The other day I met a friend for lunch at a local diner. It was his turn to pick up lunch and he paid with cash, which was all that they accept. After our lunch we talked outside for a few minutes about our different business ventures. While we were talking I watched as he put all of the silver coins in his pocket and threw the pennies into a bush. Surprisingly this caught me off guard. I have never been able to throw any of my money away. Sure I have fallen victim to the pointless purchase or impulse buy. Never have I ever thrown pennies on the ground or left them behind.
This may go back to my childhood, I always would ride my bike and stop to pick up any spare change I could find. I enjoyed saving them in jars for months and then rolling them to see my new found earnings. Once while I was in high school, I was working as an usher for the Tampa Bay Rays, while I was working I noticed a wad of cash on the ground. It turned out to be $200 that someone obviously lost; I would be depressed if I lost $200. I did the right thing and turned it in to my boss, and figured that was the end of it. A week later the boss returned the $200 to me and informed me that nobody had claimed the lost money. The point is I have always kept my eyes peeled when walking around as you never know what you will find.
The Escapist Magazine posted a poll asking readers if they pick up money of the ground. 37% answered Yes Always!, 23% Yes, but no pennies…. 1.4% No, I have pride. I wonder, who are the people who are too prideful to pick up free money? This got me thinking about reasons why people wouldn’t pick up change. I came up with the following reasons; they don’t want to appear cheap, it is dirty, not worth there time, or it may be too dangerous(change on a busy road). Safety would be the only reason I wouldn’t pick up money, well that and a bathroom floor (I may even leave my cell phone if it fell on a public restrooms floor). I manage rental properties and you would be amazed at the amount of change people leave behind when they move to a new home. I recently found close to $5 on the top of a refrigerator of a move out.
Since I began thinking out the topic I found $0.11 on the ground. This brings my total to $43.14, watch out world. I will add this savings vehicle to my Upwards of Twenty portfolio, since it doesn’t take any additional effort and will be interesting to track. I actually found two blogs that tracked there monthly money findings Change Race and The ChangePot. Neither site has had a post in many years but still were interesting to read, the total for Changepot was $1087 when it ended.
I am still working on the Recycled Crafts and hope to have pictures and the product listed on websites soon. I know the blog is still in its infant’s stages but I look forward to more followers, comments and emails as things get rolling. As they say “A penny saved is a penny earned”, don’t be a chump and pick up those pennies. You never know it could be one the 25 Most Valuable US Pennies, then you will be thanking me! JB
Upwards of Twenty 
Ugh; I cringed when I read about your friend throwing the pennies into a bush!! One thing we’ve learned as we work to pay off our debt is that every cent really does add up. We’ve trained our 4 kids well, and I thoroughly enjoy seeing the looks on their cute little faces when they find money – of any amount – on the ground. 🙂
I have two daughters the oldest is just starting to learn about money. She loves trying to fill up her piggy bank. We the roll the coins and deposit them. I agree with you on the importance of starting investing and savings knowledge at a young age. Thanks for the post and I look forward to following your site as well. JB
Ok…I am trying to get over this man tossing pennies in the bush. Who does that…Lol. In my book, money is money and pennies add up. I like this post….good read.
I couldn’t agree more. I have always thought of the change I find as a percent return on a dollar. This method made me feel like it is worth more, why I have no idea.