If you won the Mega Millions jackpot, what is one hugely extravagant gift you would get yourself?

[charlie and algernon]

We're all good DUers here, so I imagine that nearly all of us would use the money to pay off all our bills and donate a ton to charity.

But if you did win $150 million (after taxes), what is ONE hugely extravagant, expensive, completely unnecessary item you would buy for yourself?



For me: I would buy a really nice private jet and learn how to fly it. I want to be able to say, "I'm bored today, let's fly to Montana." People go on Sunday drives, I want to take Sunday flights.

[HopeHoops]

1. A Wusthof paring knife.

Okay, not that extravagant, but they're good knives!

[HopeHoops]

59. I'm almost afraid to ask, but what does that have to do with a paring knife?

[NewJeffCT]

2. install solar panels on my house

and make the home more energy efficient and independent overall (i.e., geothermal heating/cooling). Not an extravagance over the long-term, but solar panels can be a hefty up-front expense, even with state & federal tax credits.

[geardaddy]

3. House on Cape Cod.

[backtoblue]

4. A month-long vacation to ANYWHERE!!!

[hlthe2b]

5. A very extravagant vacation... at least four weeks, maybe eight...

Not even sure where... Perhaps the South Pacific... Maybe Europe... Ireland... So many places I'd love to go.

Would probably take my sister (I owe her something extravagant). How nice that would be.

[DiverDave]

6. New Towels!!

Oh and pillows too.

Then I'd prolly just give the rest away...

[MiddleFingerMom]

48. I was at a Christmas Eve party in the 80's with a bunch of Manhattan ad agency types...

.
.
.
... all of whom were making serious 6-figure salaries, talking about what
they'd do if they were REAL rich.
.
One woman said she'd buy luxurious bath towels and only use them once.
.
.
She laughed and said that her Midwestern upbringing wouldn't let her get
away with that completely -- she'd probably cut them up and use them
for dustrags.
.

.
.
.

[Major Nikon]

7. I'd buy all my relatives and friends a set of jumper cables

I already have a an airplane that I've flown to Montana a couple of times.

[TheMightyFavog]

8. Round the World Cruise on the Queen Mary 2

106 days at sea.

[rrneck]

9. I would never actually own anything again.

Everything would be leased, rented, or borrowed. If I wanted to play with something I would just pay to play with it and have somebody else maintain it. When I got tired of it just send it back. Owning a bunch of shit just complicates your life. Even if you can afford to hire a flock of personal assistants to manage your stuff, you have to manage them. It's not really better.

For me, wealth would mean freedom from my and everybody else's stuff.

[backtoblue]

11. Excellent idea!

My grandparents have always preached to me that owning things is a hassle and you're better of renting or leasing if you had the means to save on the headache and expenses of maintenance.

[bigwillq]

22. Great idea.

[Myrina]

10. I would buy the house behind mine and kick the hoarder out

... tear that house down and have the yard immaculately landscaped & designated as a neighborhood 'green spot', then have my house remodeled to include an enormous master bath with heated floors and a jacuzzi. Then I'd leave on a 6 month tour of Europe and the Mediterranean.

About 100k would go into a trust for my daughter, a million would go into an 'expense account' for the rest of my life (I'm only 40), and the rest I'd give to various charities, pay off other folks' mortgages and student loans, and set up several scholarships.

[mysuzuki2]

13. a minor league baseball team. And a blimp.

[Brickbat]

14. I would remodel my bathroom to get the bathroom of my dreams.

I'm not a big house/design person, but I love luxury bathrooms. Huge tubs! Tons of clean towels! Lots of storage space! Heated floor! People not leaving dirty underwear on the floor of the closet!

Actually, the best thing of all is that it would be insulated. I live in northern Minnesota and my bathroom is not insulated. Sometimes, during a bad winter, the shampoo freezes if you leave the bottle in the bottom of the tub.

[OriginalGeek]

16. lol those Kitchen and bath remodel shows on HGTV

are damn near porn for me. Without even noticing I will look up at the clock and see I've been watching them for hours...and drooling the whole time...

[Brickbat]

20. Hee! I never watch any of them, but when we go to the carpet/tile store, I always grab all the

tub and toilet catalogs, and dream...

[OriginalGeek]

15. I would find as many Gibson Les Paul's* as I could

and hand them out as party favors

at my fancy parties.


*( I don't play and I don't know much about guitars but I know Jimmy Page plays a Les Paul and I have many friends who do play and would love to have a have Les Paul. I would also make sure to hire someone who is knowledgeable so I don't get stuck with fakes or knock-offs)

I'd keep one and take time to learn to play. Probably.

[hedgehog]

17. I'd attach a greenhouse to the back of the house

It would have a shallow pond and a hedgehog roaming about!

[hifiguy]

18. I would find myself a piece of land

where I wanted to live - very probably in New Zealand - and find an architect to design me a house on the same stylistic lines as a very wealthy acquaintance of mine built a few years ago. It was done in an aesthetically exquisite blend of Frank Lloyd Wright's prairie style and Japanese influences both inside and out.

That and a couple of Ferraris and a Lamborghini.

[hunter]

19. I'd probably leave the U.S.A.

My ancestors left Europe as militaristic empires churned and crushed the common people.

My ancestors dodged the U.S. Civil War, relocating to California and the Wild West.

A propensity for emigration is strong within my genes.

[sinkingfeeling]

21. A year long trip around the world, to visit almost all the countries.

[wysimdnwyg]

23. This might do...

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/25873-Paseo-Estribo_Monterey_CA_93940_M25749-45036

Of course, most any house along the coast in Monterey, CA would be suitable.

[MicaelS]

24. A very nice limo and a crew of full time drivers

So I would never have to drive anywhere, ever again.

[Adsos Letter]

25. Road Trip!!!

One year on the road in a really nice Mercedes, going first-class on everything.

[UrbScotty]

26. An election! Really, though, probably a cottage.

[Burma Jones]

27. Extravagant?

A Tesla Roadster and enough Solar panels to keep it humming.......

[GoCubsGo]

66. That's what I want.

Only in blue.

[Doc Holliday]

28. That's easy.

A condo in Amsterdam. Might even buy a coffee house or two while I'm at it....for investment purposes, you understand.

I always promised myself that I'd move to A-dam if I ever won the lottery!

[CaliforniaPeggy]

29. Diamonds--making sure, of course, that they weren't blood diamonds...

I've always wanted some substantial diamond earrings...

[Quartermass]

30. A large ship to travel the world in.

[dr.strangelove]

31. I would expand my house

Its lovely, but a bit small. I would love my kids to each have their own room and give my wife and I our own bathroom. Its not necessary and we get along fine, but I would make the place bigger if I could.

[cliffordu]

32. A congresscritter.

[blueamy66]

33. go on a world cruise

and take my entire family with me!

[Doc Holliday]

38. You must get along

with your family 'way better than I do.

I'd think that one of the joys of going on a cruise would be to get away from the family for awhile....but hey, that's just me. I've always gotten along best with my family when there's at least a time zone or two between us. Love them all....but some of them I don't like very much.

[blueamy66]

50. Well, we'd be on a BIIIIGGG boat so when the little ones start whining

I can go to the other end of the boat and lock myself in!!!!

[amyrose2712]

34. I would buy my Boo a Buchala

[IMG][/IMG]
I can't think of anything extravagant that I want. Right now all I want is a pair of freaking jeans that FIT!

[Bombero1956]

35. Chia pet

I really like that Scooby Doo.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

36.

[bikebloke]

37. Retire to another country.

Maybe New Zealand. Maybe somewhere else. And continue travelling backpacker/budget style.

[Bucky]

39. a cheeseburger

[sakabatou]

40. I wouldn't get a single, extravagent thing.

A house (3 bedrooms, 2 baths), a car, a couple of computers.

Maybe something in the future.

[RebelOne]

41. A brand-new Cadillac.

I have always loved Cadillacs. I had a Cadillac Cimmaron once. I called it my baby Cadillac because I could not afford a grown one.

[BiggJawn]

42. A large sailboat.

Large enough to live onboard, and I would cruise for the rest of my life.

[Moondog]

43. My tastes are simple - real estate, as follows -

A modest estate in northern Italy, a little pied-à-terre in an appealing place on the Côte d'Azur, and a decent flat in one of the tonier and safer sections of London.

The unnecessary extravagance would be to hire some decent decorators and have each of them tarted up with originals and period pieces.

And then I would just live in them.

[femmocrat]

44. A beach house.

I have always dreamed of retiring to a house on the beach.

[irisblue]

45. a review & long long walks & a BA degree

i'd give my supervisor an honest and true evaluation of her management skills, style and technical job performance over the last 5 years, the truth WILL finally be told. after that one big treat, i'd have 18 months off before i start college to finish my BA degree likely sociology/history , i'd take long walks, like the appalachian trail, north to south following the spring and i have always wanted to walk/hike mt fuji in japan in late spring/early summer then later that summer into late fall i'd like to hike coast to coast england, then a meander thru southern england ending up spending a winter in london, going often to the museums before i returned home. nice dreams for tonight.

[DinahMoeHum]

46. The use of a private jet or helicopter

n/t

[applegrove]

47. The most extravagant thing I want is expensive artisan silver jewelry. I love good silver jewelry.

I've always wanted to collect it but never had the money.

[MrScorpio]

49. A very expensive RV

Hitting the road, baby!

[RZM]

64. Me too, actually

Nice choice.

[guitar man]

51. I would build myself

... A world class recording studio just like the big boys have

[Populist_Prole]

52. A frame-off resto 1969 Pontiac GTO.

4-speed, dark green exterior, black interior. Ram Air IV engine. Such a thing would fetch about 80 to 100K today.

[unionworks]

53. Canadian Citizenship

And a little house on the prarie, self sufficient with animals and windmills.

[Amaril]

54. A cute, cozy little cottage

......with a TON of land so I could build enough climate controlled housing for all of the dogs that don't have families. Then I would hire a full staff -- vets, groomers, trainers, exercisers, etc. -- to keep them healthy, happy & well-loved until they could be adopted, or for life if a family can't be found for them.

[Broken_Hero]

55. I'd would hire a team of

construction workers, and have them build me a real life Fortress of Solitude....and I'd buy the Tumbler from Batman Begins.

[OhioBlue]

57. The extravagant gift to myself would be a house of my dreams

open floor plan - environmentally friendly materials and design, energy efficient, off the grid as much as possible, etc.

but i would love love love to play santa clause to some family members!!! Total Disney trip for some kids in my extended fam - coupled with a few dream mall trips for some of the teen girls.

[midnight armadillo]

58. I would buy an aircooled 1990's Porsche 911 and toss the stupid flat six motor...

...then install a GM Ecotec 4-cylinder turbo engine from a Saab 9-3 and tune the piss out of it while running it on E85. Then, to maximize the offense Porsche purists, I'd glue Chevy bowtise in place of the Porsche badges front & rear and slap on a Swedish flag bumper sticker. Finally I'd drive it to a gathering of Porsche collectors and do donuts on the lawn while blasting "Bitching Camaro" from the radio. YEEE HAW.

[jmowreader]

73. Well, start here...

http://www.kennedyenginc.com

Apparently more people than you have done this. Make sure to put the radiator on the roof, though.

[LiberalEsto]

60. Solar-paneled, off-the-grid house in Maine

With an electrically heated driveway that melts snow.

[Digit]

61. A home on the Boardwalk in Ocean City, MD

First hire a financial expert to help manage the winnings and keep me anonymous.

Pay off all my daughter's school loans and create a trust fund for her and my grandson.

Pay off my good friend's mortgage (her husband has been unemployed for 3 years).

Buy some businesses that would employ as many people as possible at a living wage and have enough money left over to put into additional businesses after paying CPA's and other management costs. The goal being to employ as many people as possible.

Help foreclosure victims by possibly buying the homes from the bank while allowing the homeowner to stay and restructure the loan to make this possible.

Make sure all the food banks in my current state stay well supplied. I live in a high unemployment state at the moment.

Buy a historic home in Northern Va for my primary residence. Not a mansion by any means, just an older home in good condition.

The home in Ocean City would be my extravagant expenditure I guess, but I am not even certain I would when I could do so much more good for others with the money.....anonymously.

I don't mean to sound like I am the savior of humanity, but I am older and know I can't take it with me. As long as my family is taken care of, I am fine. If I were thirty years younger, my lifespan would be longer and my plans might be different.

[bif]

62. A house either in Tuscany or the South of France

[Neoma]

63. 90,000 pieces of tracing paper.

So that I can make an animated movie.

[Bucky]

65. I'd buy the DVDs for all seven seasons of Hill Street Blues.

and some microwave popcorn.

[IcyPeas]

67. another vote for a nice quiet house on a nice warm beach

[Luciferous]

68. I would buy a beach house. I've always wanted to live near the ocean.

[marmar]

69. A luxury apartment in Paris, district 5e

nt

[sylveste]

70. a 12 million dollar, ex tiger wood's

house,so i could tear it down and piss people off.

[AsahinaKimi]

71. Would probably be this..

Last edited Sat Mar 23, 2013, 02:35 PM - Edit history (1)

"The most expensive katana of the day was a 13th century Kamakura blade that sold for $418,000 to an anonymous European collector. While the most valuable katana are likely museum pieces and utterly priceless, we can still call this one the most expensive katana in the world."

(note: Katana = Nihontou.)

[RevStPatrick]

72. Musical Instruments...

Lots and lots of musical instruments.
And weird ones, not just guitars and pianos.
And then I would open a museum, and let people play them!

[csziggy]

74. A staff to run my house and farm

Probably just a couple of people to help out, actually, because I really would not want people around all the time. But it would be nice to not have to cook or clean, though I wouldn't want to give up cooking altogether. It would be nice for hubby to not have to handle small repairs or changing filters or all those little details that have to be dealt with. And it would be grand to have someone to handle the landscaping and grow a decent garden!

I also like the idea of solar panels so the house could be completely self sufficient. I'd drill a second well, this one just for the house, and power it with solar also.

[quakerboy]

75. Wyoming. Or at least a large chunk of it. But I would need real money. In the billions.

I don't really want Wyoming.

I would start a city. Some sort of manufacturing base, and everything surrounding it. Maybe a big solar or wind installment, plus the manufacturing to make more for others. An artistic community to go with it. Tech based stuff. Make it a place people want to bring other business to, in such a way that it cannot draw just locals. With the goal of importing about 120k people from NYC, LA, San fran, etc. You see why I need the billions, not mere millions. Or maybe just enough to draw investment from others.

And with that, I would completely change the electoral map for this nation.

[KatyaR]

76. I'd get a really nice floor loom--and a house to put it in.

I've always wanted to learn to weave on a real loom. Looms are thousands of dollars, and then the things you need to use them are a lot of money as well.

The little apartment I live in isn't big enough for the loom I'd like, so I'd have to buy a house, nothing huge, but big enough for a fiber room and maybe a library, and a big back yard so I could have a big garden and flowers and the dog could run to his heart's content.

I guess actually the REALLY extravagant thing I'd buy would be a fully tricked out Mini and maybe an old truck like my dad had.

[deucemagnet]

77. A Batmobile

The features of our 1966 BATMOBILE ™ Replicas defy a summary, but we'll try: the exterior is top notch, with a spectacular show-car quality paint job; the car sports Radir wheels with accurately shaped bat spinners; we give you a brand new GM 350 crate engine and a brand new transmission. The interior is not only one of luxury and quality, but one of exceptional accuracy--every detail from the original car is mirrored as closely as possible. The center console aluminum trim, the five light flasher, the steering bezel, the door sill chevron tread plates, and the chrome-painted seat buckets are all perfect replicas of the original car. Even the very knobs, buttons and T handles are molded from vintage equipment.

What about the gadgets? What works? Our replicas come with gadgets galore: the "rocket exhaust" propane flamethrower works, the five highly-polished aluminum roll top dashboard doors glide open, the red beacon light flashes, the batbeam antenna grid raises between the front windshields, and the detect-a-scope radar screen glows green. Features that were science fiction and had to be faked on the TV show in 1966 are reality on our cars now: a DVD player plays on the LCD screen in the dash, and the hood and trunk raise and lower with electric actuators. The high-end stereo provides excellent sound, even at highway speeds.

http://www.fiberglassfreaks.com/joomla/index.php/replicas

Fuck yeah.

[NNadir]

78. A nice new bicycle for my wife and some time with her. N/T.

[dembotoz]

79. really pretty simple i have access to a seasonal camping trailer at a campground about 100 miles

away.
Resort area but a really nice spot--family has had same spot for 25 years now.

we have relaced the trailer once or twice but have kept the site.
perhaps replace the trailer again--it is getting long in the tooth.....

when i go there i feel my blood pressure go down......
and i never get there often enough
and every damn year i swear i will spend more time there and i never do

well if i could
i would
there are enought restauirants to keep my interesrt.
a near by casino which i have been to like once.

pretty damn simple
not that expensive
and it would be wonderful

[flvegan]

80. SSC Ultimate Aero.

Oh yes. Made in America, baby!

[elana i am]

81. i'd buy myself a big piece of property

put up a nice fence around it, build an animal sanctuary and fill it with as many cats, dogs, horses and donkeys and as few cages and leashes as could be managed.

[charlie and algernon]

82. There's a place in California that is set up like that, has hundreds of free roaming cats

But you have to tell me where that thread is with EarlG's locking message.

[elana i am]

83. here's the thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/101411204

[charlie and algernon]

85. that is awesome

[A HERETIC I AM]

84. If you're going to buy yourself a jet, go with the Citation X.

Fastest jet in the sky. Only thing faster is a military fighter.





http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cessna_Citation_X

If I won enough to buy a plane, I would buy a King Air B200;


Sexiest looking Turboprop out there, IMO.

And plenty fast as well;

http://www.pilotfriend.com/aircraft%20performance/Beech/new%20upload/King%20Air%20B200.htm

250 + MPH