What's the best purchase you ever made for $1 or less?

I thought about that question the other day as I was working on a sudoku puzzle book I picked up at a dollar store. Undoubtedly it's the best $1 purchase I ever made. The original price tag said $6.95 and its only flaw was a ripped title page. However, it's not just the good deal that made the paperback book a great purchase; it's the fact that I love these puzzles. They are billed as "very hard," which means they are very absorbing, but (here's the good part), they are not so hard that I can't solve them. I'm a third of the way through the 300 puzzles and already feeling a little sad that the day is coming when I'll be finished. Maybe I'll erase all the markings and start over at the beginning.

Do you feel that enthused about anything you ever bought for $1 or less? If so, tell us. Here's how some Times readers answered the question.

Comments

[Eve]

One of my favorite $1 purchases was a beautiful glass clown at the old flea market on Hillsborough Avenue. I was working at a state job which I really disliked, I left the office for lunch(drinking from my container of hot coffee and a little sandwich),. Feeling discouraged from all the paperwork and office politics, I got up and walked around to see what the vendors had for sale. There was an old man bundled up selling things out of a trunk. I spotted the clown. I asked him "how much?' He said, $1 and I snatched it up...brand new and still in a case. I loved it...it is still on my shelf. Eve

[Dave Jonsson]

Forty-one years ago this coming March, I bought a beautiful, blue-eyed blond a couple of draft beers at a neighborhood bar. They were 20 cents apiece. In four months the blond and I were engaged. We married in October. Together, we raised and nurtured three sons. We are currently the grandparents of four grandchildren--two boys, and two girls. We hope for more. A pretty good return on a 40 cent investment, wouldn't you say?