★ Money Challenge #20: Pay It Forward

This is part of our Weekly Money Challenge series. Be sure to check off any you’ve missed!

Today, I went to the grocery store for milk and bananas. I was standing in line behind someone who was checking out a medium amount of groceries. Not one of those kill me now amounts. Milk and bananas in one hand and my 3-year-old girl in the other arm. The woman checking out in front of me asked, "Is that all you're getting?" Thinking she was going to let me go in front of her I said, "Yeah, but don't worry about it you're already halfway finished checking out." The women grabbed my milk and bananas, handed them to the cashier and said, "I'll pay for these so he can get going."

What?!

I could tell she wasn't going to let me refuse, or slip her any cash, so I thanked her like 20 times and had my daughter say thank you and we went on our way. I've let people checkout in front of me (and pay for their own stuff) when they only have like one or two items. But I've never even thought about doing what this next-level-hero-women did! It surprised me. It put me in a good mood. I won't forget it for a long, long time.

This week's challenge is simple: pay it forward.

Perhaps you've already got someone in mind you can help. Maybe it will be a random situation that pops up this week like my grocery experience. It doesn't have to be financially-related. There's a million different ways to pay it forward that don't involve cash. Get some ideas from our Community Fund. When you've done the deed, come back and tell us about it. You better believe I'll be paying it forward after what just happened to me! – Derek, Master of Challenges ***** PS: Curious to see how last week’s challenge went? Click here and scroll to the bottom.

UPDATE!

Here's a great example of paying it forward from Vicki over in the forums...

We paid it forward last night too. We bought a used bike & bike trailer from a young guy who had started a window washing business and used that as his transportation! He grew his business and bought a pick up truck, so he had no need for it anymore. We paid the full price he was asking and he commented that he thought for sure that we were going to ask to have the price reduced. (We were sure he built in a buffer from what he thought he would get.) We told him we were happy to pay a (full) fair price to an entrepreneur who took good care of his equipment and worked hard! He deserved the extra $20 or so he probably would have knocked off for someone else. We're going to try a more random pay it forward tonight!