Round One...

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

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.

Hidden treasures

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...

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.

And we are LIVE!

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.