I'd KILL for a $2500 win. Most I ever won was $51.
Talk about money not lasting very long, here's what happened with my nephew's $17,000 T5 Jackpot win. He split a $68,000 jackpot with three other people and took home 12K after taxes. He used that money to pay for his wedding reception. It was a small outdoor kind of thing, not a lot of people, but it was a very nice day.
As for me, I still dont know what I do with a nice chunk of change like 12 grand. I mean I'd figure out what to do with the money, but I'd have to sit down and think about it. I dont even know if I'd help myself, or if I'd help my daughter. 12 grand WOULD NOT pay off her student loans from college. Nor would it pay off the balance on my mortgage. Not by a long shot! 12 grand wouldnt even put much of a dent in what I still owe on the house.
All I know is that I'm playing the lottery with the hope that someday I'll win a big pile of money. If it happens, then I guess I'll have a nice problem to have, instead of all the lousy types of problems I have today.
By the way, about those lousy kinds of problems I have. Most of 'em are my own dam fault. You know, livin' large, spending money we didnt have. I went ahead and did all of things my parents who grew up during The Great Depression warned not to do. Money was easy come, easy go.... Now I'm paying for living that lifestyle. I'd love to REALLY retire, maybe move to Florida, and buy a condo. Live like all of those old fogies you see in "The Villages" commercials on TV. (They drive around in golf carts, play tennis and golf every day and enjoy that good retiree life.) Instead I'm freezing my butt off, and shoveling three feet of snow off the sidewalk.