Like many people, we have a coin jar at home. When our daughters were young, when the coin jar was full, I would roll the coins and bring them to our credit union for deposit to the girls’ accounts.
That was a long time ago now, but I still have a coin jar. I didn’t fill it very fast in recent years because I would only take coins out of my wallet when it got over-full. I used to do a lot of my everyday shopping in cash, so I would spend my coins. Since the pandemic, though, I seldom use cash, so I’m not accumulating coins.
I was concerned this spring because there was a coin shortage caused by lack of commerce and I was anxious to find a couple of 2020 pennies. Two of my long-time friends have penny boxes that I gave them for their birthdays. The idea came from a book for children titled “The Hundred Penny Box” which had a centenarian who had a penny from each year of her life. Each year, on my friends’ birthdays, I would send them a penny for that year.
My friend with a May birthday had to take an IOU, but I was pleased to pay cash at the grocery store self-checkout one day in late June and receive three shiny 2020 pennies in change. I sent a (very belated) birthday card to my first friend and had a penny to send to my friend with an August birthday on time.
I used to supply pennies to two other boxes. One was a birthday box for my friend Angie, who passed away in 2005. (If you search her name, posts will come up about her here at TJCM.) The other was an anniversary box for my parents, known here as Nana and Paco. We added the last penny to it last year, a few weeks before Nana passed away.
Someday, I may make a penny box for B and my anniversary. Maybe in two years for our 40th. That was when I gave my parents theirs and they wound up making to their 65th.
May we be so blessed.
*****
Linda’s prompt for Stream of Consciousness Saturday this week was to write about something of which we had more than a hundred in our home right now. Join us! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2020/08/28/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-aug-29-2020/
2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley!
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I think we all have coin spots of one sort or another, otherwise our purses get too heavy!
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It’s amazing how heavy coins can get!
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What a great idea! I may have to figure a way to institute penny boxes in my life.
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If you have a coin jar of your own, you may be able to find most of the years you need as long as you don’t have to go back too far…
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We used to. But since lockdown it’s use exact change or card. The penny box seems easier than what my grandfather shared with my first husband and I on our 20s. He gave us a penny and said to double the amount in the jar each year. I learned about exponential very soon. Who knew that lesson would be understood by most in 2020.
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It’s true that the pandemic has shaken up our economics – in ways both large and small!
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I don’t recall giving penny boxes as gifts. What a sweet tradition. 🙂 My father collected coins in books which I passed on to my son. You’ve got me thinking about how to gift my penny jars to my children.
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That’s a lovely story about your family. I’m sure you will come up with your own creative ideas to add to it.
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