For years we have diligently put all our pennies, dimes and nickles into this giant empty Coppola wine bottle. We always keep our quarters separate in a smaller jar, which we use as our bi-monthly fun day cash fund. It has been just something we do, something silly and fun, something that in all honesty we forget about.
About two days ago we noticed that the LA County fair had come to town and thought that might be a fun, family day excursion. Since we have been traveling so much this summer, all our extra fun money had been spent on lots of good times over the months. We are not people who like to pay by credit, which has served us well over the years... we pay cash for everything and then it's ours, with no repercussions or hidden fee's. So, that being said, we were just gonna have to wait a week or so to do the fair... and that is when we noticed our coin jar.
We began to laugh at each other as we tried to figure out how much we would need for our fair day fun and how much we thought was in the bottle. As we poured it out into two bags, Tony guessed high and I guessed low. (better to be surprised I figured) Then we headed for the nearest Coinstar. Sadly it seemed to be everyone's idea and we had to hit three different stores before finding a machine that was not out of order.
As the coins began to clank down into the gulping counter my mind began to whirl. What if there was more than we thought? What if a few dozen quarter were actually mixed in and our amount exceeded all expectations?? As I watched the counter begin to climb, I started to smile in realization that my guess was going to be one hell of a lot closer than Tony's.
My son was patient all the way through the long process because I kept telling him about the fair, the chickens and goats and cows, the booths that daddy will try to win him a prize at, the lights and rides and fried food he will get to eat. As I watched the counter hit $100 bucks I knew we were buying our tickets and having a great day.
I am happy to say that all of our saving gave us a rich abundance of cash. We were pretty excited at our windfall. 31 Quarters, 894 dimes, 447 nickles and 1,797 pennies. Of course we actually saved $137.47, but the machine needs to eat too, so we brought home $124 big buckeroos! Damn, that is some serious change.
We decided to switch up our tactics for the coming years and to save up all our quarters too. Yes, it's good to have a savings account, a couple Roth IRA's, a 401K, life insurance and such... but don't forget to save up a few nickles as well. They might just take you to the fair.
Happy Saving!
Xo,
Tommie V
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