Counting The Pounds- Raiding The Piggybank

28 Apr 2007

I know the traditional expression is, “counting the pennies”, but I’m not about to go around my house and/or the streets hunting for every penny in my reach. However, like most people, I do have a pot of change that has been the disposal vessel for all the loose coins that has accumulated in my trouser pockets after drunken nights out. It’s always easier (and cooler) to hand over notes when paying for a beer (or in my case, a dry martini and lemonade- ice and slice), as opposed to digging deep into my pockets, scrounging together all my loose change. Consequently, by the end of the night out, I usually have a pocket full of change. When it comes to the next morning, I just empty my pocket contents into a ceramic bowl, which I call my “penny jar”

So, what better place is there to get my first instalment for my 15k project than my penny jar? My good, old, trusty penny jar. Don’t be fooled by the label “penny jar”, because the jar is deep, and contains very few pennies. I think I’ve been emptying loose change into my bowl for about 5 months, and I’m confident it will make a significant contribution to the pot. It’s not really money that I consider as “savings” (I don’t have any savings at the moment), it’s more of, well, as mentioned, a tool that helps me lighten the weight from my trousers. I pinch a few pounds from the bowl here and there, when I know I’ll need loose change, for example, when I know I’m going to park my car somewhere that runs a meter.

Besides from having a penny jar, I also have this plastic wallet type-thing, which I occasionally throw a few notes into. I’ve been contributing to that pile for approximately 6 months. Again, when I have loose notes, I’ll just slip them into my wallet. When I need money while I’m out, I’ll just withdrawal money from an ATM. It doesn’t really make sense, because I should just withdrawal money from my plastic wallet. No wonder I constantly think I spent more money than I remember doing so. I guess I do it, so psychologically, I know I have more money than what is actually displayed on my bank statements, which makes me feel a little better.

Here’s a picture of my ceramic penny jar (with a few loose notes):

Here’s a picture of the bowl after bagging all the loose change, and counting the contents of my plastic wallet. Notice, there’s still change left in the pot. Those are all the 1p, 2p, 5p and 10p that I couldn’t be bothered to count. And the few £1, 50p, and 20p that you can see- I didn’t have enough of those to fill up a bag:

£20 – £320
£10 – £260
£5 – £85
£1 – £580
20p – £20
50p – £10
Total: £1275

Not bad at all, if I must say myself. That’s a pretty decent jump-start. Now all I need is £13,725. Err..yeah. Check out my next diary entry to find out where I’ll get the rest of the acquired amount.

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