Saturday 9 September 2017

Money, money, money.



In preparation for taking my youngest son's car in for it's bi-annual roadworthiness test on Monday, I thought I'd clean out the storage boxes in the front doors.

Other than bits of half eaten biscuit, unopened sachets of Tomato ketchup, several torches, a broken Slinky, and a whole sack-full of disgusting bits of waste paper, I found the above.

Yes, I've counted most of it (not the brown shrapnel), and it came to a staggering €50+. Also in the collection were several Aussie Dollars, some Swedish Kronas, a couple of Singapore coins of unknown value, and a few items of indistinguishable origin.

I am guilty myself of discarding small value brown coins (we probably all are), but never anything above 20 Centimes. For goodness sake, 1€ or 2€ pieces are actual spending money!

I'm going to have to have a serious talk with that boy; his attitude towards 'cash' will have to change!

(some time later) Lady Magnon did some further cleaning, and found another €5 on the floor, bringing the total to above €55. Unbelievable.




47 comments:

  1. I have a very large jar that we have been collecting coins in for about 20 years. I am curious how much is in it and I could empty it out and take to the bank for their coin machine to count. However, I like the mystery and the hope that it will be more than I ever hoped. Since most are $.01, I am sure I would be disappointed.

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    Replies
    1. I have various pots filled with low value coins. Maybe I'll bury them.

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  2. Doug has a container in which he has placed spare coins for some time. As we are a bit "cash strapped" at present I have been through and sorted the coins. We must have spent $10 at the market this morning. There is another $5.00 in front of me and I am not sure how much still in the container. Useful when times get hard.

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    1. I think if I counted all the brown shrapnel in my containers, they wouldn't amount to more that a few Euros.

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  3. You could bury jars with all the small coins for the boys to dig up. Have some crazy treasure maps made. It might be fun.

    cheers, parsnip

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  4. Look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves.

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    Replies
    1. He seems not to look after either. I can't think where he gets it from!

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  5. I have a jar I put coins in and open it around the 23rd December to buy special traditional Christmas food that we would normally not buy during the year.
    I love Parsnip's idea!
    Greetings Maria x

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  6. When my son was a little boy, my fother used to disperse coins in the house and always told him that if he will found them they belong to him.The boy always found some.

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    Replies
    1. Nice idea, that would certainly improve his observation skills!

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  7. As a child I always collected up the coins that were left about the house. Since an adult with our own home there has never been a cache of money like yours. I have never found anything down the sides of chairs other than crumbs. Visitors to us this year had to take away the soon to be useless english notes - but then I only had two fivers that were for immediate use when back in the UK. We havn't been since 8 years now so no great loss.

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    1. When I first bought my house in Brighton(1985-ish) I was amazed by how many small coins were simply discarded on the pavements. I think someone could have made a reasonable living by collecting them all.

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  8. I have two purses, one for Euros and one for North American currency. I pop my pounds in it when I go abroad and take out the coins and notes. I always find a lot of shrapnel lying around to add to the stash at the end of a motorhome holiday. xx

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    Replies
    1. This sounds like a very jet-set lifestyle; a purse for every currency. I'm lucky if I just find a few old coins at the bottom of the dustbin!

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  9. Instead of a jar to keep his shrapnel in, your youngest son just uses his car !!! A nice little haul ..... is it ' finders keepers ' ? XXXX

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    Replies
    1. Afraid not; I've put it all in a jar for him, for when he next visits. I wonder if he knew it was there; in his four wheeled money box?

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  10. Too heavy for shorts pockets. Car parks, tolls, and tipping. I found a carrier bag when going through old stuff yesterday, wondered what it was, rubbish and money in the bottom and a few other odds and ends, like half eaten biscuits too. It was the same, the stuff out of the door pocket of my old car that I cleared out in a hurry when I gave the car to my tenants. Lovely, I fished out the 50ps and the pound coins, three screws and an unknown key and chucked the rest away. I'm with Wills.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I must admit that I do have junk coins in my car, but they are for petrol payments; I try to put a round amount into the tank but it always jumps a few centimes at the last moment.

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  11. It just goes to show what you dismiss initially does add up...my mister calls coins shrapnel too. x

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    Replies
    1. Over €55; that's a fortune. Almost two bottles of Veuve Clicquot.

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  12. That's two nights in the pub for me.

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  13. Please send the Aussie dollars to me. They are no use to anyone else.

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    Replies
    1. He's over there at the moment; he forgot to take them with him.

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  14. His car is a giant piggy bank. That's a lot of loose change. They have eliminated the penny here and know I am stuck with a crown royal bag of them. Not sure what to do with them,maybe a door stop.

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    Replies
    1. Bury them; someone will have a huge surprise when they dig them up again.

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  15. My daughter and oldest son do things like that. His stash is in the car. Her's is in her purse. I keep after them to roll the coins and put the money in the bank. Their reply is " That mother dear is our emergency fund". The daughter one time had to empty out her whole purse as the security could not believe that someone would have that much change in the bottom of her purse. Cheers

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    Replies
    1. I quite expect my 'man-bag' weighs about a kilo with all the silly coins in it. How does one spend that stuff?

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    2. Myself, I put it in a container. Told the grandkids that once it was full, we will go on an adventure.

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  16. I like to leave five dollar bills in the pockets of my jackets (one dollar bills are just not exciting) because when I put them away in warm weather I always forget that I've done that. Also, I just forget to clean out my pockets. And then, once the cool weather comes back, I can make a happy discovery. The only is fun, but I also like reading the receipts I find in there. I try to see if I remember what I was doing on a date six months past, what it was that I purchased.

    Right. I work hard to keep myself amused.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My wallet has all sorts of hidden pockets that accidentally get offered some paper money by mistake. It's a real treat finding them again; it's like being given 'Free Money'.

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  17. not using the shrapnel is a good way of saving! Since we came back from our last trip to NZ, where the smallest coin is 10 cents we've been saving it...growing nicely ready for the next trip!

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    Replies
    1. There was one supermarket about 50 Kms way that had one of those machines that you empty all your coins into, but they seem to have got rid of it.Now all that metal just sits there doing nothing.

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    2. they still have the machines here. I just bag up the coppers as the banks require and exchange it for £1 or £5 depending upon the coin.

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  18. I swoop my son's cash from his desk straight into my purse on a daily basis. He never misses it and I just treat it as a contribution to housekeeping. I haven't checked the car that he has full use of and am now dreading I what I might find. Oh the pleasure and pain of having a 20-something son back at home after graduating. He has a good job but does not earn enough to rent in London.

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    1. My advice would be NOT to check his car; alternatively you could find enough 'housekeeping' money for a whole week!

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  19. I used to throw coins in the car ash tray, to pay tolls, and cigarette butts out the window. I no longer smoke and cars no longer have ash trays. It all works out in the end.

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    1. If one added-up all the coins in all the world's cars, I expect we could build several hundred hospitals etc.

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  20. I have a china pig in which I put any odd coins lying about. I don't empty it until it is full and often there is getting on for £100 in it - then I go out and treat myself with it without feeling guilty.

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    Replies
    1. Perhaps the bigger charities should offer people Piggy Banks, then collect them once a year.

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  21. My son used to throw his change into a jar but never turned it in. One day I offered him a few dollars for his stash and he accepted. When I told him how much was actually in the jar, he couldn't believe it. All these years later, he still throws money into jars but turns them in himself. Lesson learned.
    I buried a St. Christopher, if my memory serves, in the garden. Someone told me that our house would sell. (He had to be buried head down, as well...) It took three years but it finally sold. I always wonder if anyone will ever find that St. Christopher.
    Debbie

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    1. I've not heard of burying a St Christopher. He sounds a bit slow! My mother once buried a large Opal ring in the garden because she thought they bring bad luck.

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  22. I just bag up the coppers as the banks require and exchange it for £1 or £5 depending upon the coin.


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