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A Penny Found…..
By Jay | December 28, 2007
Do you know people who seem to always find things when they’re walking? The ones who have stories of finding a hundred dollar bill, or an unopened box from Gucci’s? I have never been one of those people. Living in Brooklyn, I walk a lot, but for years I never found a thing.
One day about 3 months ago I saw a penny on the sidewalk, and I stopped to pick it up. I don’t usually bother with pennies (it’s just a penny, and more difficult to spend than it’s worth), but then I pondered over whether by not picking up the little things, I was missing the bigger things. I thought about this for a few minutes and then saw another penny, so I picked that up too. And then at the next block I saw two quarters. Hmm, this was getting better — I don’t think I’ve ever even noticed a quarter on the sidewalk before. At that point I decided that I would pick up any little piece of change I saw, even if it was just a penny, and that I would do this every single time I saw any change — and that this would be my way of showing that I appreciate money. The only exceptions would be if the money is sitting in a dirty puddle or if traffic would make it dangerous to pick it up.
Over the next few days I found pennies EVERYWHERE. And nickels, dimes and quarters, too. Then, about a week later, as I was walking home from the subway, I noticed a wad of cash on the sidewalk. I swooped down and grabbed it like a hawk grabs a pigeon in Central Park. I felt a momentary pang of guilt, but there was no one else around to whom the money could have belonged to. So I walked another block, counted it: about $124 in that wad of cash.
The next day I was in a subway station and found a five dollar bill lying on the ground.
And then last month I found a wallet on the sidewalk. It had credit cards, cash, etc. I won’t steal, so spent a couple hours Googling the owner’s name and address near Chicago before I found a phone number. I left a message on her home machine and within minutes she had called me. We made arrangements for me to give her the wallet the next day, and it was a good thing for her as she was flying home and needed her ID to board the plane. She gave me a $100 gift card at Macy’s as a reward.
I’m not superstitious, but I firmly believe that we make our luck. By choosing to pick up pennies when I see them two things have happened. The first is very simple and practical: I look at the ground more and I find more things. Second, I think about money in a different way, as a thing that is out there all the time, just waiting to be uncovered by whoever is smart enough to uncover it.
I came across a post at Cheap Encounters today about picking up pennies. I guess I’m not the only one!
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December 28th, 2007 at 2:20 pm
Great Post!
December 28th, 2007 at 6:43 pm
Great post! I pick up any change I see, although I can’t say I’ve ever found a wallet or a wad of cash. The best I’ve ever done is when two brothers-in-law and I were walking out of Lowe’s and all saw three bills laying on the ground at the same time. We all made a mad dash for a bill. One BIL and I got singles, and the other got a ten (lucky dog!). You must have better karma that I do! =)
December 28th, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Jay - this is a great post! I too found that when I expect things and am grateful for what I have, I get more….
December 29th, 2007 at 9:30 pm
[…] wrote yesterday about how I believe that picking up pennies has helped open me to what the universe has to […]
January 6th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
[…] like to thank Dawn over at Frugal for Life for linking to my A Penny Found post. My traffic tripled for several days: it was exciting to watch! And thanks to everyone who […]