It's nice to dream, isn't it?
It's also easy to dream when you're talking about a cool $1 million.
In this issue, Panache puts that premise to the test by asking six area writers - none of whom are millionaires yet - to join in the ultimate fantasy league. And football be damned, we're talking about a much more brutal contact sport - shopping.
We challenged this crew to undertake the spree of a lifetime by spending (a fictional) $1 million apiece within the Fox Valley.
Of course, a challenge isn't a challenge unless there are a few - and only a few - ground rules to keep everybody honest:
1.) Our participants could not spend more than $500,000 on any single item.
2.) They had to spread their cash into at least 10 different categories. All prices cited are based on actual retail stickers or interviews with merchants.
3.) While we would all like to think of ourselves as generous and charitable, philanthropic investments were capped at $50,000. In addition, investment portfolios (stocks, bonds, annuities, etc.) also were limited to $50,000.
4.) Finally, we used the "Price is Right" protocols: Spenders were urged to buy as close to $1 million in goods and services as possible without going over that amount.
We learned a couple of valuable lessons in the process.
First, anyone who says there's nothing luxurious to buy in northeast Wisconsin just isn't looking. As at least one of our contributors discovered, once you have free reign to open your wallet, staying on budget becomes the hardest task of all.
Finally, if you think you know everything about your co-workers, friends or loved ones, we challenge you to undergo this same exercise. You'll discover personality quirks and individual preferences that you never realized existed in the first place. In fact, we encourage you to do just that and send us letters about some of your own $1 million shopping lists (same ground rules apply, by the way).
In fact, we'll make it worth your while: We'll publish some of the best letters in an upcoming edition and one writer (of legal drinking age) will be randomly selected to win the bottle of Veuve Clicquot Ponsardin our model is holding on the cover of this issue.
Please send your letters to Panache, P.O. Box 59, Appleton, WI 54912-0059 or by e-mail to foxcitiespanache@winsinfo.com.
Now it's your turn to do some fantasizing ...
