FREE NEWSLETTER
WHEN I WAS 24 YEARS old, I took a weekend trip to Reno, Nevada. My hostess for the visit wanted to go to a casino. I had no interest in gambling. But not wanting to be impolite, I agreed to go with her.
I was making $16,000 a year back then. I decided I could afford to lose $20. I got two rolls of quarters and sat down at a slot machine. As I was getting close to losing the last of my coins, the machine lit up and a siren on top of it began blaring. I soon discovered I was the lucky winner of $1,400.
Getting an unexpected windfall equivalent to roughly one month’s salary was quite a thrill. I spent three weeks thinking of the various ways I could spend my fortune. I don’t remember all of the items I ended up purchasing, but each was the result of many hours of contemplation.
Thirty years later, I ended up with another unexpected windfall. In 2022, I sold my home for $125,000 over the asking price. The net result was a windfall roughly 100 times the size of my first.
This time it took me two years to decide how to spend my fortune. Every idea my husband and I had for the money was contemplated—and rejected—multiple times. We considered leasing a small retail building and starting a dog training business. We thought about purchasing a small plot of land somewhere so we could escape the Phoenix summer heat. We came close to purchasing a used motorhome so we could haul our dogs around in climate-controlled comfort.
Ultimately, we settled upon a solution that combined a bit of all of our previous ideas. In May 2024, we purchased a cargo van and had it converted into a custom dog transport vehicle.
Our four dogs now ride safely in individual crates in the rear of the van. A rooftop air-conditioning unit and ventilation fan mean they’ll always stay comfortable in the heat. There’s plenty of room to store all of our dog training equipment inside the van. Road trips are simple affairs now. When the heat at home gets to be too much for us, we load the dogs up and head out. Within a three-hour drive, we can be up in the mountains, where the temperatures are typically 20 to 30 degrees cooler.
It wasn’t easy to spend my second windfall. I’ve always been a saver. My natural inclination was to hold onto the money and save it for a rainy day. But rainy days are few and far between in Phoenix.
As someone who also spends a lot of time reflecting before spending, I really enjoyed this story. How wonderful that you settled on something that brings you and your dogs joy! Thanks for sharing!
Wonderful article, thank you. This is a nice reminder that saving and investing is good and noble, but very deliberately spending on things that add value to your life is equally important.
“….rainy days are few and far between in Phoenix.”
And plenty of meals on wheels. 🤣🤣🤣 Just kidding!
The number of senior assistance services in the Phoenix area is amazing!