In a recent poll at my Everyday Cheapskate website, I asked: What would you do with an unexpected windfall of $10,000?
Responses ranged from saving every penny to giving all of it away to using it to get caught up on bills. This got me thinking: What fascinating answer would I get if I changed the word “windfall” to “expense,” as in, “How will you respond if tomorrow you get clobbered with an unexpected expense of $10,000?”
Perhaps you recall the John Wayne movie where the wounded cowboy bites down on a bullet while a doctor performs some off-camera surgical procedure with the aid of a red-hot buck knife and a bottle of whiskey. Now, I’m not suggesting that getting socked with a big, unexpected expense causes pain anywhere close to surgery without the benefit of anesthesia. What I am saying is how we respond to financial challenges says a lot about our character. We can take cover and hide behind fear and denial or bite the bullet, face the problem head-on and do what we must….