The Streets of New York City...

. . . are full of spare change, which is a good thing for The Penny Project!

Below is an e-mail from a friend/penny convert. I came home from a 2-week international vacation to find this fantastic message waiting in my inbox. I absolutely love it when people who used to think, "Pennies...from the street? No way!" end up sending me stories like this. Ah, the power of the penny!

I’m happy to report that on a recent trip to the city I found 20 cents. Not bad for a few days! The breakdown is as follows – 5 pennies, one nickel, and one dime. I’m pretty sure that adds up to 20 cents but I may be wrong (I’m a little tired today).

I do have to tell you a funny little story about one of the pennies. First let me start off by saying that I never used to pick up change on the street, regardless of the size of the coin. I might not even pick up a dollar bill! But I’ve changed my ways for your project even though sometimes I’m a little embarrassed that I’ll stop in my tracks or go out of my way for spare change. I’m sure that must be some sort of psychological disorder, but talking to a shrink about it would cost me more pennies than I have so I’m comfortable with my embarrassment when it comes to picking up change on the sidewalk. So now onto my story (don’t worry, the information I just divulged is somewhat related) . . .

I’d already found a few pennies while I was in New York and then I got on the elevator and saw one right at the edge of the elevator door. This penny was in danger and I was afraid the door would cover it up and lose it when it closed. Now, if I’d been alone in the elevator I would have moved quickly to rescue it. But there were two other people who got in after me and I was too embarrassed to jump after a penny in front of other people, especially in a nice apartment building in NY (see, I told you the earlier information was relevant). So I watched the people to see what floors they selected and was glad to see that they were stopping on the 8th and 9th floors and I was going up to 12. That would give me some alone time in the elevator to grab the penny as long as the door didn’t sweep it away or someone else didn’t grab it on their way out. I had my strategy so now all I could do was wait. I held my breath a little each time one of them got off and was pleased when the door closed after stopping on the 9th floor – the penny was still there and I was alone to rescue it! Clearly I’m not the only one with this penny picking-up disorder, which has thankfully added an extra penny to your count for 2008!

Just had to share that. I hope you had a great vacation and maybe even found some spare change. Not sure what the conversion rates are like these days but whatever you find has to be worth something!

It's Not Just a Penny...It's a Little Bit of Joy!

Remember the last time you had a really crappy day and thought maybe God hated you for something you did (or didn't do...be nice to that cranky neighbor, will ya?!). Life didn't seem fair because the new guy at work got a better cubicle than you did in the office move. Or maybe you got on the metro train only to realize as you pulled into the next station, you were going the wrong way. Hmph. Life really sucks sometimes.

But the next time you are having one of those days, refer back to the note below. I actually teared up the first 3 or 4 times I read it because it made me happy to think that something as simple as a penny could bring joy to someone. Someone with REAL problems (not that a small cubicle isn't a real problem...but start thinking of it as cozy and quaint...maybe you'll like it a little more).

Leslie~
Thanks for the penny update. Things here have been a little rough. We finally got a diagnosis for our little girl. She has Glucose Transporter Type 1 Deficiency Syndrome (GLUT1 DS). It's super rare (only about 200 cases diagnosed world-wide) but thankfully she has the type that is less severe and there is a treatment. It involves a low carb/protein HIGH fat diet (ketogenic diet). Anyway to my point (finally) we had her in the hospital trying to start the diet but failed (which was a huge bummer but we'll try again soon... she's a stubborn 2 y/o with a bit of an eating disorder). BUT...I found 11¢! It made my otherwise horrible week a little bit happy. I love your penny project because it really does help me focus on the little joys in life.

So my total is now 22¢. 2 dimes and 2 pennies. I'm on the lookout all the time but obviously people in Milwaukee keep better track of their money than people in the DC area (especially Bethesda!) so I haven't been finding much. Let me know how I send it in or what to do with it. It's in a little cup by my monitor so I don't have it with the rest of my change (it's special :).

My point is this...there is lots of joy in the world. And whether you have the world's worst cubicle or the metro delivers you to a foreign/wrong stop...try to find the joy in it anyway. Maybe, just maybe...you'll find 11 cents and a smile too. And you'll realize that little moment and those 11 cents are more special than a corner office or getting on the right metro train on time.

Ode to Track Change

I love it when I'm sitting at home and here the "beep-beep-beep" of my phone alerting me a new text message has arrived. Especially when the text message is as brilliant as this lovely little gem:

I'm stanring at change on the tracks. Dimes. Pennies. I think a quarter.

If only I could reach them. Just a little farther. Stretch arms, stretch!

Oh s**t. The train. :-)

And while this ode may have ended in some missed penny collecting opportunities...just a few days later, it's author found 79 cents on her morning run, which inspired a shout out to financial fitness!

Ah, the inspiration of a penny!

Crazy Squared

Most of you who are reading this have at one point or another found a penny on the sidewalk (and probably subsequently given it to me for entry on the spreadsheet). Therefore you know the little twinge of excitement such a find brings. And forget finding anything silver...that will probably be cause for a celebration dance in the street and a text message to at least four people. This is what makes us fans of the Penny Project...and it is also what makes people who don't know why we pick up dirt-encrusted coins from the gutter think we are crazy.

I sometimes wonder what outsiders think when they see me shuffling along, perched on the edge of the sidewalk, scanning with all my might for a cent or two that may have fallen from the pocket of the last person to feed the meter. And I really wonder what the people standing in the checkout lines at Whole Foods think when I ask if they mind me picking up the pennies they're standing on. Not that I care, mind you...but I do wonder. I should start giving them the Penny Project business cards so they don't think I'm a total loon. But then again, being a weird eccentric with a penny-obsession is sort of fun!

But the times I am the most concerned about not only being perceived as crazy but actually having the men in the white coats called to come take me away (actually take US away) is when I'm walking home from work with Illeny and we find a penny. And God help everyone on the sidewalk if we find something bigger! Sometimes the only reason I think I make it through my walks home during the long, cold winter months is that I have Illeny with me (and of course our regular stop at Whole Foods to sample the olive bar and troll for pennies in the checkout lines). The chat and friendly competition to find pennies makes the long walk pass quickly.

The other night we were walking home in the bitter cold, later than usual and not enjoying the brisk night wind at all. Then out of the corner of her eye, Illeny spied a shiny copper penny. The finger pointed and the shout followed. "Penny!" she cried! I jumped to the side a little to get it out of her way. When she finds a penny, she means business! There were two gentlemen on the sidewalk with us and the commotion caused a bit of a stir. But nothing like the stir caused a second later when I shouted, "Dime!" and jumped into the street to recover the sucker. Illeny had seen it too and was heading for it, but knew I called it (and picked it up first)...so she was a bit bummed.

The laughter and discussion that ensued must have been quite curious to anyone who didn't know what was going on...lots of talk about pennies rarely being alone, we knew there had to be others when she saw that first one, etc. It was certainly not something for an amateur to get involved in, for sure. But one of the guys couldn't help himself. He looked at me and asked, "Did you find a dime?"

Uh, yeah. What was your first clue...that I screamed the word "dime" at the top of my lungs before lunging into the street? Thanks for playing, Mr. Obvious.

But what came out of his mouth next was what really got me. He was clearly certifiable for trying to get between two screaming girls and their found money...but he had to let us know how important he was to this particular situation. So he piped up and said, "Well, that's my dime. I dropped it there this morning."

Excuse me...what? Are you trying to reclaim a dime you dropped 10 hours ago? No...I don't think so. I really wanted to say, "Well, it's not yours now, is it?" But instead I just looked at him like he was the crazy one. And clearly he was crazy if thought I was handing that dime over to him!