The goal of Penny Experiment is to raise $1 million worth of food for food banks from a penny that I found on the ground. When I was asking super couponers to help with penny Experiment, one of the first questions I was asked was if everything had to be food? Despite the great deals that all of the couponers have been getting on food, they tell me that many of the best deals are at drug store and are for personal care items and such.
Since the goal of Penny Experiment is to get food to food banks, these items don’t really fit into the $1 million worth of food goal. At the same time, I wouldn’t want to see items that super couponers could get for free or nearly free not go to other charities that could use them. I have therefore decided to create a fund so that couponers can purchase these items and get reimbursed even though they won’t count toward the $1 million goal of Penny Experiment.
The funding for this will come from the house sitting that I do this year. Since I can basically work anywhere as long as I have an Internet connection, I do a lot of house sitting for friends. It’s a win-win situation for all. They get someone looking after their house and don’t have to board any of their pets for a cost that is less than boarding the pets. I earn some extra money doing what I would already be doing anyway which allows me to fund stuff like this.
To prove the great deals that couponers can get on non food items as well, Kate at Money Mate Kate recently purchased $262 worth of goods for $7 + Tax
These won’t count toward the Penny Experiment food goal, but it’s a good reminder that people need a lot more than just food when times get tough.