Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Step 5: Almost, but not quite...

Well, the "Would you like to take part in an 'experiment'" technique yesterday didn't work very well. I tried quite a few times, maybe 7 or 8. I knew that if I doubled my dime to $0.20, then I would have to "cut off" the extra four cents. So I posed the question as, "Would you like to try a social experiment? See this dime? I will give it to you for only $0.16. Are you willing to go through with it?" I don't know what went wrong. Maybe it was the wording. Maybe people are unaccustomed to playing Let's Make a Deal with their spare change.

A few of the people had no pocket change with them, and most of the others decided that they didn't want to try it. I did manage to persuade one person (who happened to be the last). After she checked her wallet, she found that she had no nickels and could only make $0.14, and asked if this was enough. I said it was, and thanked her. So now my stake is up to $0.14. I don't think that this method will work again after the mostly negative response I got, so I am hoping to obtain the final $0.02 through found money.

Excuse the blurriness, but my camera is NOT made for close-ups.


Also, I would like to thank Xinfinitum for being the first one to comment on and follow this blog. He has offered to exchange links with me, and so you should see his webside under "Other Doubling Blogs" on the left. Thank you, Xinfinitum!

If you would like your doubling blog to appear, just fire off an e-mail or post a comment with your request.

Monday, April 27, 2009

Steps 1, 2, 3, 4 COMPLETED

Well, I had a close call on Saturday. At the self-checkout counter at The Home Depot, I noticed that several coins were wedged between the bagging area and a wall. Unfortunately, the space they were wedged in was very small, and I could not get them out easily. I tried to pry them out, but there was a bit of a line behind me and I did not want to hold the line up for no apparent reason other than to extract a few coins. So I had to let them go...

But today, I hit the jackpot! Figuratively. I've completed not one, not two, not three, but FOUR steps! And it's all thanks to somebody leaving a dime in the coin return slot in a vending machine slot.



I found a dime... I found a dime...

And this shoots me up to the $0.08 to $0.16 mark, despite Rule #4. According to the rule, "Any money in excess of the target must be removed from the stake." But this is overridden by Rule #1: "There is magic in finding money. Say you find a $10 bill in the street. You can use that to immediately leapfrog you to step #8." According to my interpretation, found money is special, and does not have to be removed from the stake after a doubling.

Whenever you see a 1993 "D" dime, you'll think of me.

Well, I have some plans for doubling this. I'm going to try asking some friends to trade my original dime for double the amount. If I tell them that it's an expirement (which it is) and that I can't tell them exactly what it's about (which I can't), than it might pique their curiosity enough to get them to trade. According to the rules, this is not "asking" for money. We'll see how successful I am tomorrow.

Friday, April 24, 2009

Step 1: No luck yet...

Well, after two days, I still haven't found a stray penny yet. I'll try again tomorrow.

On an unrelated note, I've found some other people trying to do the same thing:

http://dtamp.blogspot.com/ (Currently at Step 20)
http://sparechangedoubling.blogspot.com/ (Currently at Step 12)
http://doublingchallenge.blogspot.com/ (At Step 19, but it looks like the blog died in April 2007. Still interesting to see!)
http://zero2amillion.blogspot.com/ (Currently at Step 15)
And a forum: http://doublersden.co.uk/.

Check them out.

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Intro



Okay, this is Chad here, and I have decided to undergo a quest. What do I need to do? Simple. Within the next 5 years, I must make a total of $1,000,000. And that's not even the worst part. I must start... with absolutely nothing. At first, any money I make will be pocket change. You see, I have found this eBook on the Internet, which challenges you to make $1,000,000 by following 28 steps.
1) Find a penny in the street, or have somebody give it to you (without asking for it).
2) Somehow double that penny to $0.02
3) Double $0.02 to $0.04
4) $0.04 to $0.08
5) $0.08 to $0.16
6) $0.16 to $0.32
7) $0.32 to $0.64
8) $0.64 to $1.28
9) $1.28 to $2.56
10) $2.56 to $5 (It cuts you some slack)
11) $5 to $10
12) $10 to $20
13) $20 to $40
14) $40 to $80
15) $80 to $160
16) $160 to $320
17) $320 to $640
18) $640 to $1,280
19) $1,280 to $2,560
20) $2,560 to $5,000 (Here you get another break)
21) $5,000 to $10,000
22) $10,000 to $20,000
23) $20,000 to $40,000
24) $40,000 to $80,000
25) $80,000 to $160,000
26) $160,000 to $320,000
27) $320,000 to $640,000
28) $640,000 to $1,000,000 (The big one!)
You can work towards doubling your money by using the stock market, selling on eBay, money in the street, anything. But there are some rules:
1) I MUST FIND THE PENNY. I can't cheat by using one of my own. I'm starting from absolutely nothing!
2) NO USING MY OWN MONEY. I can only use "stake" money. It gives an example: If I have $20 in the stake, and find something for $30 that I can sell for $80, tough toenails. I can't add $10 of my own money.
3) THE FIRST 15 STEPS HAVE TO BE DONE WITH CASH ONLY. In addition, I have to keep the original bills and notes. Afterwards, I can use Paypal or a bank account or a credit card or anything else.
4) IF YOU MAKE MORE THAN YOUR TARGET, I MUST SPEND THE EXTRA ON MYSELF. Say, if I wind up turning $20 into $45 instead of $40, I have to take the extra $5 out of the stake and keep it.

5) I DO NOT HAVE TO DOUBLE MY MONEY WITH ONE TRANSACTION. I can make as many transactions as I want, all I have to do is hit the target.

6) I MUST KEEP A JOURNAL. Hence, this blog. Hopefully, this way I'll stick it out.

7) LIVE FOR THE PRESENT. I should ONLY focus on the current doubling. This is so I don't get discouraged. The example says: "Avoid deadly thoughts like this: 'Sure, I can double $5 into $10, but how am I going to double $40,000 into $80,000? It's impossible. I may as well give up now.'"

8) NO SPENDING THE MONEY! The rules state that I may not touch any of the money until I reach $1,000,000. Then, I can keep it. BUT, I am going to make ONE exception. In 5 years, I plan to serve a mission for the LDS church. I will be serving abroad for two years, and the money will do nothing but sit in the bank and collect interest. If I have not reached my goal of $1,000,000 by this time, than I will cash in any stake money I have and use it on my mission. Hopefully, after my mission, I will try to undergo the challenge again, starting back from $0.01.

9) NO WORKING EXTRA AND ADDING THE MONEY TO THE STAKE. See Rule 2.

10) NO CHEATING. This rule just basically states to use common sense about what is okay and what is not. I can use this computer to blog, trade stocks, and sell on eBay, buy I cannot sell the computer and add the money to the stake.

11) IF I SOMEHOW "DROP" A STEP, I NEED TO WORK MY WAY BACK UP. If I have $160, but make a terrible deal and lose $100, than I'm back two steps. Too bad. Make it back up.
12) I "CAN" ADD MY OWN LABOR. I can buy an art set with the stake money, and sell the paintings. The rules say that this technique has limitations, but I can at least try.

13) USE THE STAKE MONEY TO CREATE A VALUE WHICH YOU CAN SELL FOR MORE. Apparently, this strategy will work for EVERY step. I'll see if I will learn.

I, the undersigned do understand and agree to abide by all 13 of the above rules.

Chad the Doubler

(My real signature looks better. You try using your mouse in place of a pen.)

Hopefully, I will be able to complete the program! If not, then I'll take a second try in 7 years. But I'm going to try my hardest. Excuse me, I'm off to search for that first penny!