February 6, 2022
I feel that coins get no respect. People throw them down with no care in the world. They are walked over and stepped on as if they carry no value. That ends today. Today I am standing up for the coins. I am giving a voice to the coin-less. I am here to say NO MORE. This is a coin revolution.
But in all seriousness, let’s start off by acknowledging that coins are money and if handled with care, can have a big impact on building wealth and gaining financial stability. How you ask? Well, you are in the right place to get that question answered.
Every nickel makes a muckle
My grandma always says to this to me as she empties her pockets and puts her loose change in her jar on her dresser. It means that an accumulation of the little things will add up to make something bigger. Have you ever heard of the penny challenge? It Is a challenge where you are adding an additional penny to what you are depositing each day.
For example:
Day 1 you save $0.01 equaling $0.01
Day 2 you save $0.02 equaling $0.03
Day 3 you save $0.03 equaling $0.06
With this challenge you can end up saving over $600 for the year, just from starting with one penny.
Another way to build your money without thinking, is by using cash to make purchases and putting the change in a jar when you get home. You will be surprised by how much money you save at the end of one year just from doing that one little act.
Where do I find loose coins?
I find loose coins everywhere I go. In stores, parking lots, restaurants, going for a walk in my neighborhood. They seem to just materialize. Once I was at a gas station waiting to pay the clerk and a gentleman in front of me made a purchase and received 35 cents in change and he just threw the coins on the ground as if it was normal. After I got over my initial shock, I picked it up and proceeded to pay for my gas. The clerk looked at me, shook his head and said “can you believe that?” I said “no I cannot, but one man’s trash is another man treasure” and smiled.
My profit
One year, I got curious as to how much money I collected. I put all the money I found while going about my daily live in a specific jar from January 1st to December 31st. At the end of the year, I added it all up to see how much I collected. To my surprise I collected $25 that year. Now you might be thinking well that is not a lot of money but if you think about it, this is me picking up mostly pennies, a few quarters, nickels and dimes in the various stores and parking lots I went to. I am not actively combing the streets trying to find loose change. My most profitable year was $60.
What do I do with the money?
After I counted the money, I rolled it and took it to the bank and deposited it into my saving account, helping to build my emergency fund. Furthermore, with the power of compound interest the money I deposit will double and triple overtime.
I do not use the coin machines you find in the grocery stores to count my money because they take a percentage for fee. We are trying to reach our financial goals, whether that is paying down debt, building up our emergency fund or building wealth. So, we are not giving away money because of convenience.
We have to be intentional and be willing to put in the work. However, if you have a lot of coins, some banks have a coin counting machine that their customers can use at no extra cost and there are personal coin counting machines that you can purchase that will roll the coins for you, but you still have to buy one of those. Of course, there is the old fashion way of just counting the coins and stuffing the rollers yourself. All you have to do is schedule a day in the year for a coin rolling party and roll your own coins with the family or some friends.
For a roll:
50 pennies = 50 cents
40 nickels = $2
50 dimes = $5
40 quarters = $10
And remember the paper coin wrapper are marked with the type of coin and value of the roll. You can ask your bank for coin wrappers for free or you can buy in in bulk on line or at a retail store.
Pride
Do not let pride or embarrassment prevent you from picking up that coin. Matter of fact, I challenge you to see how much money you can collect just picking up the coins you see going about your daily life. You might be surprise.
You can use that money to help pay down debt, increase your savings or buy yourself lunch. Whatever your heart desires, just do not disregard the value of that lonely coin sitting there staring at you asking to be picked up.
*Do you step over change you see while walking or do you pick it up? Leave a comment.
Comments