A Little Change Can Change Your Life

Do you pick up pennies off the ground?

Donna Freedman does. 

In her post for Get Rich Slowly, "Why I Still Pick Up Pennies," Donna says:

"I pick up road pennies with copper coatings ravaged by traffic. I fish nickels out of puddles. I’ve spied dimes glinting across parking lots. I rescue quarters from bus-stop gutters.
Occasionally I find paper money, usually one-dollar bills. This year was unusual because I found a $10 and a $20 bill along with 23 quarters, 52 dimes, 15 nickels and 288 pennies."

Do the math: almost $50, just in a year of casually looking. Hardly spare change! As Mr. PennyPickerUpper.com points out, picking up even one penny translates out to good wages. Don't believe him?
    "It takes about one second to pick up a penny when you see it. So what is that per hour? 
$00.01 x 1 second x 60 x 60 = $36.00/hour"

Cuban friends I met in Florida were very insistent about picking up coins. For one thing, they insisted that leaving money on the ground actually showed disrespect. (They were equally point-blank about not leaving purses and wallets on the floor -- same issue.) Why would money want to stay with you, if you didn't show respect for it?

I'm not sure about money having feelings...but I have noticed that coins, regularly salvaged and as faithfully saved, can add up to a substantial sum. This guy came up with $200, which financed a vacation trip. Others have collected spare change to beef up their emergency funds, or pay for Christmas or anniversary presents. Here are ways to do it:

*Glance at the ground every so often. Look for glints in the sun (coins) or fluttering (bills). My mom found a $5 bill on a cruise ship hallway floor once; no doubt dropped by some boozy gambler.

*Check under chair and couch cushions. (Don't miss looking underneath the furniture, either.) Coat pockets, inside drawers, in the bottoms of purses...these all are fertile ground for spare change. If you're donating items, check them first before bagging them up. This also goes for moving: a handful of change fell out of a bag of discards I was taking to the dumpster for our daughter. Don't miss a cent.

*Empty your pockets - every single night. Don't spend your change -- put it away, instead.

*Find places to keep what you find. A bank by the washing machine. (Another place where change often turns up.) A jar or box on your dresser, for money from your pockets. And of course, there's always: a piggy bank!

I also keep some cash in a sugarbowl, more as a joke than anything. But even that adds up, after a while.

Put your money where it does some good. Banks and credit unions will often take bags of coins free of charge, if you're a member -- deposit the proceeds in a savings account. That way, your cash will be ready for the next emergency, vacation or special project. Do this quarterly, at least -- you'll be amazed at how quickly your money adds up. (There's also Coinstar -- but it charges a fee, with rare exceptions.)

Use at least some of your discovered funds to help others. Donna Freedman donates her found cash to a worthy cause every year. We use our 'washing machine money' (about $25) for a Christmas Angel present -- we send gift cards or small presents anonymously over the holidays. The joy this small action brings is surprisingly large.

See? Even a small amount of change can be a positive one. Mr. Penny Picker-Upper says, "People who pick up pennies are luckier than people who do not pick up pennies. Of we don't believe in luck. We simply believe that opportunities present themselves to people who are observant, in-tune with their surroundings, and open to the possibility of happiness in their world Finding and picking up a penny is a little message to you that you are on the right track in life."