My hubby laughed at me for playing the postcode lottery & thought it was a waste of money – until I scooped £756k
WHEN Rachel Fearns started playing the People's Postcode Lottery, her husband Carl laughed at her initially, believing it to be a waste of money.
However he was soon proven wrong when the full-time mum-of-four scooped a staggering £756k just six months later.
Rachel, 34, who lives in Bishop Auckland with Carl, also 34, and their four children, aged 10, eight, six and two, says: "When I started playing, Carl laughed and thought it was a bit of a pipe dream to win the lottery - but he soon had to eat his words!
"I'd actually wanted to buy three tickets a month, but Carl put his foot down and said that would be silly - so we did two as a compromise.
"You always hope you might win when you play, but you never actually expect to do you, so we both thought someone was having us on initially when we discovered how much we'd won."
'My husband laughed at me'
Rachel scooped the prize in August 2021, and had actually only started playing the postcode lottery just six months earlier.
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She says: "We'd just bought a new home, so I wanted to play with our new postcode and decided to buy two tickets a month costing £10 per entry at the .
"Carl was sceptical, but once I started playing I actually quickly won my money back twice and also won a prize another time too, before eventually hitting the jackpot."
'I thought it must be a joke'
Understandably, Rachel was stunned when she received a call from the People's Postcode Lottery, telling her she'd won big.
She says: "When someone called to tell me initially I thought it must be a joke or a scam.
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"I even double-checked the number that had rang me and called them back to make sure was real!
"I didn't know exactly how much we'd won initially, but you see and hear of people winning amounts like £30k, which is obviously incredible so I was really excited.
"I thought maybe if I'd won that much we could get a new kitchen and do the bathroom, and as I played every month with two tickets too we'd won double the amount."
'It was all very surreal'
Nothing could have prepared Rachel for how much she'd actually won though - her two tickets were worth £378,075 each, totalling £756,150.
She says: "When I found out the actual amount I was in shock and couldn't believe it.
"I called Carl to tell him, and said I'd had a weird phone call to say I'd won and his work colleagues all laughed and were saying it was a joke too.
"It was very surreal!"
Financial security
Rachel was then presented with two ceremonial cheques on her doorstep, and it was only then it sunk in.
But, despite scooping one of the biggest jackpots ever, the couple admit they haven't been particularly extravagant.
Rachel says: "It was so much more than I ever expected, and it didn't feel real until the money was in our account!
"People expected us to splash the cash a little but actually with four kids we wanted to be quite careful and have been quite sensible.
"Carl is a rugby player and his career will be relatively short, so we've planned for future and it's given us much-needed financial security."
A life-changing lotto win
The money has of course had a life-changing impact on the family.
Rachel says: "We'd bought a five-bed detached house just before winning at a good price that needed some work, so the win has enabled us to do the renovations.
"We've completely transformed the garden, got a new kitchen and made much-needed improvements.
"Christmas was more generous that year too, but there were no luxury handbags or splashing out on new cars!
"We did treat ourselves to our first holiday in two years recently to Greece though, and with four kids it was a much needed break, and we've got another to Cyprus coming up too.
"Never in a million years did we think we'd win this much, so it really is a dream come true."
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