Previous articles about copying Ryan Trahan’s penny challenge method of raising cash have always included strong warnings from me about only using this for fun or for fundraisers from which any amount of cash raised would constitute a successful outcome.
Then I ruined a pair of dress pants. The covered elastic waist came apart. Had I owned and knew how to operate a sewing machine, or owned a small needle and gray thread, the problem could have been easily solved. I have liquid stitch, which I learned far too late was not compatible with this fabric. There are plenty of other dress pants in my closet, but I still needed to replace these. I just didn’t want to spend the last bit of my spare cash to do so. I wanted to replace these pants without spending any of my money or our household funds. In other words, I wanted to replace my pants free.
Thinking up ways to do this, I had to stop and ask myself, “Can you speed run the penny challenge to cover a small, and extremely minor emergency?”
To find out, I set a time limit of eight hours to raise the funds to replace the pants. The rules were the same as any other penny challenge, except I allowed myself to borrow the cash from myself, or use a credit card, as long as I already had the money coming to pay myself back/pay off any charges. I wanted to take advantage of any sales or price drops rather than waiting and risking ruining things by having the sale end or the price go back up.
Bringing resources from past penny challenges into the next one is a tactic borrowed from many of the original penny challenges. Ryan Trahan brought things like a hammock and blanket into his. My assortment was a little more odd. My first penny challenge of the year, the one that got me new hair, fragrance, and makeup for a penny, left me with $1.20 Amazon gift card balance, $0.26 on my Paypal account, three mini Victoria’s Secret body sprays, a $5.00 gift card to Dunkin, and a pack of pens. I also have an active account on a tutoring app I call TPR tutoring as a pseudonym. I use this app in place of the Ubereats delivery app Ryan Trahan uses in the original challenge, as I cannot drive or ride a bike.
First, I determined the total amount I would need to raise. The dress pants would cost $22.00 to replace. My leftover Amazon gift card for $1.20 took that total down to $20.80. Step two was to churn all of my old points programs. I checked the side hustler points app, to see how much I could generate between sips of coffee and bites of cereal this morning. Mypoints and fetch rewards were also used to do the same random searches...and some for my current and future work...that I would do any other time. By the time I needed to get ready for my day, it was clear this was not going to pan out for me this time. When using those things, success is all about the timing. You have to catch them on days when you’re close to a point you can cash out, ideally when they also have bonuses available. None of that was the case today.
Step three was to return to TPR tutoring. My first session generated $8.84. A few hours later, session number two earned $10.93. Each of these consisted of accepting a live tutoring session in which I sat online and coached a student through their writing issues via chat.
At this point, there were only two hours to go and $19.77 raised from the penny...which still sat on the table. I needed one more anything to happen. I needed to find one coupon, take one more tutoring session, find one more points app, one I could churn successfully. I even thought of running out and seeing if anyone wanted to buy one of the leftover body sprays for whatever they would give me for it when a session was offered to me. A child much younger than I would normally ever accept a tutoring session for requested a chat only session. I accepted, greeted the child, and asked what we were working on. The child responded with a string of random letters and by ending the session. I only needed to raise $1.03 at this point, but instead I only raised $0.30. It looked like I might end my little mini challenge in a failure by less than a dollar.
Parents and teachers who use online tutoring programs for very young children in your care, please remember that while I warn strongly against it, many people do use these sites and apps as a resource for their tutoring business. Allowing your child to bang on the keyboard for a few seconds and then hang up prevents the person from working with someone who genuinely wanted a session. It’s no less disruptive than allowing your child to run around someone’s brick and mortar tutoring center until other customers walk out.
With less than an hour to go, I was able to accept a short assignment evaluating an essay for $5.33. This brought my total up to $25.40.
The ruined pants were ordered with cash I had on hand on my spending money debit card, cash that will be replaced with $4.60 overage as soon as the tutoring site pays out.
And let’s not forget that odd assortment of items. I still have three mini Victoria’s Secret body sprays….a pack of pens….a $5.00 Dunkin gift card...and this time...the penny.
by Jess Santacroce, Writer/Editor: The 315
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