COUNTING PENNIES

When you find yourself counting your combined change to see if you can swing lunch and a movie you know things are tight. The dreamers that we are, when we sat down to count each penny our hopes were to have enough coins to make it to Cannon Beach, Oregon. Adventure was dearly needed to lift our spirits, and the thought of driving to the coast for pizza and a sunset sounded like just the thing to bring us out of our funk. 

In the end all we managed was lunch in town.

But next time, I'm hoping we'll dip our toes in the sea.

 

Comments

[Jen A.]

When I was in college I saved my change all semester so that after finals I could go to Olive Garden and have a "real" meal.

Now that I'm older (but still probably as poor), I am still saving change. I am currently filling a growler (the jug you get from a brewery) with quarters and another one with all the other change. I keep tempting myself to count it all up before they are full and talking myself out of it...

I hope that when I do cash in all of those tiny pieces of metal, that they payoff is worth it and what I spend it on ends up being worth the time it took me to save up and fill two growlers!

[Wendi]

Oh, Cannon Beach! That takes me back to my days at UofO. Hope you get there soon.

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

JEN, I LOVE that you saved up coins to hit up Olive Garden! The OG as my friends and I called it was the meeting place for many many college snarf fests. You have to tell me what you end up getting once your growlers are full. I'm sure you'll be able to have a much more interesting adventure than Adam and I with our silly little piggy bank!

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

WENDY,

You went to UofO? My sister is a duck! I tried to convince her of the superiority of the University of Washington, but sadly she preferred being a water fowl. When I moved her into the dorms a couple years ago I was a total brat and wore a UW tshirt. :) There was one father there that I swear was going to tackle me right there in front of the cafeteria!

Either way, duck or husky, NORTHWEST PRIDE!

[Kristy]

My husband comes home from work every single day and dumps his loose change somewhere in the house. It drove me crazy when we first met...then I would just be all sly and deposit his change in what I like to refer to as the "holding area". (cannot disclose...this is a secret place...shhhh)

About every three months I dump out all my secret stashes (yes....must have several...in case of being found out) and go off to have it all counted up. I usually net quite a hefty amount. I then spend this money on something I have been denying myself.

Yes..this sounds ballistic...I'm taking my husbands loose change...but thing is....he's too lazy to put it in one place. I'm paid for picking up after him...his change..his laundry (ohhh sometimes I net paper money in the dryer...cha'ching..payment for doing laundry!) and I put that money in the s.h.p. (secret hiding place..c'mon aren't you paying attention?)

Those outings with mucho bank in my pocket from my daily change netting's...they make me far far less resentful about cleaning up after a less than neat husband.

One time I walked into the book store (I love books) and bought 11 books with my stash. It felt exhilerating to not feel guilty about it too!

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

KRISTY you are one sneaky little woman! I love though that you feel like he's paying you to clean up after him. :) I wish Adam paid me to clean up the house!

Adam and I each have our own little coin collecting areas. I use a UW piggy bank, and he rocks a basic glass on his night stand. Once they're full we dump them on the floor and see what we come up with.

I don't know why, but I've always loved counting coins...

[Naomi Evarts]

Kevin and I save our change, but every time laundry day rolls around we find ourselves sneaking quarters out of the jar to help pay for those expensive SF laundry mats. One of these days, we'll have enough pennies for a nice bottle of wine or perhaps a gallon or two of gas for the Prius.

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

I'm loving hearing how many other people squirrel away change for a special event/item!

I think there is something wonderful about taking these little forgotten coins and then realizing how much value they actually hold. Something seemly worthless suddenly turns into a fun evening or a special girt with almost no effort.

I love change.

Is that weird?

[Carmie]

I always pay with paper and keep my change. After two years, I have around $300.

[Ashley, The Accidental Olympian]

CARMIE, 300! That's amazing! I wish I had the patience to wait that long. Once that piggy is full I'm off to the bank to see what I can get. I've never had more than 50 and I thought at the time that was AMAZING! Way to go you!

[martha]

Ashley I don't know if you remember what a total nightmare Petes garage used to be. But while he was flat on his back recovering from knee surgery I hired a couple of guys and we went to work on cleaning up 25 yrs of collecting stuff. In all that stuff were cans and bottles and wooden boxes full of coins, too many to roll. I went to the bank and told them I had a lot of change that I would like to deposit, but too much to count. They gave me giant heavy duty bags and a cart and I brought it all in to the bank. They said to give them a rough estimate of how much I thought I was depositing and they would adjust the deposit after it was counted. I thought it was probably around $300.00..A week later my account was adjusted to $677.00! Pete is back at it again, I just found another stash just the other day.

[Jen A.]

ASHLEY -- My aunt used to save all of my uncle's washing machine change (from his pants pockets; he never checked before putting his clothes in the hamper) and every year for Thanksgiving she'd join his poker game -- with friends and family -- and play with his money. She said it was her money; she earned it from doing his laundry! ;)