Most of the “Get someone in to clean and cook” stuff’s already been mentioned, but I’d arrange for an edition of a prestigious newspaper like The Times to be express airfreighted to me every day to enjoy over breakfast.
I’d have coffee from exotic places flown in directly and then roasted and ground to my personal specifications.
I’d take out full-page colour ads in major newspapers around the world with random amusing things in them, like Lolcats or demotivational posters or Lego instruction sheets.
And I’d get most of my clothes tailor made so I can wear what I want without dealing with the vagaries of fashion like trying to get summer clothes in the winter or wanting a shirt with more pockets than is really necessary.
Nitpick nitpick: I’ve found I get noticeably better mileage (kilometreage?) in my decidely non-performance engine car using 98 or 100 octane petrol. I’ll agree 95 octane’s a waste of money, though.
This is definitely one of the things I’d be doing too, although I’m not really sure it counts as a “little” thing.
What I would do is get someone like Jeremy Clarkson to occasionally write press releases for the business/foundation that I’d be running. Just to keep people on their toes, and brighten the day of some poor cadet journo who has to go through the fax tray to look for story leads.
I mean, nowadays I do since they’re a social requirement, but I hate it because it’s this balancing game: I need to keep a relatively small amount (since I move/work on location so often) but it’s got to be “flexible” for different climates, and it’s got to be professional, and I also don’t want to buy things I’m only going to be wearing a few times.
Having enough money to take only those jobs I found interesting would include the ability to come to work in what-the-heck-ever getup I felt like wearing.
I’d hire someone to contact every poster in this thread and give them everything they want, except first class tickets to Hari Seldon (post #33), because that’s my dream and my only dream. Aaaah to be treated like a VIP in airports ! To be able to sleep in a bed in while flying and wake up refreshed on arrival in some exotic land.
The small thing I would do would be to send my laundry out. With four people’s worth of laundry to do, I am spending almost a full day on the weekend stuck close to home so I can do it. It would be so nice just to package it all up and have it come back clean and folded…
I don’t think I would change all that many small things. I’d buy top-of-the-line kitchen utensils and cookware, but probably not all at once. I’d use the same shampoo and conditioner I’ve been using for years, but I’d get my hair cut once a month instead of once every four. I’d keep buying used clothes, but I’d stick with nice consignment shops instead of wading through disorganized junk at Goodwill. I’d still change my sheets and towels with an infrequency that would alarm many of you. I’d still use the library and Project Gutenberg for most of my reading material, but I wouldn’t hesitate to buy books I love and give them as gifts. I’d feed my cats a grain-free, organic super-meat diet. I’d keep a really, really nice pantry (I’m planning to do that anyway, once I make the space). I’d go back to the three-discs-at-a-time Netflix plan. I - like most of you - would tip very generously. I would make a habit of buying my friends and family nice little things all the time - not just for birthdays and Christmas. I’d have people over for dinner a couple times a week. I would enjoy vacations without freaking out about how much money they cost.
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