Last month, I posed a challenge to my readers: what could YOU do with $0.81? While many folks were interested, only TWO responses were received. Perhaps turning $0.81 into much more is truly not for the faint of heart! The good news for these lucky ladies? They win the Amazon gift card prizes by default – but I think you’ll agree their stories are so awesome, they won these prizes fair and square!

So here we go…

$50 Amazon Winner: Judy!

Judy used her super couponing skills to score a great deal – and help out her community at the same time. Here’s her story:

I actually forgot after 2 weeks about the challenge, had great expectations for myself but it was tougher than I thought.  How can I just spend $0.81 to make a difference to our local foodbank.  While thinking, I knew that I could get the Stayfree Panty liners for “Free” but still had to pay $0.03 per item because of taxes here in Puyallup, so I pondered even more and later forgot about it!  Then  “Bam” Safeway had their Ken’s salad dressing on sale for $0.99 so with the $1 off coupon = Free!!  I went to my coupon inserts and was able to get about 150 bottles free with no tax.  So, I still have my $0.81 and I am donating all of this to my local foodbank!  Thanks for the challenge!

Note from Angela: If you’re wondering about the amount of salad dressing – of course Judy worked with her stores for this quantity! They were pleased to help especially since this was benefiting our local community. Way to help out, Judy, and do so in a respectful way!

$25 Amazon Winner: Clara!

Clara leveraged a hot local consignment sale to make a sweet profit. Here’s her story:

A year ago, I went to the Kidz Kaboodle 25 cent sale.  I went late on Saturday and the items were such a mess and it seemed like everything good was gone.  I did pick up a couple of shirts that my kids are still wearing and a cute little plaid tie.  While I was pilfering, I found a red hoodie.  It had an Atari logo on it.  Score!  It is a vintage sweatshirt in great shape.  The year on the tag is 1982… 30 years old!  There’s not a spot on it and it looks like it’s only been washed a couple of times because the inside fleece is still soft and not pilled.

Though I have a 2 year old who could wear it (and look darn cute in it), I decided to list it for sale. Besides, I didn’t even have an Atari as a kid – I wish it was because I’m too young to know what an Atari is – but it isn’t and I’m not.  As always, I looked around to find fair market value before I listed it for sale.  I looked on Google and ebay and saw no comparable items so I didn’t know what to sell it for.  It’s been on a hanger in my laundry room for over a year.

When you listed the 81 cent challenge, I knew this item would qualify!  I had the idea a few weeks ago to list it on Etsy – something I hadn’t thought of before – because I was listing my husband’s chairs [shameless plug for On the Up and Up] where there is also a vintage section.  Since I couldn’t find any comparison items, I knew it was rare so I took a shot in the dark: I spent a whopping 20 cents to list it for $75 plus $5 shipping.  It sold in less than a week!  HOLY COW!!!  I may have been able to sell it for more than that, but if the person who bought it just found a steal of a deal, I still made ~$74 profit!  I might cry if I find out later that it was worth thousands.

Because I was late to the contest, I haven’t had time to spend the $74 to see how far I can make it go.  I was assuming that this money would only go for gas (that’ll get my husband to and from his new job until payday), but he said I could have it.  I plan on going garage sale/consignment/thrift shopping this weekend for a few items.  Mostly, I’m looking for kids’ summer clothing.  But I will also be purchasing a few more plants for my (attempt at a) garden.  I will also be giving part of the money to my husband who will pay to sharpen the blades on his planer so he can make more chairs [another shameless plug for On the Up and Up]  to sell at the Maple Valley Farmer’s Market in a few weeks.

Note from Angela: I think this is fabulous, and I wish identifying potentially valuable vintage items was a skill I possessed! Great job, Clara!

So I’m curious…. if I ran a similar challenge in the future, would you participate? Or perhaps you have an idea you think would be a fun spin-off? We’re approaching garage sale season, could be interesting…. share your thoughts!

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