If you got given 10k to improve your life, what would you spend it on?

West-Season-2713@reddit

I moved to a house that has one. Needless to say, the first thing I’m doing when I move to my next house is buy and install a bidet.

[-]

I paid around £1K for my lessons but that was awhile ago when I was paying £20 an hour and I did about 32 hours, plus theory & practical it probably ended up about £800 in the end. My daughter has just started her lessons now and it’s £45 an hour, if she does the same hours as me it’ll be £1440 before she’s even looked at booking tests.

Everyone just posting what they paid like it means anything.

There are so many variables.

[-]

MorningToast@reddit

My not fitting the narrative?

[-]

yolo_snail@reddit

That's Reddit for you though.

[-]

audigex@reddit

I'm not sure why you'd be downvoted initially, your experience isn't wildly outside the norm

Average cost for a driving lesson today is £25-30/hour, with 40-50 hours of lessons on average before passing the test

That means a typical cost would be £1000-1500 plus £85 for the tests assuming you passed first time (which should be a given for the theory, at least)

My first car was a 2003 ford KA that I purchased in 2011. I ran that thing into the ground and lasted nearly 6 years. I only got rid because the clutch went and would have cost £300 to replace, so I sold it for £500, picked up a zetec 2014 for £1500.

dedido@reddit

Not in 2026 you don't

[-]

Dont forget insurance. Depending on age that can be eye watering these days. To learn, buy and car and insure it could pretty easily run to the 10k, especially if you're a slow learner.

[-]

dahid@reddit

I spent around £1500-2000 on my lessons and test. This was back in 2019

Did like 40 hours intensive course, failed the test. Did another intensive 30 hours and passed.

lunisheep@reddit

You can still do a week intensive course for a grand or so if you have the money. Im in my 30's and if it had the money spare that is definitely what I would do. The buying the car bit would be harder though 😅

[-]

Bitcoin

[-]

Common-Motor525@reddit

Lol 10k what is this 1980?

[-]

Relative-Tea3944@reddit (OP)

You've been given 10k and you need to use it to improve your life, which is an incremental thing, rather than a binary thing. The improvements are proportional to the amount given. It could have been £10 or £10million and the question still works.

Two things have come out of the answers, that are really interesting to me, so far:

Loads of people have debt and bad teeth, or perhaps, if you have those things they weigh on your mind a lot
A small minority of people really struggle with the concept of the question, or maybe have a different definition of 'improve'

UnusualGoal8928@reddit

Have a mate who does them, so I'm running out of excuses not to.

He'd spec one to whatever standard and budget I want, so it's entirely on me that I haven't done it yet

[-]

twirling_daemon@reddit

Ooh that’s exciting!

Well, on you, time & finances I expect!

I’d love to have a professional involved but I really want to do/help as much as possible

One of the big issues I have (other than money 😂) is choosing the base model I want

I want it to be long term inhabitable for pets & me so I want the biggest possible that is appropriate for UK roads/drivable without having to make loads of special considerations and that will be accepted on a decent amount of campgrounds - I’d spend most of my time off campgrounds but I want the option

I'd get an awning on the rear room of my house to give it some shade. It's great that I have a view of the canal but it's nearly a full wall of floor to ceiling glass from the giant sliding doors so when the Sun shines in it gets instantly hot in there. It's lovely when it's just right, but being able to control how much light shines in would make it perfect.

To go along with the whole garden ending at the canal lark I'd get the rest of the outdoors fixed. The actual garden is about a full storey below the back of the house and the wooden stairs down from the upper part are in terminal decay. I'd get the whole lot replaced with metal stairs and fix the flags at the bottom so I could have a bbq spot. I'd also get an external electrical connection so I could keep a fridge under the stairs for summer outdoor food and drink.

We were told it 'could' knock 50% off our bill (I can only charge the EV at night when home from work).

This resulted in a payback of about 8 years.

We would likely move before that and it doesn't add value to the home.

[-]

Vegetable_Leg_7034@reddit

This is also on my 'list of things', but being in Ireland we are disproportionately dependent on oil boilers for heating. So I'm leaning to heatpump first, then solar.

Obviously the outlay for the heatpump is going to be bigger, but it's the one fuel source I can't rely on due to global markets (yes I order when cheap and use that when demand is high).

[-]

FEMXIII@reddit

I would pay off of last of the loan I got for solar + batteries.

Finger in the air estimate says I’m saving about £200/m on average through the year with some significant export offsetting winter we are paying £100/m and ended winter about £500 in credit. Previously we would have been over £300/m

We have a massive east/west array of nearly 14kW and 10kWh of batteries.

Flat rate pay off is 8 years but we’re not including things like moving to an EV and hot water power diverting reducing the gas bill.

Having said all that, some people suggest a high interest savings and investment platform could perform better? If I had 20k in a stocks and shares isa for the last 10 years that might be worth £50k today

[-]

Visual-Meeting4402@reddit

Yes solar panels and a battery to cut down future bills. Tempted to go for it but if I had a 10k windfall and wasnt going to move it would be this

[-]

Chris-TT@reddit

100% came here to say this. Solar and batteries I could charge during the cheap night rate. Not having to worry as much about the constantly rising energy prices would be a godsend.

[-]

I may have good news for you. The government are running a "skills bootcamp" and the HGV licence is on the list. If you fit the criteria (over 19 and have a full car licence) it's up to 16 weeks training fully funded - you pay nothing. The trainers are massively incentivised to get you in to a job after too.

Stick your postcode in to this website and it will bring up anyone offering it near you:

https://nationalcareers.service.gov.uk/find-a-course/page?searchTerm=HGV&courseType=Skills%20Bootcamp

Here's the overview from the .gov website too:

https://www.gov.uk/training-hgv/skills-bootcamps

I'm doing a plastering course through the scheme at the moment and it's legit.

Now you can spend that imaginary 10 grand on something else

[-]

Lollygagger105@reddit

Is this if you’re without a job already? I’d love to re-train.

[-]

Onlygus@reddit

Theres different qualifiers for different training routes (HGV/trades/cyber). From what I can tell the HGV route only needs you to be over 19 and have a car licence.

If you put your postcode in to the careers advice website and click on a trainer their website will show you the eligibility criteria

Imagine cutting state spending on Scotland by 15-20% so it matches England. That much less for the NHS, for schools for public sector pay. Even just cutting spending down to Welsh levels would have a huge negative effect.

That's why Scotland has free university. They get more money and choose to spend it on things like free prescriptions and uni.

Westminster is terrible, but they treat and fund Scotland (and London) far better than everyone else. If you drive through the towns of Wales and northern England you'll see that.

As someone from Wales and now England, I kinda of support an independent Scotland for this reason. Lovely country and Edinburgh is stunning. But we often forget how differently we fund each place in the UK.

[-]

Away-Ad4393@reddit

Don’t ever move to England the dentistry care is very expensive because NHS dentist are just about extinct.

[-]

weirdchili@reddit

They're still there, they're just scamming assholes who say they never have an NHS appointment so you're forced to pay private. A collegaue of mine said hes moving if thats the case and they suddenly found an appointment

[-]

No_Scheme5951@reddit

It's because they get paid the equivalent of about 11 pound per 'credit' by the NHS, and only a fixed number of these credits per procedure. So if you need a filling redone, they get (if I remember correctly), 3 credits, so 33 pound, for that they have a dentist, a nurse and a receptionist to pay, the materials used for the filling and everything else and of course overheads of their building. NHS patients cost them money for anything but the most basic and fast checkups.

[-]

Full-Suggestion-1320@reddit

My private dentist costs £59 per check up with a minor clean, a major clean with the hygienist costs £75.

3 years ago a major filling check up and clean came to just over £500 that also included a prescriptionfor antibiotics. I even had an anaesthetic numbing treatment before the anaesthetic injection. That fee also included a £50 sign up fee. Honestly my change to my private dentist has been the best £500 I have ever spent, I'm treated with dignity. Since the first expensive treatment I haven't needed any treatment. I get regular twice yearly appointments at £59 and haven't needed a major clean because I get a light clean included. It has been the best money I have ever spent.

Oh and the other tip is changed to a curaprox toothbrush and biomed toothpaste rather than all the ones made by Colgate Palmolive. That action alone has been life changing, no more overly sensitive teeth, less tartar and staining and I'm not damaging my enamel with the toothbrush.

[-]

WanderingAlbertRoss@reddit

What's special about a Curaprox toothbrush?

Southportdc@reddit

Stop biting bullets, it'll ruin the dentistry.

[-]

Embarrassed-Image-11@reddit

Well done Redditor

[-]

blodauwedd@reddit

Stop flapping your gums wirh bad puns

[-]

mephisdan@reddit

Sounds great until you're 27

[-]

Unitedthe_gees@reddit

[-]

InterestingSubject75@reddit

Amen friend, paid off my mortgage last month. Could I have invested the money? Sure, but would it have a guaranteed interest saving and give me the mortgage free feeling? Nope. Boring but ever so sensible and satisfying

[-]

specofdust@reddit

Boring but probably only sensible if you have a truly horrendous mortgage rate. Average returns on the stockmarket are far higher than most mortgages.

[-]

BobBobBobBobBobDave@reddit

For a lot of people with large mortgage monthly payments, though, reducing your mortgage debt will give you more left in your bank account each month, and reduce the total amount you pay in interest over time. That is of more immediate appeal to a lot of people than long term stock market investment.

[-]

strolls@reddit

That is of more immediate appeal to a lot of people than long term stock market investment.

What are you planning to retire on?

Most workplace pensions are of the defined contributions type - i.e. a big bundle of stockmarket investments.

If you could borrow £100,000 from the bank at 4% and get a guaranteed 7% by investing it then everyone should be doing that because you pay £4000 a year in mortgage interest, pocket £7000 of returns from your investments and that's a free £3000 a year for doing nothing. In reality, you don't get fixed returns from investing but, over longer periods, the returns do indeed average out higher.

That's why most people should aim to pay off their mortgage around the time they'll have enough investments (in the pension and S&S ISA) to retire on. Investing earlier gets you more of the investment returns, because you're getting them for longer.

[-]

InterestingSubject75@reddit

I fully understand, but I have a good work pension already, and as you say investment returns aren't guaranteed - but interest saving and the additional 2k now in my bank every month was guaranteed do I chose that option

[-]

strolls@reddit

I have a good work pension already,

If you'll forgive me, that's not really a meaningful thing to say. It's like saying "I have enough money already". Either you have enough money that you can quit work, or you don't.

Overpaying your mortgage vs investing is simply a matter of whether you want more money or less.

I post on the personal finance sub daily, and I try to be careful about the language I use when talking about this stuff - I absolutely didn't say "investment returns aren't guaranteed". It's not sticky false to say that, but also it's not the kind of thing that I would say.

If you have £10,000 and you have the choice between using it to overpay your mortgage or investing it in a tracker of a world stockmarket index (e.g. MSCI World or ACWI) then you're going to have more money and be more financially secure in 10 or 20 years' time if you make the stockmarket investment.

The way "investment returns aren't guaranteed" is on a mark to market basis - if you buy a tracker fund invested in the world's largest 1000 companies then you don't know what that'll be worth next year or the year after.

The world in which you're "better off" in 20 years' time by using that £10,000 to overpay the mortgage? It means that the whole global financial system has collapsed and you're having to defend your "paid off" house from roving brigands.

I'm not going to "guarantee" that collateralised mortgage bonds won't outperform the stockmarket for 10 or 20 years, but you do not want to live in that world. We would not have the gadgets and the comforts that we have today; I doubt you'd be able to rely on having food or electricity.

[-]

InterestingSubject75@reddit

Friend, I have an employment pension that will feed me well in retirement for as long as I live, unless the world collapses before I get there. In which case I'd have bigger problems.

I now have minimal outgoings, I'm no longer too concerned about oil and gas prices, my child will always have a paid off roof over their head, and my allotment will demand more of my attention going forward as I reduce my working hours.

You might know everything there is to know about the stock market, and you may think I'm doing it all wrong. And sure I may have made more money someday by doing it differently. But as far as I am concerned, money can't buy the peace I feel right now, and I'm happy with that.

[-]

ChanceHovercraft1754@reddit

If you could borrow 100,000 from the bank and guarantee 7% returns

The interest rate from bank would be 7.5%

At this stage in my life, the best thing for me is to move out, and i can just about afford it but ive only just started earning that kind of money so im choosing to stay at home for a little bit longer, go on a few holidays etc, enjoy having money, before i move out and can no longer afford to do anything again. But living in this house is bad for me and idk how much longer i can do it.

[-]

Organic-Ad6439@reddit

Well if you’re forcing me to spend it then:

A) on going abroad and travelling around the UK

B) towards a home deposit

Or

C) towards my parent’s UK mortgage or to help them build a shack abroad.

D) could buy parent a Mac, a tablet treat them with some Spotify premium etc

E) or redoing the kitchen (our oven can’t cook crap) or the bathroom.

F) or help some aunties/cousins out financially

[-]

poppyoxymoron@reddit

Would probably get Invisalign and a breast augmentation. My breasts never developed correctly due to illness as a child and It makes me really insecure. I also feel insecure about my wonky teeth.

[-]

Helpful_Western7298@reddit

Pay off debts & save in emergency fund

[-]

Specialist-Top-406@reddit

I’m so bad with money. Realistically, I should put this towards my international student loan that is only everyday building interest.

BabyAlibi@reddit

I would pay the get dental implants. Due to illness I lost a lot of my teeth very early (40's), so now I only 5 left and poorly fitting dentures (they are just new but the dentist insisted I would get used to them...

I feel like dental implants would greatly improve my life and not just for my confidence, I've developed a lot of food avoidance issues because of it too

[-]

loadofnonsensical@reddit

I need a new (used... very very used) car and combined with what I have at the minute I could get something functional that will last 7-8 years if looked after.

Then a telehandler licence. I will get a better daily rate in my job.

Clear my debt, gym membership with a trainer, decent shoes to go to said gym in.

Visible_Union7750@reddit

Private health care. Your money doesn't go very far especially if there is surgery involved.

Take mum on holiday - she deserves it!

Change my windows - they’re stupid design and fairly sure they’re letting in draught in winter adding to my insane heating bill .

If there’s anything left, probably be boring and chuck it on mortgage overpayment

[-]

im 35 tomorrow and struggling with employment now and I never learnt to drive which is a bit embarrasing. If i have £10k i would 1- sort driving lessons with a package deal and 2- there is a £3000 course i want to do to start into a new industry and become self emplyed and start my own business which will need a car/truck and some equipment too, the truck/car isnt an immediate thing in the business I can walk .. im already unemployed so i have the time to do both. And hopefully a months rent.

Im just trying to save and get there right now.

[-]

Relative-Tea3944@reddit (OP)

I feel you, I can't drive either. It's not that embarrassing but it is annoying.

[-]

Live-Independent-416@reddit

ive been contacting local authorities to help me with training where i want to go and well Essex Council gave me a link to Bootcamps which are due to start in June and courses are unknown currently so unless i see something of use/interest I wont do it but thats what bit of information ive gained this week to help.

Relative-Tea3944@reddit (OP)

Yeah? I actually haven't looked at mine in ages but it was doing well for a while

[-]

MCL-Jonathan@reddit

HODL until the next Bitcoin halving date, that’s sometime in April 2028. After halving we should hopefully expect strong rally due to supply shock!

toxic43@reddit

Without a doubt, a new computer. I use it for work and mine just died this afternoon. I have work tomorrow and I don't know what I'm going to do.

[-]

dogmanlived@reddit

Food truck, get tasty and affordable food out for the people's

[-]

ZakFellows@reddit

I would give it to my siblings and ask them to improve my life with it.

Sergeant_Fred_Colon@reddit

Pay off debts.

[-]

MacaronOk6091@reddit

Take the kids to Japan for like a month.

We comfortably exist with a nice house and no debt and a good safety net. I'd just spaff the whole lot up the wall and have a great time.

[-]

andycwb1@reddit

Add to my retirement fund.

[-]

Cearball@reddit

My dad's getting old.

Take him & my siblings on his dream holiday while he still can

[-]

Rude_Trouble_4075@reddit

Paying debt and buy stocks on either AI (Microsoft) or BP.

[-]

More-Yard5742@reddit

A Thai Bride

[-]

thebarrcola@reddit

Clear debts. Boring but also the thing that would take the most pressure off.

[-]

Jamescg1972@reddit

A cracking stereo.

Paint my house

Could spend the £10k buying stocks & shares in a LISA. Happy?

Opposite-Wonder-6752@reddit

I would get arm lipo 😂😂 always been a dream of mine as I hate my arms, if I was being considerate I would spend it on a nice family holiday and get some new wardrobes.

[-]

DoggyBairn@reddit

Whores and cocaine. Always the right answer.

[-]

Moongoosls@reddit

10k wouldn't even begin to clear my student debt, so why bother.

Chemical-Lettuce2497@reddit

Big ole fucking BBQ smoker

Probably clear debts with whatever is left over

[-]

eelam_garek@reddit

Buy a car outright, bank the current cay payment each month to boost savings more quickly.

[-]

Objectively_bad_idea@reddit

Hmmmm. Either throw it at the mortgage, use it to do work on the house (a shower room on the top floor would be super-convenient and probably actually pay for itself in increased house value), or maybe put it towards doing a masters to retrain. It wouldn't cover what's needed though . . . Realistically I am cautious, I'd probably pay down the mortgage.

[-]

Smitt_3000@reddit

I would also invest in solar panels to get my monthly expenses down because everything is going up and taking a loan to do solar only increases my monthly out goings :( plus a veggie patch for the kids!

[-]

Bismuth88@reddit

I actually just had this happen to me.

Private medical care, I have an undiagnosed condition thats taken years to get me infront of a hospital specialist and it still takes weeks to months to get appointments.

I would go straight for private medical care, get a diagnosis and treatment plans. My fear is that it'd cost more than £10,000 but honestly its impacting my day to day life so I'd be willing to try.

It would be nice to pay off debt too.

[-]

JoeDougieD@reddit

I've been on an NHS waiting list for 6 years now, for a very routine sinus operation - the conditon of which has gotten to such an advanced stage that my quality of life is now affected. I would absolutely use the money to get the surgery done privately.

[-]

RevolutionaryHumor57@reddit

Fireworks

[-]

WanderWomble@reddit

Breast reduction. I have ridiculous big boobs for my size and they cause me so much pain.

[-]

MidnightRambler87@reddit

Few house bits.

IronSkywalker@reddit

Clear about 2/5s of my debt

[-]

InterestingSubject75@reddit

I would put it towards a garden renovation, currently saving up for this for next year 🏡

[-]

I bought a house on shared ownership, so I'd buy £10k more of my house outright and reduce the rent I pay.

[-]

buy_me_a_pint@reddit

First my Mum needs some work doing on her feet

Go on holiday

My niece who were diagnosed with mild autism last year and possibly has ADHD get her some help

[-]

halen2024@reddit

Get my teeth fixed

[-]

yoy78@reddit

Pay off my car and get my teeth sorted.

[-]

reddiuniquefool@reddit

Have the dodgy semi-external laundry room on my house fixed. Particularly the rotting doorframe.

[-]

TheYorkshireGripper@reddit

Go to Vegas for a week, gamble, snort and fuck it all away.

D0wnb0at@reddit

Boring answer: credit card debt. It’s all on 0% but it would be nice to clear it. Wouldn’t really improve my life tho. Monthly payments are comfortable.

Fun answer: Pokemon cards.

I need a new boiler, my roof or chimney is leaking a bit, and the roof needs some attention generally. That lot would probably absorb £10k.

£100k would be more useful.

[-]

MichaelBealesBurner@reddit

Clear my debts, renovate the shower room upstairs

[-]

No_Ferret_5450@reddit

I would have a nice holiday and then invest the rest

[-]

luvgeorgia@reddit

cigs prolly

[-]

Pissadvisor@reddit

Driving lessons, various tools for work, van/truck.

Golden retriever or Toller.

[-]

Clear my debts then get the fuck out of where I live and go off grid

[-]

weup2995@reddit

Put it into an all world index

[-]

FeDUpGraduate87@reddit

The brutal answer is Escorts and travel.

If I owned the house I live in, I'd change out the windows, since they all need replacing. If there was money left over, I'd get the heat pump replaced.

If we're going based on how things are right now, I'd get a new cooker and fridge (fridge would be a two-door fridge/freezer type deal, allowing me to use the upstairs freezer for 'use' items and the ancient chest freezer for longer term 'storage' items). I'd get a free-standing variable height cable training machine, for my general physio and rehab stuff, and a decent indoor treadmill for both me and my wife, so maybe she'd be able to get some exercise in too (we both have health issues, hers are much more severe than mine). There'd probably be about half the money left after all that, so I'd replace the sofa, since ours is on its very last legs, and that'd massively help my wife's back pains.

I'd prepay a cleaner or a cleaning service for 6 months to a year (depending on price), and I would also make a point of buying the motorised cleaning brushes I've had my eye on for the last two hours.

I would buy a leaf blower, or some other solution I could use to help me deal with all the detritus we get in our garden (we get about 40% knocked off our rent as long as I keep the garden halfway tended, but with my neck and back going the way they're going, I could be doing without raking all the pine needles and pine cones and shit).

At this stage, there'd probably be about 1k remaining... Replace the ancient chest freezer, just to make sure it won't burn the house down one day. New winter coat for me, since mine has holes. New walking/daily use shoes for me, since I bought mine in 2018 or something. Place an order for firewood for next winter for the rest - even if it's only a couple of bags, better to use up the money.

CabbageFridge@reddit

We're looking into an electric cargo trike. We don't drive and don't want to. But it would be nice to have a vehicle of some sort for shopping and transporting things.

And built in air conditioning with heat pump. I have big issues with heat so without air con I'm basically out of commission all summer. Those tube out the window guys aren't great for efficiency or convenience.

Also looking into a new wheelchair with power assist. Those things are EXPENSIVE. Probably not as relatable of an option but right now we're debating saving up for either that or a trike. I'm disabled in a way where it's more the standing that's the problem so I think I could use a trike, but can't walk very far and use a wheelchair. A cargo trike could carry my current wheelchair for me to use when I'm not on the trike. Probably can't really take a cargo trike on a train so new wheelchair with power assist would allow me to go more places, but carry less.

[-]

VincentVan_Dough@reddit

Convert the 2 bedrooms on our top floor into a main suite with en-suite. £10k should cover re-doing the bathroom (tiling and furniture, no changes to layout/plumbing), making good walls after taking down the dividing non load bearing wall, new flooring and built-in wardrobes.

[-]

AE_Phoenix@reddit

Bribe a recruiter to give me a job with 8k, spend the last 2k on setting up a place to rent and finally moving out.

Boring - £10k into kids nursery savings government pot, immediately becomes £12k and halves the amount we are left to pay before both start school.

pompombum@reddit

Cheap as I could get reasonable car..

When replying to submission/post please make genuine efforts to answer the question given. Please no jokes, judgements, etc. If a post is marked 'Serious Answers Only' you may receive a ban for violating this rule.
Don't be a dick to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on.
This is a strictly no-politics subreddit!

Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.