the plan someday! Maybe not on such an immediate grand scale or anything, but the general idea. We LOVED living off grid on our boat, but I missed my grown kids way too much to always be that far away!

More and more people I know talk about that kind of living..but, yeah, if you've got kids it's hard to be away from them too long. My mom keeps on telling me to move home, hehe. :)

I'm fortunate that all of my kids want to move there with us. They are all into various things sustainable-living wise, so it would actually work quite perfectly! Right now we all live within 10 miles of each other and I see them all the time, but we're all wanting to move to the mountains and get away from our current location. If any crypto that we're invest in takes off... we'll be there! :)

P.S. Call your mom and say hi :)

Yup that I said, Land! need the land!

Yes! Land, space, all of it! :) I knew you'd understand!

It's interesting how so many people have a similar idea. A simpler life is a happier life.

Our life on the boat was as simple as it gets and we LOVED it so much. If not for the fact that I was stuck 3,000 miles away from half of my children (because they were adults with their own lives) and really very little chance to see them or even talk to them, we would probably still be there. It was amazingly CHEAP to live without having to worry about rent or mortgage, electricity, etc.

I would prefer land based life for many reasons, but regardless, it was amazing. I wish so much we'd have spent the time and money on land instead, but we all have to make mistakes to learn and I can't regret the amazing experiences we had on the boat, either. Life is about learning and growing, after all! :)

I think that so many of us get trapped in a mortgage (or other debt, but for us it was the mortgage) and feel stuck or trapped in this endless cycle of living the life of bills and expenses.

Beautiful family...

Btw, this post made me wonder how much da' gubment would want to call for at tax time...lol...

If the mil is taxes paid...okay; but, let's cut that to less than 700K if Unc' Sam requires his share...

Still, a nice chunk of change for ownership; but, clearly money has a way of being chiseled away substantially before it's ever free to spend.

24 hours to spend 1Mil? That's 100K ten times. Hmmm...I'd give 100K to charitable causes. Then, prolly buy five $100K fixer-uppers, buy upgrades (appliances, wood/stone flooring, tiles) and hire a handy-man contractor (all for 200K) to fix them up for resale; and a $100K personal shopping spree...don't ask I could do it...lol...and lastly take several dream vacations (plenty of time to sleep during flights) and lavishly tip those along the way as a reminder that with GOD, all things are possible.

Best regards.

Peace.

I assumed with the astromoically silly "within 24 hours" part that it was just an exercise in writing and thinking of what you'd do... without thinking through the tedious things like the government! I prefer to keep them out of my fantasy life as much as possible!!! :)

I do like the idea of helping people, but having the security of home and land, I feel like i could help people a lot and for a long time to come by getting something solid set in place first.

I'm not religious, but my mom is and she has a huge piece of land outside of her hometown where she holds a Christian camp for kids every year. She has done amazing things for kids and families through her land that she wouldn't have ever been able to do by just handing out money or donating to other places. I think that is what I would like to do myself, create a place to give back long term, rather than just throw money here and there. Of course she DOES donate money and time elsewhere as well, but I definitely like the idea of having land and then using that to help others more over the years. Who knows where life will lead?

I prefer to keep them out of my fantasy life as much as possible!!! :)

For suuuuuure. Dang, pro’lem with fantasy is reality!!!

getting something solid set in place first.

Got it…I’ve learned the hard way to always thank God first what He blesses me with. In the Old Testament it is called the tithe. In the New Testament it is called …

I'm not religious,

I know…You keep telling me that!!!! That doesn’t mean God can’t use you for His Good Pleasure. That doesn’t mean He won’t Call you one day; and you will hear His Voice…In fact, the more centered you become in meditation, the more clearly your answers will become as your spirit aligns with the Triune God’s Spirit (Father, Son, Holy Ghost).

but my mom is and she has a huge piece of land outside of her hometown where she holds a Christian camp for kids every year. ..I definitely like the idea of having land and then using that to help others more over the years.

Blessed are you to having a praying momma still on this side. Few things are more precious (and powerful) than a praying parent.

Who knows where life will lead?

I know what you mean; but, from my perspective one of two eternal destinations: heaven or hell.

I’ve really enjoyed your replies. I pray GoOD things for your family; especially for you and hubby. I know you mentioned that he’s going through a dark time. One thing’s for sure; for believers and unbelievers alike, no one makes it through this life without the dark times. Prayerfully, the light of inspiration and clarity will burst forth soon.

Best regards.

Peace.

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