I won $1.00

Candelaria Silva — Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:05:10 -0600

I won $1.00 yesterday - same as I spent. I'll keep you posted.

One less donut on these lips. :-)

blog.candelariasilva.com

Good and plenty!

I love it!

Maria Niles — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 22:30:56 -0600

The lottery diet - tickets instead of doughnuts - what a great idea! :)

Good luck, I hope that vivid dream comes to pass and you get a shot at managing despite the complications.

Lottery Diet

Candelaria Silva — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 20:21:19 -0600

In my latest blog, I wrote about my new idea of buying a lottery ticket instead of a donut.

I know that winning the lottery would ease the money worries and allow me to fund scholarships, etc. I have a friend who hit for $250k and she said that if you hit for that small an amount (I'll take it doesn't sound small to me but I know what she means), don't tell your family because they all want a piece of it. I dreamt that I wont for $21m once and the dream was so vivid that I woke up thinking I'd actually won.

If I hit big, I'd go to an undisclosed location with my husband, make a plan of who and how to make personal loans/gifts and then start a couple of scholarship funds and what to give to some deserving organizations and initiatives I give to in small #s now.

I can see how there'd be complications but I'm willing to give it a shot! blog.candelariasilva.com

Good and plenty!

swapping one for the other?

Maria Niles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 22:01:09 -0600

Could it leave you, though, with a different set of things to lie awake at night worrying about. That would be the fear for me - the money would eliminate concerns only to replace it with new ones. But, as I said, it's a chance I would be willing to take :)

More money, more blogging

Maria Niles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:57:22 -0600

I agree, Kate - if I won the lottery there would be more blogging. And you make a good point, if you are going to be miserable might as well be on your own schedule and blogging it :)

I don't think money would

MamacitaG — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 21:36:18 -0600

I don't think money would make me happier, but it would eliminate most of what I lie awake at night worrying about.

"Don't be content with being average. Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top."

I'm quitting my day job

aftercancer — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 20:59:56 -0600

I've already decided. I'd quit my job and become a full time blogger. I don't know for sure that I'd be happier but if I was miserable it'd be doing something different.

Kate

I blog at http://www.aftercancernowwhat.blogspot.com

Sounds intriguing

Maria Niles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:11:42 -0600

I look forward to learning the secrets of how winning the lottery can buy you happiness :)

BlogHer Contributing Editor
PopConsumer
Beyond Help

Heh

Denise — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:05:31 -0600

I'm blogging this topic too, later this week... I'm coming out of the closet about the lottery... at least I'm going to try and come out of the closet. I haven't actually written the post yet, so we'll see what we get.

I can tell you ... winning a lot of money in a lottery can, in fact, buy you many many things -- including happiness.

~Denise
BlogHer Community Manager

Flamingo House Happenings

Could I be happy if I won the lottery?

Maria Niles — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:00:04 -0600

In a word, yes.

I know this because I am happy even though I haven't won the lottery or received some other large chunk of change. I also know that if I were not happy irrespective of money, winning the lottery would not bring me happiness. But winning the lottery could also bring a happy person much misery.

There seem to be contradiction in that bundle of statements I just made. Let me explain why I believe them to be true. Rich people in the United States are more likely to report that they are happy than poorer people.

In the United States, about 90 percent of people in households making at least $250,000 a year called themselves “very happy” in a recent Gallup Poll. In households with income below $30,000, only 42 percent of people gave that answer.

It seems therefore that more money = more happiness, right? Not so much. There are two factors in those numbers that matter. First, it is income that is reported not how much money one has. Higher incomes are perceived by many Americans as a measure of their success and thus are related to happiness. Also, these incomes are relative to standards of living in the U.S.. Other studies show that once you have enough income to meet your needs, happiness doesn't increase significantly with income. Therefore in some countries where the cost of living is much lower, a larger percentage of those with incomes of $30,000 report happiness.

America is the richest country in the world yet we are nowhere near the happiest. That status goes to Denmark for two main reasons: social services and social life.

The happiest people in the world pay some of the highest taxes in the world -- between 50 percent and 70 percent of their incomes. In exchange, the government covers all health care and education, and spends more on children and the elderly than any country in the world per capita. With just 5.5 million people, the system is efficient, and people feel "tryghed" -- the Danish word for "tucked in" -- like a snug child.

Those high taxes have another effect. Since a banker can end up taking home as much money as an artist, people don't chose careers based on income or status. "They have this thing called 'Jante-lov,' which essentially says, 'You're no better then anybody else,'" said Buettner. "A garbage man can live in a middle-class neighborhood and hold his head high." ...

Josef Bourbon, a carpenter's apprentice, is also happy with his choice of career and enjoys the work. "I think it's about building something, seeing what you've worked on the whole day -- you can see what you've done," he said. On weekends he likes fish and hunt or play with his new puppy.

Bourbon is another example of Denmark's unusual social structure, because he happens to be a prince. Descended from a Danish king and related to the royal houses of both Spain and France, Bourbon has chosen to be a carpenter's apprentice, and he rarely discusses his lineage with anyone. Not even with potential dates when he's out on the town.

In all likelihood, Bourbon will probably just keep up his current cozy social life, hanging around with friends and family who live nearby. Danes even have a name for these kind of gatherings, calling these intimate and spontaneous get-togethers 'hygge' (pronounced "hoogey").

If you're looking for a lottery win to bring happiness you might be better off seeing if you could win some kind of lottery for friends. More and better relationships are one of the biggest factors in ones happiness.

So it seems pretty clear to me that winning the lottery can't bring happiness if you don't know how to find it before winning. Take for example the subject of the 2005 documentary, Reversal of Fortune. A homeless man is given $100,000. Rather than the money bringing him happiness, it brings him a life no happier and in some ways harder than his life on the streets to which he eventually returns. And tales of lottery winners who ruin their lives and go bankrupt are legend.

Jack Whittaker is perhaps the most spectacular example of a lottery winner who is much unhappier because of the money. After winning the largest lottery jackpot ever - $314 million - in just a couple of years the lives of he, his family and friends were in shambles and his beloved teen granddaughter was dead from a drug overdose. By accounts, before winning the lottery, Whittaker's life was a happy one filled with family, friends and a dedication to his church and giving to others. While he continued his charity work by establishing a foundation which has given tens of millions away, the money seemed to change Whittaker and many around him and not for the better.

If you are already happy when you win the lottery there seems to be a few strategies to maintaining that happiness. First, give to others.

Yes, Money Can Buy Happiness but probably not in the way you imagined. Spending it on yourself may not do much for your spirits, but spending it on others will make you happier, according to a report from a team of social psychologists in the new issue of Science.

D at Real Lottery Winner is testing this theory. He won the lottery and is blogging his random acts of kindness and encouraging others to do the same, pointing out that you don't have to win the lottery to be kind and happy.

As for the feelings it has brought me…. initially it was kind of about the expensive cars and the hottest gadgets. But now I’ve learned that bringing people joy is what I am meant to do with my winnings. And I will continue to do so.

It's not all kindness and joy as a lottery winner, though and D has been honest in his blogging that his winnings have brought never-before-heard-from relatives and brand new "friends" out of the woodwork and all with a hand out. I suspect that because D was young when he won his millions (25) it might be harder for him to have a well developed group of true friends that he can count on from before his big win.

That would be my one fear if I won the lottery. I wouldn't blow it all on fancy "stuff." I would give more generously to charities I already support. I already know who my friends and family are and how much they support me now. I don't think I would be dazzled by a sudden increase in interest in me. But it could be depressing to witness the inevitable change in some people. There could be sadness at not being able to help everyone who wants and needs assistance. Isolation could come from needing to guard against those who would approach without having my best interest in their heart.

It would be difficult but I'd be happy to try. I already have a plan. Now I just need to actually buy a ticket.

How about you? Do you play the lottery? Have you ever won? Fantasize about what you would do with your winnings? Do you think you could be happy if you did?

Four city workers — who had been polling their money in the office pot for nearly five years under the verbal agreement that they’d all share the winnings — were out of the office and unavailable to contribute to the office pool for a drawing last month that resulted in a $207 million payoff. The four planitiffs are suing 15 co-workers who are keeping the $207 million Mega Millions lottery winnings all to themselves.

S. Dinneen at SundayMail.co.uk: We won £3 million on the lottery and opened our own hair salon

Despite bank balances of s418,000 each - collecting s30,000 per year in interest - she and her Lotto-winning pals are all back at work in her new Bliss salon...for exactly the same wages as before.

Natalie, of Ibrox, Glasgow, said: "We love working here doing what we do best.

"The customers are all brilliant - they appreciate that we work here because we love it and are passionate about what we do. We were gutted when the old salon was sold and we were made redundant, so I thought, 'I'm going to open one of my own'.

"It's the best thing I've ever done - it feels great to see something like this through all the way from an idea to seeing the look on the customers' faces.

Ruth at Of a Public Defender's Life: If I Won the Lottery

I think everyone must think about this from time to time: What would you do if you did not have to work for a living? If you could do anything you wanted, without regard for the cost, what would it be?

My answer is probably quite unique: I'd go back to school! Not to "better myself," necessarily, but to learn stuff. I'd get a masters in history, and maybe a doctorate. American history, probably focusing on either the civil war or the decades between 1917, when we entered World War I and the end of 1941, when we entered World War II. And I'd probably want to teach some classes. Probably high-school or college.

Mimi Roughton at IndyWeek.com: Ya gotta play

It's so fun to think about winning that occasionally even my husband, who's like I used to be (disapproving), will join me in naming what we'd do with the money. I know there are things "wrong" with the lottery: It's a tax on the poor; those who run it, not the schools, are raking in the money, etc. My mother considers it a crime, and my sister wrote a play in which a woman who'd won the jackpot decided not to claim it for ethical reasons. Can you imagine? My husband thinks winning huge amounts of money ruins people's lives, and that he would feel he hadn't earned the money. I know I wouldn't feel that way: I'd consider it a gift from God.

Kat at sunshine & lemonade: Lottery Dreams

I have already planned the trips that I want to take. To Europe. To homeschool on the road. For an entire year. To safari in Africa. To see the Taj Mahal. Cruise the South Pacific. To actually go to Antarctica.

I have bought vehicles. Paid off bills. Paid off bills for family members.

I have already re-decorated my house. Figured out where I want to add on. And wonder if a demolition a la Extreme-home-make over might be a better option.

I have given to charity. Saved for retirement. Saved for college.

And then my fantasy bubble burst.

Alisa Bowman at Project Happily Ever After: Can money buy you happiness?

I often think about what my life will be like after I win the lottery. Planning how I will spend all of that money is a real preoccupation of mine, one that keeps me very entertained on the nights that I just can’t sleep. It’s right up there with what I would say during my acceptance speech on the day I win the Pulitzer, as well as how I might allow Annie Leibovitz to pose me when Vanity Fair begs me to be photographed for its cover.

BlogHer CE Maria Niles is also happy at her personal blog PopConsumer where her most recent post is titled "A Mouse, a Sledgehammer and a Mission"

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