May and June Totals, also The Halfway Point!

This summer has presented its challenges to me regarding the blog. For starters, I am not in school. My university campus was one of the main places that I found change. Also, I now have a job. So for about 5 to 8 hours of the day there is almost zero chance of me finding anything. But regardless of my lack of posting, I am very much still documenting and picking up every single coin I can find.

Thankfully I kept a not of the total at the end of may so I know exactly how much I had found. During the month of May I found 13 dollars and 3 cents. This high number is of course due to the fact that  found 10 dollars on the floor of a restaurant one evening. To date, that has been my biggest find.

The month of June was not at eventful. I of course continued to find change during my daily life, but no find as big as the one in May. My biggest find was while I was trying on a pair of jeans in my local Goodwill store and I found 3 crumpled dollars in one of the pockets. The total for the month of June was 4 dollars and 86 cents.

The grand total for the year up to date is 33 dollars even. It was very strange to me that exactly at the halfway point in the year I would have an even number. I had to count everything a few times to make sure I had not make a mistake. Its going to require a lot of luck if I am to find 100 dollars by the end of the year. I am halfway through the year but only a third of the way there. I am gonna have to find a 20 at some point.

I still am not sure what I want to do with the money. In all honesty, it is not likely to be a huge amount of money to do much with.

Totals for March and April

Due to the fact that I have been super busy with school, I missed the update for the month of March. So I decided to just combine March and April. I have been finding change nonstop and tweeting them with the handle @sumchange.

The new jar is getting filled up very quickly, especially after finding 7 dollars and 92 cents during March and April.

My ability to spot change from far distances is improving, but also my methods of looking in certain places. It makes perfect sense to look in places where change is used like around copy machines and vending machines. I regularly find change in those areas as well as in front of cashiers a fast food places and grocery stores.

I am also noticing that I have competition. Sometimes I spot a coin and while I am walking towards it, someone picks in up before I get the chance. I have also found people scanning the coin slots of vending machines just as I do on a regular basis.

I also had a great opportunity at the and of March to go to Six Flags and look for change all day there. While I found mostly pennies as always, I found over a dollar in change during the course of the day.

I have also found on Twitter that people are starting to take interest in this project. I have gotten several tweets from people commenting on the change I find and even people tweeting me pictures of they change that they have found. I find that especially cool.

The semester at my school is ending soon so I most likely wont be finding change there for a few months, but I am hopeful that I will be doing something that will allow me to find change in a variety of new locations. Ill tell more in the next blog post.

February Totals Update!

The month of February was all I expected and more. Considering the fact that I would be in school for the whole month, I knew that this months total would greatly surpass January's total. And with a total of $4.97 it was more than doubled. Of course this is also due to the fact that I had some big finds this month. On several occasions I found more than one quarter in the slot of a vending machine and I even found a dollar bill at a Rite Aid in Irvine, Ca. 

At this point in the journey, I have become a lot more determined to track down change. I spend a good amount of the day scanning the floor for change and I have gotten really good at it. I can spot a dime out of the corner of my eye and at an amazing distance. 

I get many strange looks from people when they see me obviously go out of my way towards a penny and even stranger looks when they see me snap a shot of it before picking it up. But I am never embarrassed by it. Self consciousness hasnt been a part of me for many years now. 

I also got a new jar to keep my findings in! The one that I had originally chose filled up quickly. This new one wont be filled for a while, assuming I can find enough change by the end of the year. This new jar was sent to me from my old roommates in France. It was a dish called Blanquette de Veau. The jar is pretty cool and unique. Definitely not something you can find here in the United States. Im very happy that I have a use for the jar instead of just throwing it away. 

For the next month, I want to break 5 dollars. I am gonna have to search a little harder and get a little more lucky but I think I can do it! 
 

Pre-end of February update

With only a week left in the month of February its evident that the total for this month is going to wreck the total for January. This is partly due to the fact that I wasn't in school for much of the month of January but also because I had some really good days with big finds. Due to this fact my current jar is reaching its capacity and ill have to look for a new one to accommodate my findings.

The January Totals Post

The month of January was quite a surprise to me. I found well above what I was expecting to find. I also had the opportunity to look in less than mundane places for coins including my University and Las Vegas.

The total count for the month of January is 2 dollars and 22 cents. I cannot wait to see how much this total grows in the next 11 months.

I have made a few observations that I would like to share with you guys.

The first thing I have found myself doing is scanning the roads while im driving for glimmering pieces of metal in the street. Although I have only positively spotted something once, (I didnt even retrieve the coin because it would have been gravely unsafe) I remain scanning the roads.

Another strange urge that I have been getting involves fountains. At my university, there is a fountain that is for decorative purposes only. It is not generally used as a wishing well. Regardless of this social understanding, people will from time to time throw their change inside. I have been super tempted to reach inside of the fountains to grab the change that im certain that someone else is grabbing.

The last thing that I have noticed how there are certain places that are just prone to having change around them. The two places that found coins on a regular basic are on the bus and by vending machines. There were certain places I have looked where I would find multiple coins. By the copy machines at school I will usually find more than one coin. I will see if this pattern continues in the next months.

Goal of Blog

This blog is dedicated to showing people the accumulated value of the things that they take for granted. My plan is to document, how much change you can find on the ground over the course of a year. I have no prediction as to how much I will find or what I will do with the money after it is collected. I will have updates on my twitter account with photos of every find. On the blog I will have record of how much I found every month.