What are the Odds?

The Red Cross is doing a blood drive in our office building this month, and I am really looking forward to giving my blood again after so long. I used to give blood routinely in college. Minus that one time the nurse couldn't find my vein and I almost passed out I was in so much pain ... it resulted in a killer bruising, but it was worth it because all the cute fraternity boy volunteers paid a lot of attention to me and gave me Nutter Butters and Apple Juice. I may or may not have feigned pain a bit longer than needed due to their charming smiles. But I digress.

Since graduation, I have honestly kind of forgotten about it. There aren't the fliers every few months urging us to come in and give. Instead, they only come about once a year to our big complex, and sometimes, the day gets away from me before I can get downstairs for the drive. This year, I am really going to try and stick with my calendar appointment to donate.

In slightly related news, I noticed that they are offering up $1000 in a drawing for all donors at the drive. I guess if times are tough for people, what better way to incite people in the door than to give away a big prize? But that got me thinking -- what would I do if I was to win the $1000?

Some days, the answer is easy and all business -- put the money towards any outstanding bills and the mortgage, throw a bit into savings, and perhaps save a little extra for a new pair of shoes or a manicure. That is Responsible Katherine talking. Take care of current needs. Stay finacially saavy. Ignore temptation.

But then Fun Katherine comes into my head. That is $1000 I wouldn't otherwise have. So what if I just pretend that I never had it in the first place, and go blow it on a whole bunch of new clothes and home decor items? Or take a trip to the beach for a long weekend? There are so many things I haven't been really able to splurge on in a while....

The question and it's answer become a little easier if it's a larger sum of money, like winning the lottery. Then, it's easier to grasp the things that NEED to get done, versus the things that I would WANT to happen, and with the lottery, you would have dollars and dollars for both.

But in the end, it's hard for me to know exactly what I might do with a prize of $1000. I think (and would hope) it would ultimately be a combination of the two -- have some fun, but also put some of the money towards living costs.

What about you? If you came into $1000 tomorrow, how would you allocate it?