The Exponential Penny Experiment

A new direction for an old experiment

2010-09-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

The Exponential Penny is coming out of mothballs.

We're going to look at the penny in a new way. And I need your help.

See...I didn't get to the magical $10 million point the first time around. I mean, if I did, I'd have been wading in a sea of pennies all the time, and I think that we all know why that's a little bit unlikely. Somehow, someone probably would have noticed a few million in missing change.

But the problem wasn't that I wasn't looking. The problem was that I was the only one doing it.

So now, I'm not looking. I'm giving. And I don't want to do it alone. If EVERYONE gave a penny away every day, the world could move mountains on a monthly basis.

The idea now is to just worry about your one penny every day. Drop it in a collection can at a convenience store checkout for the American Cancer Society (my charity of choice), or put it in a "leave a penny, take a penny" tray for somebody who is scraping up change to put a gallon of gas in the car to get home. Whatever. There's no bad way to give away a penny.

But instead of looking for more and more pennies every day, now we just have to encourage more people to give their own penny every day. The pennies are stationary. It's the givers who are becoming exponential.

So let's see how many pennies we can give away, starting September 11. (What better day to prove that little acts have amazing potential?)

I'll tell you how I gave away my pennies every day. Comment here to tell me about your pennies, or email me at exponentialpenny@gmail.com.

HP TouchSmart

2009-12-09T18:03:00.000-08:00

I'm shamelessly blogging about someone's giveaway because I really really want to win.

I need a new computer, you see. Really need it. And I'm cheap and don't want to buy one if I can win a much, much better computer than I would probably purchase. And a new HP TouchSmart? That's a darn fine computer!

http://totallytogetherreviews.blogspot.com/2009/12/hp-touchsmart-computer-review-and-give.html

Who wouldn't want to win one of those?

Round One...

2009-12-05T07:42:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's over. It's done. Caput.

I sought pennies, I found pennies, and in the end, pennies kicked my butt. I did not achieve a million dollars in pennies.

I did achieve just over $100 though. A grand total of $101.53, to be precise.

I'm pretty stoked about that. Sure, it's less than one percent of the final goal number, but when you consider that no one outside of the U.S. Mint sees that many pennies in a day, that was never the REAL goal. The objective was always to see what wasn't being seen, and to take advantage of things you overlook every day.

If I found $100 in one month, that's probably something I overlook every month. If I keep my eyes open and pay attention to what's around me, that could translate to $1,200 a year. That's like a month's pay for someone with a minimum wage job. That's a few extra payments on my mortgage. That's HUGE.

And, there's a lot more to be seen.

That's just the tangible money. What about the money you save here and there and everywhere? What about cybermoney I earn from Swagbucks or Adsense? What about the money that I already know I have and forget about and not just found money?

What can you really do with all the money that travels in and out of your life on a daily basis? What kind of impact can it really have?

The experiment continues...

Not as easy as it looks

2009-11-11T19:39:00.000-08:00

How hard is it to pick up pennies?

Pretty hard.

Blogging about it can be even harder. People say they watch their pennies, but until you have to actually account for every cent that crosses your path, you don't realize exactly how exhausting that can be.

So, let's backtrack.

Day 8 - Goal? $1.28. A few quarters helped a lot. Made it with a couple pennies to spare.

Day 9 - Goal? $2.56. I went most of the day without seeing a penny that didn't already live in my wallet. At 10 p.m., I cleaned out my dresser. The first dollar bill I encountered put us over the top.

Day 10 - Goal? $5.12. I honestly thought this was going to be my Waterloo. A penny here, a dime there. Surprisingly, by 2 p.m., I met my goal with a Sacajawea dollar that winked at me at the car wash.

Day 11 - Goal? $10.24. Yes. $10.24. Pretty scary, huh? I beat it in short order with a quarter and a ten-dollar bill. Yes, a ten-spot. Gotta love the lint filter in the dryer.

Pretty cool, huh?

Yeah, well, tomorrow I've got to dig up $20.48. And somehow, I don't think the laundry is going to be cooperative.

Two for one

2009-11-07T14:40:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I found 32 cents. But I cheated. They weren't all pennies. I know, I know, but I never really made an official ruling on the idea of pennies as a measurement versus an actual item, did I? Let's just pretend I didn't.

Nickels are our friends. I found four of them while I was putting away my son's blocks and play food. This makes me not only a cheater, but a bad mom since my not-quite-2-year-old could have swallowed 20 cents that somehow ended up in his Elmo kitchen.

Twelve more cents showed up here and there in places I don't even remember.

Today has been more of a challenge. More cheating was involved. To find 64 cents, I had to include a quarter and two dimes. I found the quarter in the parking lot at the grocery store.

Day 6 total: $0.32

Day 7 total: $0.64

Overall total: $1.27

Tomorrow's goal: $1.28

Thank you, Miley Cyrus

2009-11-06T08:20:00.001-08:00

This was not posted yesterday because I was taking my niece to the Miley Cyrus concert at the Bryce Jordan Center.

It may have been the longest night of my life since I took her mother to see the New Kids on the Block in Pittsburgh about 20 years ago.

But, every cloud has a silver lining. In Miley's case, probably a glittery silver lame lining.

I was a few pennies short yesterday. Goal was sixteen. We had to leave for the concert by 5 p.m. By that time, I was only at 12 pennies.

And then, as I was running with my six-year-old niece to go worship at her goddess's altar, I found three pennies in the parking log. Cool. Only one short. I can live with that.

But the penny fates weren't done with me yet. The BJC was filled with advertisements from Walmart for all things Miley. And on the floor, on her smiley face, I found one final penny.

Yes! Disaster averted.

Day Five total: $0.16

Experiment total to date: $0.31

Day 6 goal: $0.32

Hidden treasures

2009-11-04T17:52:00.000-08:00

Today was an 8-penny day.

I found them all in one fell swoop.

I was cleaning out the cupboard with my baking supplies. An old coffee can yielded some rattling. Inside, eight old dull-finished pennies waited for me.

Day 4 total: $0.08

Experiment total to date: $0.15

Tomorrow's goal: $0.16

Yeah, I know...

2009-11-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

I didn't get the Day 3 post in under the wire.

But I did find my four pennies.

Two of them were in the lint filter of the dryer. One was under the kitchen table when I was mopping. One was found by the gas pump at Sheetz.

Day Three total: $0.04

Experiment to date total: $0.07

It's ten a.m. here, and I haven't found one of my Day 4 pennies yet. Gotta go get cracking.

Two more down

2009-11-02T18:37:00.000-08:00

Pennies #2 and #3 have been scored and tallied.

There I was. Doing laundry. Because I have an almost-two-year-old son, so I do a lot of laundry. All the time with the laundry. So you'd think I'd be better at it. I'm not.

That means, I don't always clean out the pockets. And I have the ink-stained and lipsticked former clothes/current cleaning rags to prove it.

But in the interest of our experiment, I have embraced the idea of attention to pocket detail. And it netted me two cents from my husband's pants at 10:12 a.m. His loss is my coppery gain.

Day 2 total: $0.03

Day 4 single day goal: $0.04

And we are LIVE!

2009-11-01T18:09:00.000-08:00

The experiment has begun.

And we have our first penny.

Penny #1 was found on the front porch at approximately 5:45 a.m. Why was I on my porch at that ungodly hour on the Sunday after Halloween? It involved a rogue rooster and not pennies. Don't ask, because I'll tell you, and you really don't want to hear it.

But there he was. Abe. Grimly staring forward, stoic, waiting for me. A shiny 1994.

One penny down. One hundred million..or so...to go.

Bring 'em on.

Breathless with anticipation

2009-10-31T06:33:00.000-07:00

Today is my last penny-free day.

Tomorrow...the journey begins.

I just know I'm going to see about $23,000 in pennies on the ground today. Especially since we'll be taking my son to walk in the Halloween parade. Four blocks of nothing to do but look down for dropped pennies.

Hey, Mr. Lincoln!

2009-10-28T08:23:00.000-07:00

I love to daydream about things. If I didn't, I'm not sure this experiment would have come this far into being.

And then my friend Jenni at The Foster Family (http://nbjenni.blogspot.com - Hi, Jenni!) put up her Wishlist Wednesday button today.

Her Wednesday query is this. If you could meet anyone, who would it be?

As I am pondering a month of searching for his face, I'm naturally thinking about Abraham Lincoln. With everything that's happening in the world, in the war, in business, in politics, I have been thinking about Lincoln. The great emancipator who is embraced by both Democrats and Republicans as an idol. A man who faced unprecedented criticism, presided over our greatest national schism, and yet is remembered for his wisdom and guidance.

Yes, I'd like to have a long chat with the guy on the penny. I think we could all use more good cents...um, sense.

I'm not looking...

2009-10-25T22:20:00.000-07:00

I am deliberately ignoring my couch cushions. I'm not emptying pockets when I put things in the wash. (I fear this will come back to bite me in an ugly Bic pen incident.) There could be a small fortune in small change in the pockets of my newly unpacked winter coat. (And if there's a freak snowstorm between now and Sunday, I may freeze to death so I can avoid wearing it.)

It isn't that I don't want to find thte money that might be there.

I just don't want to find it NOW.

It's six days. I can wait six days, right?

Great expectations

2009-10-21T21:19:00.000-07:00

Okay, my expectations are not those of someone anticipating a gigantic payday in five weeks. Don't get me wrong. I'm not depressed about it. I'm so excited to see how the pennies stack up.

The first day? I'm pretty sure I've got that nailed. The first week, in fact, seems like it will be a cake walk. I mean, seriously, it's only a grand total of $1.27.

Week Two? I think $162 is still doable, although it's definitely more of a challenge.

Week Three is clearly where things are going to start to get hairy. Coming up with $20,800 over a week's time? Let's call me "hopeful" but not necessarily "optimistic."

The real treasure for me is to see just how far the experiment can go. How close I can get to the ideal.

And more than that. I want to know exactly how much I'm taking for granted every day.

The Math

2009-10-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

I don't claim to be a numbers person. I could claim that, but it would be a lie, and I just know that my 10th grade algebra teacher would show up at my door demanding an explanation.

But this isn't complicated math. I find myself capable of understanding the logistics of it. That's how simple it is.

Here are the numbers:

Day 1 - $0.01

Day 2 - $0.02

Day 3 - $0.04

Day 4 - $0.08

Day 5 - $0.16

Day 6 - $0.32

Day 7 - $0.64

Day 8 - $1.28

Day 9 - $2.56

Day 10 - $5.12

Day 11 - $10.24

Day 12 - $20.48

Day 13 - $40.96

Day 14 - $81.92

Day 15 - $163.84

Day 16 - $327.68

Day 17 - $655.36

Day 18 - $1310.72

Day 19 - $2621.44

Day 20 - $5242.88

Day 21 - $10,485.76

Day 22 - $20,971.52

Day 23 - $41,943.04

Day 24 - $83,886.08

Day 25 - $167,772.16

Day 26 - $335,544.32

Day 27 - $671,088.64

Day 28 - $1,342,177.28

Day 29 - $2,684,354.56

Day 30 - $5,368,709.12

Grand total - $10,737,418.23

Yeah...Day 15 looks kind of daunting. Until you realize what you have to find just a week later.

I wonder how much a metal detector costs?

The spoils

2009-10-17T07:52:00.000-07:00

So...I find pennies. I accumulate little coppery piles of money. Every day. For a month.

What do I do with them?

Hmm.

Well, first of all, no penny will be deemed spendable until the conclusion of the experiment. If I do make $2 million on Day 28, I don't get to book a suite at the Nittany Lion Inn and indulge in prime rib and a bathtub full of Creamery ice cream. (That will be for sometime in December, should I discover an unclaimed million-dollar penny cache.)

I want to have an accurate accounting of exactly what was acquired. So...all pennies will be tabulated and banked. I believe the teller girls will appreciate it, however, if I do not make daily deposits that first week. I'm sure the cost of deposit slips alone would be more than the first couple of contributions.

But when I am done, and I have my overlooked loot...?

What do you think? Spend? Save? Pay down debt? What would be the most appropriate use of found money?

Let me know what you think.

What is the point?

2009-10-16T00:46:00.000-07:00

I've heard that a lot from friends, family, online strangers...

Why bother? What for? Why spend a month hunting for misplaced pieces of metal that happen to have "In God We Trust" stamped on them?

I guess I can understand. I mean, to be fair, I don't really expect to end November able to retire to a small tropical island, so why would I both spending 30 days keeping an eagle-eye out for monetary crumbs?

Well, I'm curious. Isn't that the beginning and ending of all experiments? It's why Franklin flew kites in the rain and the Wright boys tinkered with bicycles and wings. Old Ben wasn't looking to create a world dependent on light switches and power lines. Orville and Wilbur didn't foresee the whole world having to make transfers in Atlanta. They wanted to see what would happen if they tried.

In my case, I want to know just how much is overlooked. Our economy is struggling back to life. Sure, it's doing better in some places than others, but here in my corner of Central PA, the economy hasn't been a booming, growing thing in almost 100 years. Unemployment isn't an abstract statistic here. It's a cultural tradition. And yet, tanning salons flourish and satellite dishes bloom like dandelions. It makes you think a lot of pennies are being overlooked somewhere.

So I'm hunting for them. I want to know just how much unaccounted-for wealth gets walked over, sat on, and otherwise dismissed.

Ten million? Probably not. But I'm betting it's a lot more than most people think.

The Pennies Mock Me.

2009-10-14T20:36:00.000-07:00

For three days, every time I turn around, I see pennies everywhere.

They taunt me. The snicker and laugh and flaunt themselves.

They know very well that I cannot take advantage of them for almost three weeks. They are safe.

Sigh.

I just know they are planning to find places to hide.

Does a penny have to be real?

2009-10-13T08:24:00.000-07:00

Well, this one sounds like a no-brainer, doesn't it?

And yet, the question has been posed. When is a penny a penny, and when is it a figment of your imagination? It's not quite that existential, actually. Virtual pennies. Should they count in the figure?

The idea arose because I have AdSense on this blog. Therefore, enough someones look at and click through, and I make a penny. Great. But, I'm making a ruling from the field and saying that is out of bounds.

Why?

Well, first and foremost, the idea that those pennies are earned. That's very different from found, and found is what we are investigating. I could cash a check, ask the bank to give it to me in pennies, and that would be outside the rules as well. Those pennies, while new to me, were not "found" money. They were acquired, probably even expected, so they arent pertinent to our experiment.

Secondly, virtual pennies don't exist yet. I can't pick them up, look at the year, scratch Lincoln's beard, stick them in a gumball machine. And as I have to have 10,000 pennies before they will send them to me, it's entirely probable that I wouldn't see them tangibly during the month of November at all.

Thanks to the Nest girls for their insight and recommendations. Love you!

The Rules...

2009-10-11T19:03:00.000-07:00

I'm not just waiting to November 1st to start my experiment because I'll have a clean new calendar page. It's not just having an actual whole month.

It's that every experiment needs rules. Parameters. Things that keep you honest.

We know the hypothesis. One penny, in a geometrically increasing number, over a month, becomes not one one-hundredth of a dollar, but over ten million of them. Pretty cool theory.

The prediction? Well, if I told you I thought I'd be shopping for sports cars in December, I'd be a liar. (Plus, I live in the mountains in Pennsylvania. Buying a sports car in December in PA is a suicidal gesture.) My prediction is that after a couple weeks, finding the requisite number of pennies per day is going to get...challenging.

And so...we have to establish the rules for our experiment and its observation.

Rule 1: Only pennies found on the day in question are to be counted. I can't hedge my bets by hoarding the pennies found on Day 3 in anticipation of Day 18.

Rule 2: Only truly newly found pennies are to be counted. I can't pick pennies out of my purse or the coin cup in my car. Those are to be considered previously found, and as such, would violate Rule 1.

Rule 3: Pennies that I have but don't know about CAN be considered newly found. I mean, yes, I own the penny I might find under my son's car seat, but unlike the pennies in the coin cup, I don't know about this one, and therefore, have not previously found it. So, couch cushions, the lint filter in the dryer, etc., are all legal tender and up for grabs.

Rule 4: Falling short on one day does not change the prescribed number needed for the next day. For instance, if on Day 17, I can only find 65,000 pennies, the fact that I have fallen 536 pennies short doesn't change the goal for Day 18. That would change the final goal, and the final total is what we are experimenting to find. Subsequent tests of the hypothesis could change, and a real-number doubling may occur in another month.

Rule 5: Does a penny have to be a penny? Could a penny be loose change? Or a dollar bill? I'm going back and forth on this one at this point. Should the penny be a unit of measurement for the final product, or a tangible element? Is a found quarter any less a part of the total millions? Hmmm. Right now, I'm leaning toward allowing any found money, or at least, any found change. In part, this is because I am looking at how many pennies I'm going to have to find during the last few days of November, and I'm realizing I'm going to have to be baking pies and stuffing turkey during this period, which could slow me down a little. I may get strict with myself before November 1st, however, and demand a pennies-only policy.

Any holes in my logic? Are their points I'm missing? Let me know. I only have 20 days to work out the bugs.

See a penny...

2009-10-09T23:53:00.001-07:00

It's an incredibly simple idea. Kind of brilliant. Kind of stupid. Kind of "well, that can't possibly work, can it?"

I don't really know. That's what I'm looking to find out.

The idea? That if you take one penny, and double it every day, you will have $10,737,418.24 by the end of the month.
I mean, that's kind of incredible. They're just pennies after all. Almost worthless. The little Lincoln-heads that you can squash into an oval at an amusement park as a souvenir. The things that make your purse real heavy and are always getting stuck in the liner of your winter coat when they fall through the pocket. The coins everyone is absolutely sure they have on them someplace to make exact change...and usually don't.

But what if?

What if you didn't spend a dollar twice a week on the thought that fate might smile and you (and two dozen factory workers on the other side of the country and a bunch of waitresses who pooled their tips after a bad bachelor party) could be the proud recipient of a $10 million jackpot. Well, a little under $5 million after taxes.

What if instead of paying for the idea of prosperity and independence and security and hope, you found it? You opened your eyes, you looked down, you watched for glints of copper EVERYWHERE, and you made it happen yourself.

Let's just see.

This idea has a countdown built in. But I am waiting to start. November 1st will be my Penny Day, the day I start to develop good cents. My grandmother has said it forever, and I am finally thinking she's absolutely right.

See a penny, pick it up, and all day long you'll have good luck.