Picking up spare change: 2014 total

[toodleoo]

I work in a large city and spend a lot of time walking around. I've always picked up spare change whenever I came across it. This year I decided to actually keep track of how much I was picking up to see if it amounted to anything. The grand total: $12.37! Not too shabby :) I want to see if I can beat that total this year!

[frpeebles]

https://what-if.xkcd.com/22/

[BlueMR2]

Nice!

I can't recall picking up any at all in 2014, which is amazing considering how many  more walking trips I've been making.

[JLee]

https://what-if.xkcd.com/22/

lmao, I love xkcd but wasn't aware of the what-if.xkcd. Thanks!

[LiveLean]

Negligible amount for me, but our 12-year-old probably averages more than $50 a year. Since he could walk he's an uncanny knack for this, usually finding a $10 or $20 bill once or twice a year. His younger brother has picked up on this and they're forever fighting for the change they find at the checkout counters that was dropped on the floor.

[GuitarStv]

Change has been pretty minimal this year.  However:
- I found an exact matching spare hubcap while biking to work to replace the one that fell off our car that the dealer wanted 50$ for.
- Found an old glider rocking chair while on a walk with my dog, that I took back home, refinished, and we've been using regularly since my son was born.  We would have bought a glider otherwise.
- Wife found a plastic kiddie pool that we used all summer with our son.

So, we're doing pretty well!

[Capsu78]

I don't count the change I find but all change goes into our vacation jar, then account.  Every time I bend over to pick change up I associate with spending it in Italy or somewhere fabulous.

[tracylayton]

I usually find at least one penny, when I'm out for my morning walk. I never leave a penny on the ground, unless I find it in a public restroom...then, my frugality wrestles with my OCD.

[NinetyFour]

I think I found about $70.  One day, yep, I found $60--there was no one around--it was early in the morning.  Difficult to know how to even try return it to the poor soul who lost it.  Then one day I found a fiver in the street.  And lots and lots of other coins.  Tax free found money!!

[3Mer]

Guess I never thought about keeping track - nice idea!  I also pick up every coin I see.  It seems wrong not to.

[kpd905]

I think I might win this one, although it wasn't actually change.  I dropped my car off to get my oil change, and on my walk home I saw a wallet in the street.  No ID or anything, but it was stuffed with $450 in cash.

[Davids]

I usually find at least one penny, when I'm out for my morning walk. I never leave a penny on the ground, unless I find it in a public restroom...then, my frugality wrestles with my OCD.

I agree if it is a penny you find in a public restroom then best to leave it on the ground, now if we are talking nickels or dimes in a public restroom then the risk is worth it...

[NinetyFour]

Nah--I would pick it up and immediately wash it and my hands well with soapy water.  Then I would enter it in my spreadsheet in the "Other Income" column.  :)

[G-dog]

I usually find at least one penny, when I'm out for my morning walk. I never leave a penny on the ground, unless I find it in a public restroom...then, my frugality wrestles with my OCD.

I agree if it is a penny you find in a public restroom then best to leave it on the ground, now if we are talking nickels or dimes in a public restroom then the risk is worth it...

Pick it up, then wash your hands. That bathroom is likely cleaner than a lot of other things you touch every day.  But even so, the sink is right there, so just wash up.

[OSUBearCub]

I picked up a Mc Donald's gift card off the ground at Wal-Mart.  Turned out to have $47 left on it! :0)

[M4111]

Exactly 7,25 euro last year:) I love finding spare change in the streets - if someone was to give me a choice between being handed 20 euro right away or picking up a total of 10 euro in small denominations over a year - I'd happily choose the latter:) It always brings a smile to my face, even if it's just a cent!

[innerscorecard]

This is definitely a first-world thing. You'll never see it in China. There are beggars and desperate poor roaming everywhere looking for literal trash, not to mention literal physical lost money.

[I'm a red panda]

I found 87 last year, including a quarter.  Either I'm not good at this, or our homeless population has it taken care of.

[M4111]

This is definitely a first-world thing. You'll never see it in China. There are beggars and desperate poor roaming everywhere looking for literal trash, not to mention literal physical lost money.

My girlfriend told me that in Russia (in Moscow to be precise) you have coins lying everywhere in the streets, because their value is so negligible that people don't bother picking them up. I would:-)

[Blonde Lawyer]

I think I might win this one, although it wasn't actually change.  I dropped my car off to get my oil change, and on my walk home I saw a wallet in the street.  No ID or anything, but it was stuffed with $450 in cash.

That is something you take to the police.  Even without an ID the owner might try to come in to claim it.  If the owner doesn't come forward, they will usually give it back to you.  In many states it is a crime to keep mislaid property without trying to identify the owner or report that you found it.  Someone was prosecuted in my state for taking $60 "cash back" left at a self-checkout.  The store could have used their records to figure out who lost it and returned it. 

[gimp]

This is definitely a first-world thing. You'll never see it in China. There are beggars and desperate poor roaming everywhere looking for literal trash, not to mention literal physical lost money.

My girlfriend told me that in Russia (in Moscow to be precise) you have coins lying everywhere in the streets, because their value is so negligible that people don't bother picking them up. I would:-)

1 kopek pieces are worth approximately 0.02 cents (not 2 cents, 0.02 cents). Would you really pick them up? :)

I found an exact matching spare hubcap while biking to work to replace the one that fell off our car that the dealer wanted 50$ for.

Are you sure it wasn't yours? :)

[ClaycordJCA]

Found $140 in an ATM machine a few years ago. No one around. Turned it in to the police. Got it back in 90 days when it went unclaimed.  Also called the bank but it wouldn't pull the records to try to figure it out.  Great teaching moment for the 2 kids.

[Cressida]

https://what-if.xkcd.com/22/

That is definitely the funniest thing I've read this year.

[M4111]

1 kopek pieces are worth approximately 0.02 cents (not 2 cents, 0.02 cents). Would you really pick them up? :)

They might be worth more as scrap metal:D

[GuitarStv]

I found an exact matching spare hubcap while biking to work to replace the one that fell off our car that the dealer wanted 50$ for.

Are you sure it wasn't yours? :)

Yep.  I saw it fall out and stopped to put it back on initially, but it was cracked/damaged.

[NeuroPlastic]

Nothing notable last year, but back in 1990 my situation was such that I was walking around town a lot.  I picked up about $10 to $20 a week on average.  I doubt that I could do as well these days, since so few people are using cash anymore.

[thecornercat]

My SO seems to have a side gig in finding money on the ground. He can snag anywhere from $100-$200 in a year. He came home with a $20 bill just a couple days ago.

[NoraLenderbee]

A friend of mine used to look for money when she went jogging. She would jog  in the street next to parked cars, because money usually fell out on the driver’s side. She also sometimes jogged in parking lots. We used to kid her about it (ooh, a penny!) but she found $75-100 every year.  She said it made jogging fun.

[MrsGreenPear]

My husband and I found just under $24 in 2014 (this includes a $5 bill and a couple singles). I thought that was rather good, but it looks like people find a lot more!

[darkadams00]

Not much in the way of change, but I did pick up a $20 sheet of ride tickets off the ground at the state fair this year. Well, $20 sheet minus one ticket whatever that was worth.

[KiwiMust]

$80 in notes (3 different times/locations), probably another few dollars in coins. I feel like I should look up more, but then I would miss all these riches :-). So far this year 30 cents, I am keeping track, hopefully it picks up a bit.

[NinetyFour]

Found a dime yesterday, on my walk home from work!

[antarestar]

I am driving my boyfriend's decidedly unmustachian truck this week. The floorboards are covered in loose change. I'll count it all up this weekend and report back. My guess is that it's close to $20.

[darkadams00]

I am driving my boyfriend's decidedly unmustachian truck this week. The floorboards are covered in loose change. I'll count it all up this weekend and report back. My guess is that it's close to $20.

Sounds kinda like the "laundry maid gets the laundry change" philosophy I grew up with. My mother was mostly a SAHM who did our laundry for us until we were in our mid-teens, but we learned quickly that the $10 bill that was left in a pocket wasn't going to be returned--not cruel now that I look back, just teaching us to be thorough in our tasks. My little sister figured that out when she was still in the "allowance" phase, and she would buzz the laundry baskets if she needed money, much like others might would have checked the couch/chair cushions.

[antarestar]

I am driving my boyfriend's decidedly unmustachian truck this week. The floorboards are covered in loose change. I'll count it all up this weekend and report back. My guess is that it's close to $20.

All right, kids. I'm back. Just finished counting it up and the grant total is $17.56.

[MoneyCat]

My wife somehow how a dime in our cats' litter box.  She wants to clean it and keep it.  I dunno if that is taking things too far.

[antarestar]

I would totally wash it and put it in the piggy bank.

[NinetyFour]

Found a quarter Tuesday, two pennies Wednesday, and a dime and a penny yesterday--all found on the streets while I was walking to/from work.  Total so far this week: 37 cents.

[rocketpj]

I always pick up change that I see, but I don't keep track of it.  It just goes into my pocket and into the bus next time I ride somewhere.

I did find a $20 bill on the ground as I got off the bus on my way home from work on New Year's Day this year though.  I put it in my wife's RRSP account since it was off the budget.*

*Ok, well actually I spent the physical 20 on groceries, but then put $20 from the grocery budget into the RRSP, but same difference.