#6) Develop strategies for coping. Describe a challenging situation and your strategies for coping with it.

I was in for a happy surprise when I recently checked our bank account online and discovered quite a tidy sum of money inexplicably deposited into our checking account by our insurance company for no apparent reason. Wow--it was like hitting the lottery without buying a ticket! I quickly surmised that it had been a mistake and called to inquire; come to find out, we've been overbilled on our insurance since 2007. Not only had this deposit been made, but our insurance has been paid for until next year when it's up for renewal again.

What a nice little windfall, right at Christmas time! Now the challenge comes in. My husband and I frequently disagree about how to spend money; and a situation such as this one can really pose problems. He likes to buy things for his hot rod or motorcycle, or buy himself yet another jacket (he has a huge collection of them), or a myriad of other items. So his ideal solution would be to divide the money between us and each spend our own share however we'd like. On the other hand, I'm always wishing we had the money to fix or update various big-ticket items around the house. Our home is about 25 years old and many items are in need of a facelift. Specifically, I was thinking about the floor in our kitchen/laundry room and the ugly big crack that has developed in the doorway between the two rooms.

I debated not telling my husband about the unexpected money but knew that I couldn't get away with suddenly making a fair size home improvement without an explanation of where I got the funds! I gave it a lot of thought, and finally asked him, "If you could make one improvement to our house without worrying about the money, what would be your first priority?" He considered my question for a minute and answered, "A new kitchen floor."

Bingo! As I told him about the money and we laughed about sharing the same top priority, I was silently congratulating myself for figuring out a successful way to handle my dilemma. I had subtly and unobtrusively guided him into thinking about home improvements before he even knew about the existence of the funds, and in the process we had avoided yet another argument over money. Yep, I admit, I'm still feeling a little smug over the way I handled this. Now I'd better hurry and get that floor in before he thinks about it too much and changes his mind!