Change

The Found Change count for 2010 is……. (drum roll please!)…….

$1.19

 

.25 = 1

.10 = 7

.01 = 24

 

This is down 86¢ from last year.  Could it be that because the economy is so bad that people are more careful with their change?  Or maybe more people are bothering to pick up change from the ground?  Or maybe I just wasn’t as lucky this past year?

The world may never know 

I can only hope to find more in 2011 

This ‘n That Thursday

• So Tuesday evening I sent an email to my antivirus company, AVG, asking for help figuring out why it was blocking my blog…  When I got home Wednesday, I was very happy to see a reply from them (sent at noon!) informing me that they had fixed the problem.  How great is that?  That was the first time I ever had a problem with my AVG Antivirus and Internet Security software and I couldn’t be happier with how quickly it was handled and resolved.  What a difference from Norton or McAfee – I always had issues when I was using either of those programs.  I’ve been using AVG for over five years now and plan to keep on using it – way to go guys! 

 

• Also on the subject of blogs, Becky from Clarence Grad 72 found out that both our blogs will be safe from whatever services that Blogger will be ending as of tomorrow.  What a relief!  Thanks Becky 

 

• Looking at the calendar, the second-most expensive time of year (after Christmas, of course) is coming up…   Over the next bunch of weeks I have three birthdays coming along with a Communion party.  I really need to find a decent paying job 

 

• I found another use for my eggs 

 

Found Change for 2009

It’s time to add up the loose change I found during the past year.  I’ve been out in stores and shopped a whole lot less than 2008, so I am really surprised that I found as much change as I did. 

The grand total for 2009 came to $2.05 – more than my total for 2008!

Here is the breakdown:

.25 - 3
.10 – 9
.05 – 4
.01 – 20 (including a wheat penny!)

 

So far the total amount of change I found laying on the ground for the past three years adds up to $15.05… certainly not Fort Knox, but I’ll take it!   

Dumbfounded

So this was kind of a health week for me. I went to the dentist earlier in the week - no cavities :) Today I went to the eye doctor - my eyes have really been bothering me and I couldn't put it off any longer. Out of the two, I usually prefer going to the eye doctor - but not this time.

A usual trip to the eye doctor for me included the exam and a new set of frames and lenses. It usually ran me about $130. With money being so tight, I decided that I was going to keep my old frames and just have the exam and new lenses. This was my first visit to the eye doctor since I started this job. Imagine my shock when the bill came to over $350. I think I left a dent in the floor where my jaw hit. Either I had super-great insurance at my old job or I have super-crappy insurance at this one. I have no idea where I am going to find the money for this. For me, it's like coming up with an extra week's pay from somewhere. I'm still in shock.

My grocery bill is usually around $30 a week, so if I don't eat for about 12 weeks...

Jill Factoid of the Day: 60 mph is not fast enough to knock a grasshopper off the hood of my truck.

Count

Wow - what a difference a job makes when it comes to finding change. Last year I did an experiment by saving all the pennies and other change I found and tallying them all up at the end of the year. I did the same thing this year. Most of 2007, my job entailed a lot of travel between a lot of retail locations. All of 2008, I worked in one building every day.

2008 total: $1.86

The breakdown:
.25 - 2
.10 - 9
.05 - 1
.01 - 41

I found a penny yesterday at Tops, so I'm going to save any found change again this year :)

I'm sure that my total would have been higher if I liked shopping and visited retail locations more often. As it is, I hate shopping and I avoid malls and the like as much as possible.

That being said, I had a very successful shopping trip today. I needed to pick up a birthday gift, and I needed a couple of turtlenecks and I had $50 gift card for JCPenney so I thought I would combine the trip to the mall. It turned out the JCPenney was having a fantastic sale. Thanks to the gift card and a $10 off coupon, I got for myself $182.27 worth of new clothes for only $1.04 out my pocket - how cool is that???? Maybe if all shopping was like that, I wouldn't hate it so much.

Happy Winter

Tomorrow is the first day of winter. Yesterday we got our first real snow of the season. Buffalo broke the snowfall record from 1985, but it wasn't so much the snow that was bad - it was the wind. Visibility was very poor most of the day. It was slow driving home from work - which took even longer as I had to take a roundabout route because of an accident.

I really don't mind bad weather once I'm home and don't have to go anywhere. I didn't even mind clearing out the nine inches of snow from the driveway today. But it's weather like we had yesterday that I don't miss driving a truck for a living :) Coming home from visiting tonight, the Christmas lights on all the houses looked so much prettier with the snow around.

We had a day of quiet today. Tomorrow we're supposed to get another storm.

I found out today that I may have to get flood insurance. Ugh. Flood insurance is notoriously expensive, and something that I really don't need on my plate right now. Evidently FEMA is redoing the flood plain maps in our area, and where I live may be affected. I tried to find out for sure, but the links on the FEMA webpage we were given don't work. I'm going to have to try to get down to the town hall and look at the map they have there. I'm going to keep my fingers crossed, but I'm bracing myself for the worst. Stupid FEMA.

Does anyone know if Robert Forster - the actor who plays Arthur Petrelli on Heroes is the same guy who does the voice for the latest Hyundai commercial? I can almost swear it is, but can't be 100% positive. I wish IMDb included commercials with the actors'/actresses' credits.

Find a Penny

Last year on New Year's Day - I'm talking about January 1, 2007 - I found a penny. It gave me the idea to save all the pennies (and other currency) I find all year and see how much cash I really could collect by not passing up that penny in the street. The results are in...

Over the course of 2007, I collected a grand total of $11.14. I was pretty surprised by how much accumulated over the year. I do have to say tho', that I did find a $5 bill during the year, which really bumped up the grand total. I never ever found anything as big as $5 before, so I kind of consider that a fluke. Nevertheless, I did find it :)

Here's the breakdown:
$5 - 1
$1 - 1
.25 - 4 (one was Canadian)
.10 - 18
.05 - 4
.01 - 114

I thought it was a fun and worthwhile experiment.
I was going to just leave it at that.
On Tuesday - January 1, 2008 - I found a penny.
I think I'm going to try it again :)

But to be fair - and it makes the experiment a little more interesting - I have a different job now. I am not 'out-and-about' as much as I used to be. I am curious to see what the total for this year is going to be.