How to Spend 3.2 Billion Dollars

Hello Lovelies,

You may have heard on the news last week that the US Powerball Jackpot was up to, you guessed it; a staggering 3.2 BILLION DOLLARS! That's a whole lot of moolah. It was originally just running in the US but was opened up to Canada, Mexico and Australia to enter.

I've never bought a lottery ticket, nor do I plan to; I got no pennies for that! I did however get one for my birthday one year and won $5. If you win ALL the cash dollars, you would have 640 000 000, five dollar notes... that's a whole lot of {insert whatever you can buy for $5 these days.}

Even though there's zero chance of me winning, you-got-to-be-in-it-to-win-it {although with the odds, chances are even if you bought tickets you won't win either} I thought it would be fun to think about how I would spend 3.2 BILLION DOLLARS. And to do that, firstly I needed to google how many zeroes are in a billion. It seems that everyone is asking le internet, as all I needed to type was 'how many' and it was the top answer. There are nine zeroes BTW!

Next, I knew what not to do, thanks to a guy in the UK who spent all of his 10 million pounds on alcohol, drugs and women in just eight years! OK, well also I don't drink much, I don't take drugs and I'm happily married. Oh, yeah and what a complete waste of money and life!

Now it's time for the good bit, how to spend 3.2 BILLION DOLLARS. I would start off paying any debt - not exciting, but important - for your car, house, business, study and any bills that are due. For the hubby and I, we don't have a car loan and we live rent free in the laundry/storage space under the house of my in-laws. We do however owe Tom's parents around the five thousand dollar mark for our wedding {this was the approximate total for the WHOLE WEDDING - it is possible!} We do however have some HECS to pay the government for our brief stints at uni. I have no idea how much, perhaps $5 to $10K. I'd also like to give some moolah to Tom's parents for taking us in when we were struggling, and we're still here nearly two years later! Perhaps $20K.

So that's debt covered. Now onto helping out the family. My dad is in a nursing home, so I would cover all the costs for that and also for when Tom's gran moves into one too. My mum and sister are doing a huge renovation of our family home, step-by-step for the first time probably since the 70's! {you do not want to see the horrible mustard and brown patterned vinyl on the kitchen floor} And Tom's parent's house could do with some love too.

Spending:

• WEDDING - $5K
• HECS - $10K
• LAUNDRY/LIFE - $20K
• DAD NURSING HOME/MEDICAL BILLS - $100K P/YR
• GRAN NURSING HOME/MEDICAL BILLS - $100K P/YR
• FAMILY HOME - $100K
• IN-LAWS' HOME - $100K

Running Total: $435k

Tom's sisters have six children between them ranging from 5 months to 8 years and I'd love to give them a break. Perhaps a cleaner once a month, mini holiday every 6 months, spa treatment every birthday, weekend away without the kids every 3 months and $5K term deposit accounts for all my nephews and nieces.

Spending:

• CLEANERS - $5K P/YR
• MINI HOLIDAYS - $12K P/YR
• SPA TREATMENTS - $500 P/YR
• WEEKEND AWAYS - $16K P/YR
• TERM DEPOSITS - $30K
• PREVIOUS SPENDING - $435K

Running Total: $498.5K

Next on the list, I would pay off my in-laws mortgage, and their loans. I have no idea, let's say $50k. For mum and Nay, I would give them $50K each so mum doesn't have to worry about working as much, to put it into retirement savings or do some travelling. And so nay can save, pay off debt and travel.

Now that the family is taken care of we can have fun thinking about how we'd spend some moolah on ourselves. It's Tom and my dream to each start a creative small business, to buy land, build our home with recycled materials, have lots of animals and grow our own food.

Spending:

• IN-LAWS' DEBT - $50K
• MUM - $50K
• NAY - $50K
• TOM BIZ - $100K
• LIZ BIZ - $100K
• LAND - $200K
• BUILD HOME - $200K
• ANIMALS - $15K P/YR
• GROW FOOD - $2K
• PREVIOUS SPENDING - $498.5K

Running Total: $1 265 500

So, we've just passed the million mark, and there is SO MUCH MORE to go! Holey moley, it's a lot of money. 

Tom and I haven't had the money to travel together, so we would get on that. Probably travel around the US, UK, Europe and Australia. We'd be able to do EVERYTHING on our bucket lists. We could invest in small business start ups. Give generously at church, missionaries, charities and organisations who care for animals, the environment and the poor. Oh and also for the arts! We could put a stop to coal and invest in alternative power solutions. We could help all the refugees, providing food, water, shelter, education and medical supplies; to help them rebuild their lives. I feel like that kind of money could put a serious dent, if not stop world hunger.

If you have any money to give, you've been blessed by God to enable you to be generous to others. Give til your heart explodes with joy and then keep on giving! Whether we're rich or poor, we can still give. Don't store up riches for yourself, you can't take it with you when you die. Worldly riches spoil and fade, store up riches in heaven that last forever. And remember God's in control - he gives and takes away - so appreciate what he's blessed you with!

How would you spend 3.2 billion dollars? And what blessings are you thankful for? 

Lizzie xo