WWRAD: What Would Rich Andrea Do?

You know the good, old-fashioned game where you imagine what you'd do if you were super rich?

Recently I was chatting with a friend of mine about how much we enjoy certain aspects of our frugal lifestyle: shopping second-hand, making and repairing our own things, and clothing swaps, to name a few. We both expressed hope that we wouldn't leave these parts of ourselves behind if we ever got rich. (Because, you know, we really need to worry about that.)


I know that wealth tends to bring a whole host of changes along with it, and that things that seem important now, like the satisfaction of making my own shelves, may diminish when buying them becomes the equivalent of buying a pack of gum.

This lead me to think - if I don't want Rich Andrea to start wearing insane jewelry and hanging portraits of herself on a wall, what would I like to see her indulge in?

Sure, if I suddenly came into money my first actions would be boring things like debt elimination, charitable gifts, and old-age savings, but what about the fun stuff? What luxuries would Rich Andrea realllllly enjoy?

Rich Andrea's First Luxury: A housekeeper/personal assistant.

If I could have someone manage cleaning, grocery shopping, laundry, meal prep, and battling my cell phone company when my contract needs renewal, life would become an actual dream.

Life would instantly be 10x better and I would be able to do SO MANY MORE THINGS if all the nitpicky details were just managed for me. I mean, it's basically what men used to get when they got a wife (and still sort of do thanks to uneven division of housework and emotional labour - YAY!), and it makes devoting your life to meaningful work and relationships so much easier.

Rich Andrea's Second Luxury: A bigger home - ideally on a commune.

That's right, I would prefer to live in a small home and have a housekeeper/personal assistant than live in a big place! Bigger homes take more work, and I don't want that ramp up the amount of stress in my life BEFORE I have help in place. Who has time for that?

Reasonably-Rich Andrea would get a reasonably-sized home in a decent neighbourhood.

In true dream-land, however, I would buy a large parcel of land in, or close to, the city. My friends and I would build homes on the land and plant community gardens with grazing goats and eat weekly meals together. My main floor would be all open for hosting parties, as well as plays and concerts. There would also be a black box theatre space on the land with a large patio area that can be covered when rainy.

Also, there are tree forts.

Alternatively, I would buy a large apartment building, turn the first floor or two into common area with said theatre and other community space, and then have all my friends live there with me.

Rich Andrea's Third Luxury: A vacation property.

A place to go near water and trees with enough space for friends to come along. I may even opt for this before I opted for a bigger home. Getaways! All the getaways! Maybe my commune-living friends and I can each get vacation homes in different areas (mountains, islands, farms) and then we'll have all the options.

Rich Andrea's Fourth Luxury: Regular travel.

This is pretty obvious. I'd like to be able to travel more and be more carefree about it. (She says, while currently flying to Europe.)

I wonder how wealthy I'd have to be to consider buying a personal jet?

That's about it. Boring, right? I mean, I have Upper-Stratosphere Wealthy dreams that involve opening a science and arts research/production centre and throwing money at all the world's problems until they are solved, but I think those dreams fall in a different category than the luxuries I'd like to indulge in?



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