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Home > dirty money analysis, part 1

dirty money analysis, part 1

July 20th, 2010 at 05:47 am

Part 1 is going to be the big picture.

So I made $49.98, tax free, by picking up any money where I found it between July 14, 2009 - July 13, 2010. I'm frankly still amazed - and found change hunting useful on a number of levels:

1. Got me excited about doing the Saturday and Sunday afternoon walks. This upcoming year, I'm going to see if I can still find change at a jog, which is the pace I'm supposed to go.

2. The nearly $50 is a haul that compares very well against the incredibly crappy interest rates on savings. To collect the same amount of yearly interest last year as I found I would have had to have $3,998.40 in ING; $4,998.60 in a 6 mo CD; $10,517.19 in 1 yr T-bill; $499,800 in a Vanguard money market fund (0.001% interest, if you can believe it). And I haven't even discussed the tax implications yet.

3. Picking up change keeps me attentive and encourages me to pick up more change. Picking up that penny primes me to look for more, both because DisneySteve's rule of looking for additional coins nearby is a good one, and because picking up that penny keeps me mindful that there's many more coins out there. For example, if I didn't pick up those 1098 pennies, and concentrated on finding only silver money, I'd only be off by about 10$. However, if I'm not likely to pick up pennies, I'm probably very unlikely to pick up those nickels, dimes and quarters either.

As I said before, the $49.98 was comprised of 1098 pennies, 44 nickels, 189 dimes, 43 quarters, 2 $1 bills, 1 $5 bill. On a value basis, 22% of my haul was pennies, 4% nickels, 38% dimes, 22% quarters, 14% bills.

The penny haul and the quarter haul seem appropriate to me. I should find a "ton" of pennies because the value is so low, while people don't want to lose quarters so they pick them up if they accidentally catch themselves dropping them and even the most non-change picker upper will pick up a quarter.

The nickel haul seems very low. DH thinks its because one only gets 1 nickel in a wad of change so there aren't that many in circulation. Not much in a pocket means not much can be lost from the pocket. I think that's a good possiblity, but an even better possibility is that a nickel is about the same diameter as a quarter. A nickel is as visible to the casual eye as a quarter might be.

The dime haul seems shockingly high. Matter of fact, if I'm a success at finding change, its mostly dimes and pennies. Dimes are definitely worth picking up. I wonder if the dime situation is the "other side of the coin" (I'll duck now) as the nickel situation. Dimes are small and easily lost.

2 Responses to “dirty money analysis, part 1”

  1. MomEsq Says:
    1279629715

    You've inspired me! I always pick up change, but I've never bothered to keep track of it, since it never seems like much...but I'm clearly wrong on that one. Congrats!

  2. rob62521 Says:
    1279721751

    You and Disney Steve must be in better areas for picking up change...I always look, but usually find the lone penny. I pick it up and it goes in my bank when I get home. I like your idea of keeping track, though!

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