Penny challenge practice run: How did it go?

By Jess Santacroce

Writer/Editor: The 315

The penny challenge 2026 practice run launched with the purchase of a thermos for a penny. The thermos was posted on Facebook marketplace and several other sales sites. While I waited for the thermos to sell, I used some of the “not even a penny” resources available.

Scouring retail websites for deals was the most lucrative. Target offered $100 in rewards credit for signing up for their credit card. First, I made sure the card did not charge a fee to have it. It does not. Next, I turned back to my shopping list and made sure I chose brands and items that would fall under that reward amount. The reward program also included access to coupons on several items. One tube of Overtone color depositing hair mask, one Maybelline black mascara, three Revlon eyeliners, two Revlon lipsticks, and two Maybelline lip glosses came to well under that amount. I ordered those products completely free to me using my new rewards balance and coupons.

New fragrance was ordered using a similar tactic. I used some Victoria’s Secret body sprays leftover from the previous penny challenge to get an idea of what scents I might like, then started shopping around online. I hadn’t planned to get my fragrances from Scheels. My original plan was to open a credit card account at Scheels outdoor-themed store to get the free gift card, then sell the gift card for cash. Unfortunately for me, that gift card could only be used in conjunction with the new credit card. But as with Target, I was able to put together an order of fragrances from the women’s section that fell under the $75 limit. The biggest surprise here was that there were several department store items mixed in with all the camping and hunting and fishing and picnic merchandise. I ordered a travel size of Dolce and Gabbana “Light Blue,” the item that caused the challenge to need a bit of an extension, and a full size bottle of “Blush” body spray by Kenneth Cole. I even got to toss a couple of cute purse charms, a little microphone and a coffee cup, into my cart to use up the card.

When using this tactic, it is important to first make sure the cards you sign up for are free to have. Monthly and yearly fees will only take back any bonuses you have plus cost you more in the end. Then, make sure whatever you order falls well under the total of the rewards you earn, and use any coupons, free shipping offers, and cash backs to your advantage until the order total is $0.00.

Using points I already had from purchases I would have made anyway (weekly groceries), on Fetch Rewards generated some actual cash. Points from Fetch Rewards, Walgreens cash back rewards, Target Rewards, and other random points programs I find are what I use to replace cosmetics items as they run out or expire when I’m not doing a penny challenge.

For the challenge, I redeemed points for a $25 Target gift card, really didn’t need it after that rewards haul, and sold it for $19.00 minus the dollar charge from the gift card company that bought it. An additional $4.00 came from signing up for one of those settlements against websites for leaking information. I’d signed up during the previous challenge, but since I didn’t even know if I was really getting anything and the unexpected money landed during this challenge, I counted that unexpected $4.00 in for this one.

That put $22 into the penny challenge envelope.

According to the rules, I also needed to pay for transportation, food and drinks on any day I went out to shop for the hair mask, fragrance, and makeup, but that proved not to be an issue. I found everything online. All I had to do was bring in and open packages.

All that was left was the haircut. Originally, the plan was to raise $35 for a trip to Supercuts, money to pay for a ride, and money for a drink, snack, or meal for a little spa day out for me. Then I remembered previous experiences at salons. I have honestly never enjoyed a trip to a salon. I never get the haircut I want, and I just can’t relate to people who feel beautiful and pampered during salon visits. I typically feel worse about myself during and immediately after, sometimes for weeks. To spare myself the experience, I decided to try learning to do a basic trim on my own hair and doing it myself completely free. The bottom of the back is not quite right, but the rest of the back, the top, the sides, and the front turned out perfect. It’s a little shorter than I want my hair, but now that I got a lot of damage off, it should grow well again. It at least turned out better than I get when I go to a salon, so it’s a success.

One thing I had to let go of for any of this to succeed was selling Avon. It just wasn’t selling. I didn’t lose any money, and came out slightly ahead in the end, but I wasted a lot of time trying to sell it that should have been better spent on this or other writing projects. I wasn’t even using Avon products that much myself, just the few cosmetics products I use. I never wore any of their jewelry or clothes, cleaned, stocked or decorated my home with any of their household products, or washed with their hygiene products.

Technically, the practice challenge could have ended in success at this point. I didn’t even need to use the extension. I decided to do so anyway, just to see how much more I could raise, what else I could get for no more than a single penny out of my own pocket, and to complete something I started without changing the goal over and over again. One changed deadline is enough.

To hurry things along again, I ordered another gift card using points from Fetch Rewards. I had enough for another $10 gift card. I chose Nordstrom, since it was on sale. I could sell it for $7 cash and still have some points leftover. I also lowered the price for the thermos all the way down to $1 or a trade for pretty much anything. I obtained it for a penny, so anything more than a penny or worth more than a penny is a successful trade or sale.

The Nordstrom gift card sold for $7.30, giving me $7 after the fees I paid to transfer it to my bank before transferring it again to my Cashapp. By the final day, I was left with a $5 Dunkin gift card, a pack of pens, a thermos, a bottle of “Light Blue” fragrance, $13 in Target Rewards credit, and $29 cash.

On the last day, I added a $175 Amazon gift card to the total, by responding to an offer to sign up for an Amazon Visa Rewards card. Like every other card I take out, this card does not have an annual fee, and I do not have to charge anything on it.

In the end, the penny challenge practice run not only succeeded, it blew up. It concluded with the goal of a new fragrance, haircut, hair mask, and makeup for me met, plus $29 in cash, a $175 Amazon gift card, $13 in Target Rewards and a thermos and a bottle of D&G fragrance to add to the $5 Dunkin gift card and pens leftover from the 2025 challenge.

The Amazon gift card balance and $13 in Target Rewards will be kept for my personal use since those cannot be sold or used for most of the options in the next challenge. The leftover cash, thermos, bottle of D&G “Light Blue”, $5 Dunkin gift card, and pack of pens will be carried over as resources for the real summer 2026 penny challenge, running from August 1-August 31, 2026.

And that challenge will be….up to you. The goal will be to raise $500 for whichever option wins the poll on the Artist Cafe 315 facebook page. Should that goal fall short, any money in the cash envelope will be given out. The rules will remain the same as in the practice run, except that because this one will have been planned with plenty of time for me to find a suitable stand-in for brief delivery work gigs, I cannot use rewards points from items I would normally purchase in the challenge.

Make sure to cast your vote by the end of the day on July 20.