Jeffrey Strain was inspired by a penny he found on the sidewalk on November 24th, 2009. He pondered the questions “What is a penny really worth? What can one achieve when starting with only a penny?” He decided to see if he could turn that one penny into $1,000,000 worth of food for local food banks and The The Penny Experiment was born. Jeffrey can’t do it alone but his own inspiration is inspiring others, like me, to help him achieve his goal. There are lots of ways to help– many take only seconds and none of 
them cost a penny with the exclusion of one. Jeffery has asked artists to donate one of a kind works of art that include found money (like the penny from the sidewalk). 100% of the proceeds from the sale of these pieces are used to purchase food with coupons to donate to local food banks.
I am committing to setting aside some time each weekend to scout out the deals, coupon match and shop for food bank donations. I will be blogging about each trip as well.
Here is what I got this week broken into two transactions:
6 boxes of cereal – retail value $27.34
On Sale at Albertsons for $1.88 per box
Used 4 $1/1 coupons and one $1/2 coupon
6 boxs of Hamburger/Chicken/Tuna helper-retail value $15
On sale at Albertsons for $1 per box
Used 2 $1/3 coupons
6 cans of Progresso soup- retail value $17.34
On sale at Albertsons for $1 per can
Used 2 $1.10/3 coupons
I also used 3 Albertsons coupon doublers to save an additonal $3
Total retail value: $59.68
Total after coupons: $11.08
Everything I purchased was part of a promo- spend $20 on certain products, get a $5 reward coupon. I used the coupon for the second transaction:
2 jars of Skippy Peanut Butter- retail value $6.68
Used Albertsons coupon to get it for $.99 each
Used a $.50/1 coupon
8 boxes of macaroni and cheese- retail value $8
Used Albertsons coupon to get it for $.39 per box
4 cans of Starkist Tuna- retail value $5
Used Albertsons coupon to get it for $.59 per can
Total retail value $19.68
Total after coupons $1.88
Grand total of $79.39 worth of food for only $12.96
To date: $93.35 worth of food for the food bank for only $16.93!
My local food bank is right around the corner from my house but it’s only open on Thursdays. I will be making a delivery once per month.
I am honored to be a part of the Penny Experiment Project. If you are a coupon blogger and would like to take part, please check out this post for more information. Again, it won’t cost you a penny- just your valuable time and your couponing experience to get the most food as possible for as little as possible (which you will be reimbursed for).I encourage each and every one of you to take a few seconds to spread the word about this project. Let’s help feed those less fortunate than ourselves.
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