Tell The National Lottery what you’d do with a fantasy £20,000 - £250 voucher prize draw! NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

You may have heard recently that The National Lottery's Lotto game is changing this autumn and is introducing a new Raffle where 50 players will win £20,000 in each draw. To celebrate this, The National Lottery have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters would do with (a fantasy) £20,000.

Here's what The National Lottery say: "As of 5th October, Lotto is changing, offering more ways to win more money. The prize for matching three numbers will be increased from £10 to £25, the jackpots will be bigger (£2.5million on Wednesday and £5million on Saturdays) and there's a new raffle where 50 players will win a guaranteed £20,000 each draw. Tickets for the new game go on sale on 3rd October and cost £2 per line. We would love to hear about how Mumsnetters would spend £20,000 if they were to win the raffle prize!"

So what would you do if you were to win £20,000? Would you go on a huge spending spree, or would you be more careful with your winnings and put it aside for a rainy day?

What have you always wanted to do, but have never managed to justify the cost of? Dine at a Michelin-starred restaurant? Buy a piece of designer jewellery? Maybe you'd splash it all on a round the world holiday? Or perhaps you'd save it to make life easier for you and your DCs if they decide to go to university? Or would you take the opportunity to clear (some) debts or pay off a chunk of the mortgage?

Whatever it is, The National Lottery would love to hear about it.

Everyone who shares their thoughts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 Love2Shop voucher.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

I would use it to buy a home. Without a windfall DP and I will never be able to own a home.

Actually - pay off debts and finally finish doing up our house. Fantasy - buy a campervan and drive round the UK and Europe

Finish the work on our house - all the essential bits are nearly done but it would be lovely to have money to do the extra things like decorate and move the oil tank

Pay a landscape gardener to come and revamp the garden so it was lovely and lower maintainance

Save the rest as a holiday fund so hopefully we could go on a nice,but not overly extravagant holiday for the next few years.

IVF cycles

£20,000 seems like a lot of money in theory but it really doesn't go that far.....(and I'm not being greedy either!). Hmmm..options:

a) pay off a big chunk of fast-diminishing (but not fast enough) mortgage whilst our interest-rate remains relatively low to play the long game

or

b) build a proper conservatory at the back of our house to make a bit more space.....

or

c) go on a proper family holiday (we haven't had a decent, no expense spared holiday since being a family) to remember

d) Bank it to help the children with either their university fees or with a deposit to buy their first flat/house.....

e) Invest it as a pension pot as we are not going to be flush on the basis of current pension predictions...

I would use part of it to go on holiday, either a cruise or to New York. And buy myself a second hand VW Beetle.

Then I would probably use the rest to pay a bit off the mortgage.

I would buy my partner a Breitling watch, and i would love a makeover and shopping spree. I would then spend second car for the family, I have a huge dentists bill coming up and save any left over for Christmas :)

I would travel France in a camper van and fill it with as much cheap but delicious local wines as would possibly fit in there.
With the remaining I would be more sensible and clear some debts. Finally I would be a bit greedy and buy a few £10 scratch cards....

New car, definitely. The old one is eleven years old, horribly fuel inefficient, smells bad, and has its own ecosystem. I'd love to get a new one with a warranty, that's fuel efficient enough to get cheaper road tax and parking permits (we don't drive it enough for the actual petrol use to be a big deal), and that has an iPhone dock. I'd spend nineteen thousand on that, and the remaining grand would go on a lovely new kingsize bed and mattress to replace our knackered double futon.

I'd put £2000 into each of the kiddies saving accounts, buy a new (to me) car as its not great having a 3 door clio with a 2 year old, 3 month old and double buggy! Then a nice family holiday somewhere, not after going anywhere exotic, crete or cyprus would be great!

I expect we'd have a (fairly cheap) holiday abroad, somewhere the kids would enjoy. We'd pay a chunk off our mortgage. Dh would buy a Macbook Pro and I'd buy a lot of fabric! Oooh, that's just made me think. I'd buy a Janome Horizon to make quilting easier.

I'd be really dull and probably use half of it to do some renovations to the house (desperately need new carpets throughout!) and the other half would pay off (a tiny proportion) of the mortgage.

I'd probably keep £200 or so back to treat me and DS to a weekened away, or just to blow on cinema trips and pizza! We're easily pleased!

Spend it all on my house. Imagine my house would still look like it is falling down though

Clear debts, and then the deposit on a house. Bit boring.

I'd secretly want to blow it all an a ridiculously long and expensive holiday.

I'd pay £15,000 off the mortgage and then use the rest to stay on site at Disney in Florida (my dream holiday)

My mum inherited a clock from my auntie, her sister. It's tiny, French and apparently very rare. She would love to have it serviced and repaired and has been quoted £££ to have it done. That's the first thing I would spend the money on.

Next I would take DH and DS on a fabulous holiday. Probably Disney.

Finally I would get our ageing kitchen sorted and install a dishwasher.

I would use most of it on debts and 2000£ to do a training course I want to do but can't afford.

If I were debt free it would go on a nice holiday.

I would pay off some bills to make my college course easier, I would buy a decent car and I'd go on holiday somewhere fabulous

Take dd to Spain where she dreams of going.
Just me and her, for a month.
Move into nicer rented accom than we are in at the mo'

Take DD to Egypt, but do it really properly - best hotel, trip down the Nile, visit all the sites. I've been trying to get the money together for it for years, but something always happens - new boiler, brother dies, yada yada yada. She's wanted to be an Egyptologist since she was 3 or 4 and hasn't wavered (14 now). So many of her school friends have been; mind you, that's to Sharm el Sheikh, slightly different

£20,000 would be enough to clear off all of our debts, including the car finance so we'd own the car. That'd take about half of it.

The rest would cover most of a deposit for a house.

Pay a bit off the mortgage.

Put some in savings.

Honeymoon to Disneyland.

Upgrade car.

Build a summerhouse.

Buy another lottery ticket.

I'd pay for my mother in law to have an accessible bathroom (she lives in rural kenya and is getting on in years) it upsets me greatly that we can't do this for her.

the rest, buy a new (to me, not new new ) car and treat the kids to some new (new new!) clothes instead of charity shop ones for a change!

If there was anything left, I'd split it between the kids and put it in a savings account for them

i will lay the whole lot out on my carpet and step on it, scold it for not coming sooner and then book one of those celebrity like holidays to the Caribbean with my whole family and splash the rest on her my heart desire. i wouldn't pay a single bill with it.

It would probably go on holidays.
A skiing holiday with my sister and her family and SIL and her family. A trip to Disneyland Paris, and a weekend somewhere nice for me and DH.
Any left over I would spend on things the DC want, but we can't afford (ipads, laptops, new beds).