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'd make donations to the Salvation Army and Zimbabwe's Children; pay off a good chunk of my daughter's debt; same for partner; then pay for a cracking good holiday.

I'd learn to drive and get a car, keep some for emergencies and send my mum on her last holiday before she loses her fight with cancer. A

A mundane spend would be a new kitchen. But a more adventurous one would be to travel to Romania and work with the wolf conservation project there.

In reality I would treat my daughter. It's been a rubbish two years.

Boring, but I would put it straight on the mortgage to help get a little nearer to paying it off.

I'd do boring things like making the house nice as rectifying the diy disasters that the previous owners left! Also would spend some on a trip of a lifetime to Malawi to enable the kids to spend time in a different culture and to work with a charity my aunt oversees.

I would pay off some debt, then take my family on holiday, because my dh lost his job in June and we haven't been away and I would love to take my daughter abroad. I would use the rest to cover the time until my dh finds new work and save any left over.

Spend 7.5k on my business, and the remainder towards our house deposit fund, which thanks to the crap interest rates is small and stagnant!

A holiday , driving lessons and some bills! Not very exciting , but exciting to us and enough to make a difference!

I would sit my driving test in an intensive course and buy a car book a family holiday and what's left put towards a deposit for a house.

possibly a new car. the old one is, well old.

deposit for a house. get out of this flat.

possibly go on a holiday.. nothing extravagant. uk based. but in the summer holidays when I can't afford it normally!

I would renovate my very old and tired house; our wiring is probably dangerous, the flat roof to the extension is leaking and we need some "me" space for our almost, but not quite, teen DS. Oh, and several of the double glazed units are filled with condensation, so some new windows.

And I might have enough left ovewr for a new handbag for me, and a parker shadow wave vintage fountain pen for DH.

And a bag of Haribo for the DC if there's owt left over from all that lot

Oh and I would be more impressed if one MNer were to win the actual £20k

I'd use it to get our cellar converted.

Its not a life-changing sum of money: I'd use it to pay a chunk of the mortgage off so we can move to a nicer house sooner.

If we won £20000 right now we would pay for our wedding (£4000), pay off my overdraft (£2000), buy a newer car (£3000), do up the house with a new kitchen & bathroom (£5000). Then the remaining £6000ish we would use for a holiday and then divide what was left between our savings & DS's. Not that I've thought about it a lot or anything

I'd put a conservatory on the back, or have the most amazing holiday to Disney with out LO - 1st class all the way

£20,000 Hmmm.

Deposit for a mortgage, help pay removal costs to relocate to an area with a better commute and a chance of getting into the local schools.

And some spare change for a batman action figure for DS1 and a Thomas the tank engine toy for DS2.

Of course, if it were millions instead of mere thousands, I would do something really interesting!

I'd get a new(er) car with a proper seat belt in the middle rather than a lap belt, and do up the bathroom.

I would put £3k aside to pay for another Habitat for Humanity trip once bump is born and up a bit.

The rest would probably be given to DP to plan the big wedding/honeymoon he wants for us.

£20,000 would change our lives.

I would learn to drive and buy a car so I can take the kids out. DS has SN and isn't the easiest person to control on public transport. It's getting harder and harder to take him out but will never qualify for a blue badge. We could go to more places a lot easier. Shopping would be a doddle and save a fortune in taxis. I could get a job that still allows me to be back in time after he's finished school. It would mean that I could get to his school in an emergency and not rely on a mate to do it.

It would just mean that I would get more independence, more freedom, more time.

The way things are at the moment, I just can't afford it.

If not the car, then it would be a huge chunk off UNI fees. It's a dream of mine to go to Uni.

If I was clever, I could get a bathroom, one that's not covered in mould, cracked tiles or leaks. There will still be enough for a car and driving lessons.

I'd love to take the kids away. We've never been away. They are desperate to go to New York, I can't afford the train fare to York at the moment, never mind anything else.

I think the biggest thing for me would be to get the passports renewed. New passports that dont have a massive reminder of what I've missed out on in the form of an expired visa to Aus. Exp is now there on his own. He went without us all, just before the expiry date so we couldn't get there.

£20,000 wouldn't be wasted. I would mean the world. Even a £250 voucher would make things easier.

Someone up thread said it isn't a life changing amount of money. It is. You have no idea just how much it is.

I'd probably do a whole family holiday and the rest I'd put into the rainy day fund tbh.
Dh would probably want to spend the rainy day fund money on renovating the garden though.

send Ds1 and 2 to University without having to take a student loan

£20000 wouldn't cover even one through uni, sadly.

I was thinking that Remus - The course I want to do, i'm looking at 40,000 minimum.