When was the last time that you bent down and picked up a penny that you saw on the ground?
Me? If I see a coin at my feet, I’m on it like a duck on a June bug. A penny that is heads up is supposed to be lucky, but I don’t care if it shows tails. I’ll pick it up anyway, which may be why good luck doesn’t stay around my house long. I find a penny at about a rate of one per day.
My children, on the other hand, couldn’t be bothered to stoop down for a penny. In fact, they didn’t bother with nickels, dimes or quarters. If I pointed out a coin on the ground, I got that look (you know the one I mean). They rolled their eyes and said, “Mom, it’s not worth anything.”
So disdainful were they of their coins that when they vacuumed their rooms (which almost happened once a year), I heard the kerthunk as they sucked up coins from the floor. They were too lazy to pick them up and put them in the piggy bank. I tell you what, I ripped open a vacuum bag more than once to get at those coins! They just didn’t care about small change at all. In fact, when the youngest moved off to college, I made a dollar and eighty-seven cents just by emptying his trash!
Now, it’s true that a penny won’t buy very much. There isn’t even any such thing as “penny candy” anymore. But, they add up. If you save your pennies and collect ten of them–you still can’t buy anything. But, if you save three-hundred and eighty-nine of them, you can buy a gallon of gas! At the rate of one penny per day, in a year you’d almost have enough. Of course, a year from now, you might need twice that to buy a gallon of gas.
Lately, I’ve been counting my pennies and paying attention to how I spend them. I didn’t have to do that so much a year ago. Am I the only one having to pinch pennies?
I’ve discovered that, for a person who is so quick to pick up a penny, I’m not very thoughtful when I spend it! I’m trying to re-think my strategies. My grandmother knew how to pinch a penny. Her kitchen was “decorated” with plastic bags and tinfoil that she washed and hung to dry. She re-used it until it fell apart. I’m not quite ready to go that far, but I’m trying to find little ways to save. The pennies will add up.
When I go grocery shopping, I’m making myself buy store brands instead of the cans with fancy labels. Sometimes it only saves a penny or two, but I’ve discovered that the quality is often the same. I always knew that, really, I was just an elitist shopper. I can’t afford to be an elitist anymore. I don’t buy much food in bulk, because there are only two of us in the house (so it doesn’t seem practical). But, I buy paper goods in bulk.
I’ve even started looking at clipping coupons. I rarely ever bothered with that, because I felt that coupons were just an enticement to buy a processed food I don’t need. I’m starting to look for coupons on the products I really buy [if any of you know a good place to get coupons on line, tell me about it!].
So, I’m curious. Are any of you trying to find ways to save those pennies? Do you have any good tips? I’d love it if you would share in a comment, or if you have written a post (or want to write one) then give me a link to it and I’ll add it here. Do you have a favorite website with frugal tips?
What do you do to save a penny? I’d offer you a penny for your thoughts, but I’m saving mine.
My phone...
e, very well chosen too I might add. My Mom...
I always have Michaels and JoAnn coupons(-: I have a link on my blog for those if you need one. I use coupons if there are ones I need. When my kids were babies I would save diaper coupons. That saved a lot of $.
I pick up coins and put them in a jar. Once or twice a year I roll them up. Usually I have about 7.00-10.00(-: I also save aluminum cans and plastic bottles to recycle. I have made up to $85.00 with those. I take them in every couple of months. I need to do that now. I have a pile of stuff.
I have also saved a lot of money not stopping at the coffee shop on the way to work. That was 4.00 a pop and that now goes into the gas tank(-:
If I were rich I would still do the same things because I have done them all my life.
The old penny saying…If you find a penny pick it up…all day long you will have good luck? (It doesn’t say it has to be heads up)…(-:
I don’t know where I got the idea that it has to be heads up, but I know somebody told me that once, and of course I believe it.
Now, I’ve seen the coupons you have for Michael’s and Joanne’s…and that’s a great thing. But, those are two stores I avoid when money is tight. The crafts are the first luxury I give up. I was thinking about the aluminum can recycling, but our city does that, and I think I’d have to probably drive 30 miles to find a recycling center that would pay me.
The coffee shop is a killer for me, because I’m totally addicted to mocha, but I’ve proven I can give it up when I must. I’m just hoping I can save enough on other stuff that I can still indulge my addiction
I’m so pathetic.
The best way we’ve saved money is to reassess what we spend and on what. The coffee shops are out. Eating out is not done very often either. We have always bought store brands too. Bulk paper products as well. Okay, we love Costco.
I find that if folks will look at where their money is going they can make informed decisions on how to stretch their dollars. Works for us. This also includes utilities. Case in point: We quit watching television, but were paying $70.00+ a month for the service. Hello! We reassess our spending habits at least twice a year.
Have a great day. Big hug.
Comedy Pluss last blog post..Present Whereabouts…
Excellent suggestions. I’m thinking as I read it that we pay for cable television…and also get Netflix. Hmmm. Seems redundant doesn’t it? We don’t have a Costco near, and I confess I’ve never been in one. Again, if it’s buying in bulk, I’m not sure it would work for just the two of us. Maybe I should check it out, though. It’s been a long time since I kept a “budget” and really looked at what I’m spending. I guess you’ve just reminded me that it’s time!
When I see a penny tails up I always turn it heads up, then the next person to find it has some luck!
I like your style, Metta. Could I get you to walk ahead of me and flip pennies for me?
Well I know that you read Being Surpassed on my blog because you commented, but you might be interested in GroceryGuide to help with your buying needs.
Personally I haven’t been pinching too hard, but I think that in general I’m not a spendthrift at all anyways.
However, I don’t usually stoop for a penny. 2 or 3 maybe. A nickel, for sure. Of course, I also don’t find pennies as often as once a day so it would take me YEARS to get enough for a gallon of gas!
Derek Wongs last blog post..Experience Matters
I’ll have to take a look at your post. I can’t believe you wouldn’t stoop for a penny! It’s good exercise. Yep, it takes years to save up enough of them to buy gasoline, but it has to start somewhere. WAIT! I know how to save money: I’ll quit buying lottery tickets!!
I find I save the most money buying store brand products or skipping the major grocery stores altogether and shopping at a store like Aldi’s. I don’t have the patience to cut coupons. The store brands are always less expensive and rarely can I even tell the difference.
Jessica The Rock Chicks last blog post..Rainy Days and Mondays
I don’t know “Aidi’s”, but I can guess it’s like our Brookshire’s. It’s not as pleasant a shopping experience, because it doesn’t have all the fun stuff I like to buy…but then that saves me money, doesn’t it?
I’m not sure I have the patience to cut coupons, nor am I organized enough to find them when I need them.
“Find a penny, pick it up
All day long you’ll have good luck.”
And it’s goes especially lucky if it’s on heads. When I see a penny, if it’s on heads, I ALWAY pick it up, AND check the year AND say that little saying above, yes everytime. What year it is will decide what pocket I put the penny in. I seriously have lucky pennies all over the place in all sorts of purses and jackets and sitting on desks and taped to stuff.
If the penny is on tails, I kick it and hope that it’ll flip to heads for the next person to find - it’s my way of spreading the good karma
Wow, now I’m wondering if I should hit submit, I may have just revealed way more about my OCDness than I usually would… :-0
The best way to make a profit on those pennies is to melt them down. They are now more valuable as metal than they are as currency.
For helpful hints, we have a small freezer, so I buy meat on sale such as roasts and divide it up into freezer bags.
Check for a buying group in your area or form one. That allows you to buy in bulk at farmers’ markets or places like Costco and then divide up the spoils at lower prices.
Go online and print coupons for things you use regularly. Clipping coupons doesn’t help if you don’t use the product.
Everyone should have a market card. My Safeway has a new store promotion going that is giving me 10% on all purchases and the extra savings on store brands or promotions.
We have three of those tall plastic storage cupboards in the garage where I put extras I pick up such as when the store has a 10 for $10 sale on things such as Hamburger Helper.
Don’t go near fast food places. There is little they make that you couldn’t make at home for half the price.
For clothes and household products, don’t turn your nose up at consignment stores and thrift shops. You might have to hunt, but there are lots of good bargains.
Look for helpful hints on line. You can do away with a lot of expensive cleaners and other products simply by using household products … i.e. vinegar and salt can take the grime off almost everything.
Jamies last blog post..Ruby Tuesday
Excellent suggestions, all! I’m with you on the thrift shops as a great place to find clothing buys. The only problem I have with them is that I’m not one to enjoy sifting and sorting!
Plan meals ahead and make meals out of leftovers. Supper tonight was homemade pizza, 1.50 for frozen dough, 1.89 for store brand cheese and left over sauce from Saturday’s meatballs. It was delicious. Rather than eating out, we try to buy the good stuff and cook it ourselves, cheaper that way.
All the change in our pockets go into a can in our bedroom at the end of the day. It definitely adds up. Going to be a lot of penny pinching going on here!
Jens last blog post..Get the Vote out- Don’t vote??? Duh, Vote!!
Planning ahead is where I fall down on the job, but you are right that eating at home is much better. You can feed six for the price of one fancy meal…if you think about it! Penny pinching will be going on everywhere for awhile, I’m afraid.
I’ve been known to wash those plastic bags and reuse them. I bake a lot of bread instead of buying it because flour and water costs very little but a loaf of bread is two bucks (my dad got me some yeast in bulk for very cheap at a shop in Aida Oklahoma). I make and freeze my own burritos (which does save me money, I calculated out the cost a while back to prove it to my husband.). For a while I cut paper towel rolls in half. What I really want are several sets of cloth napkins. We eat a lot of crock pot meals and almost never eat out.
Cashing in my penny jar a while back (which did have it’s share of silver change in it too) made me almost a hundred dollars.
The book Tightwad Gazette made a huge difference in the way I spend money.
marilyns last blog post..Would you hire me?
I’m a fan of saving pennies in the jar (and I read Tightwad Gazette years ago…found some helpful suggestions, but some that were over the top!). I’d make my own bread, but no one would be able to eat it. My attempts have created lethal weapons, because the bread is so hard
. I envy those who can make a decent homemade bread. There is nothing finer!