Exercise pays (literally)!

Ok, granted it's not a lot, but I'm on a 31 day streak. :D My DH and I usually find money here and there when we're out running or riding. We decided to keep that money in a jar and count the number of days that we've consecutively found money while out and about exercising (riding or running). So far we're up to 31 days and almost $5.00. I once found a $20 bill in the gutter while running, but that doesn't count. Now it's become a bit of a quest. Yesterday neither of us had found anything, so we went for a purposeful ride to the grocery store (with a drive thru at the car wash because there's a good chance you'll find a penny there) and came home with $.17 (and some much needed groceries- nevermind that they cost much more than the $.17 we found :rolleyes:).
Ok, so maybe we're a little weird (well- we're definitely weird). I'm not some hobo or scrounger, I just look down when I'm stopped at an intersection or light and always find something lying there. I just thought it'd be fun to see how much random money I find when I'm out cycling or running. There's a lot of money just laying around that needs a home! Most of it's really beaten up, and I don't know how the bank machine will read it, but when we cash it in, it'll go to one of our favorite local charities along with some money that we actually earned from working. ;)
Does anyone else pick up money they see lying on the street when out running/riding?

No money, but I've found some cool things on a bridge that I ride over frequently. So far, a heart-shaped carabiner, someone's wallet (yes, that had some money in it, but I returned it), a handful of bungees, a length of nylon shroud line, a small brass hammer (not even sure why there IS a small brass hammer in the world), and a few days ago, a pair of like-new Snap-on pliers. It's always intriguing to see what I'll find there on my next ride!

Those folks at littlechanges.com who were riding/walking around the country relied on the money they found on the side of the road sometimes.

I found a 5 lb piece of turquoise colored slag glass in someone's trash, on Monday while I was running with my boot camp class. :) I was so glad no one else saw it, and I snatched it on the way back. :D

Bungees fall off trucks all the time! I usually only see those on the freeway, though. I've seen/found lots of tools--people who put a tool on the bumper or drive away or something like that.

Karen

My folks always had a "found money" jar. It was a little carafe my mom found at a yard sale, any money they found went into the jar...they'd cash it in once a year to use as spending money on a vacation.

I always pick up lost change, including pennies. I can't believe the number of people who can't be bothered for anything less than a $5 bill! I don't bank them up separately tho'... maybe I should!

I pick up change unless I'm (for example) in the middle of a busy intersection. I've found $20 bills before while walking. Haven't found much biking...

CA

Living and cycling in a rural area, we don't find money. :( But, we've definitely seen an interesting spectrum of items -- wildlife galore, many a turtle we've removed from the roadway, a Barbie sans left leg, two teddy bears (the apparent victims of a relationship gone wrong), couches and televisions whose previous owners should be ashamed of themselves for littering the countryside, plus the all-too-frequent smaller detritus of human existence. Probably the most curious, although certainly not unusual in and of themselves... forks. The sheer number of forks is mind-boggling! Always metal, never plastic; no spoons, no knives. Go figure!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Grog

I always pick up lost change, including pennies. I can't believe the number of people who can't be bothered for anything less than a $5 bill! I don't bank them up separately tho'... maybe I should!

---

Queen, while we're reminiscing on what parents do with lost change my Dad had an economic theory related to that; he thought that when times were good there was not only more lost change but higher denominations because people would feel it was not worth stopping to pick it up unless it was a paper bill, then quarter, dime, nickel then finally only pennies. The worse the economy was than only pennies were left on the street.

Knowing my Dad there is probably a chart somewhere with change picked up in the year vs GNP and National Debt :cool:

When I walk Mae around the condo grounds I carry a cell and while I don't pick these things up we snap pictures. So far Mae and I have posted to Craigs Free section and gotten picked up and "re-purposed" things dumped at the condo grounds such as; a 6 piece formal dining room chair set, 3 piece bathroom mirror, wrought iron outdoor furniture, wooden end tables, a couple of excellent rugs, and a Raleigh Sprite 27 which needed a ton of work but a cyclists happily picked up as a project bike.

My Motobecane Mixte dumped on the grounds though, that I kept :p

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Trek420

a 6 piece formal dining room chair set, 3 piece bathroom mirror, wrought iron outdoor furniture, wooden end tables, a couple of excellent rugs, and a Raleigh Sprite 27 which needed a ton of work but a cyclists happily picked up as a project bike.

My Motobecane Mixte dumped on the grounds though, that I kept :p

---

Holy mackerel, Trek, it's a veritable Salvation Army thrift shop--I mean, REALLY thrifty!

Maybe because I live in the south, where outdoor furniture gets a lot of use, we find an incredible amount of outdoor furniture tossed here and there in our rural area. We've furnished our neighborhood firepit with a nice assortment of still-serviceable wrought iron furniture just from what we find discarded. But I have yet to find a cool bike lying in the trees at the edge of the road.:(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Trek420

Queen, while we're reminiscing on what parents do with lost change my Dad had an economic theory related to that; he thought that when times were good there was not only more lost change but higher denominations because people would feel it was not worth stopping to pick it up unless it was a paper bill, then quarter, dime, nickel then finally only pennies. The worse the economy was than only pennies were left on the street.

---

I think your dad was probably right. My mom grew up in the depression so she always picks up coins...even pennies.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Bad JuJu

But I have yet to find a cool bike lying in the trees at the edge of the road.:(

---

Keep looking :p

If I find another one I'll post here. I'm still kicking myself, there was a 70's Japanese mixte with those hand hammered aluminum or steel fenders that I let the trash guys pick up. Now I know the fenders alone would be great to have but oh, I was so naive to the joys of a mixte I let that get picked up.

Give it a month or two and someone nearby who has taken the bike out of storage will give up and throw the bike away because it stops running (dude, put air in the tires!).

Tuesday I found rose shears and Raleighdon found a screwdriver.
One of the things that bothers me deep down inside are those photos of people in places like Mexico and Haiti, scrounging at the dump. Any one of those people would think they'd died and gone to heaven at OUR dump, but the sad thing is, all the stuff at our dump is smashed and pulverized. lots of good stuff.
And that really bugs me.

A lot of times I find money while walking my dog. My most recent find was $5. My dad is a HUGE money-stopper. No matter how small the amount of change, he'll stop for it. He likes finding money while walking my dog too. :D

If I have time, I will pick up the lost coin.

Is anyone the sort that tosses in the penny or nickel into the "tips" or whatever jar at store, etc. that you get back in change? I don't. And I can't explain why.

Maybe it goes back to when I worked in retail as a cashier when I was struggling student..I did deal with customers who got picky about getting the exact change back and rightfully keeping it.

I am one of those customers also...I dislike cashiers who keep my extra penny or 2, when clearly the non-tax item was marked $5.99. There's something very presumptuous/rude/almost dishonest when a cashier does that automatically. :mad:

As you can tell the ex-cashier mentality butts in...memories of a perfect cash float at the end of my shift.

I don't set aside the money I pick up in parking lots, whatever--it just goes into my pocket.

But I find it in the dryer, it's going in the piggy bank, I don't care whose it is or how much it is! I figure that's my pay for having to swap the laundry when the hubby or son forgot to do it!

Karen

One year when I was running the NYC marathon I found 20.00 around the 23rd mile mark.... I was joking that I was a "money winner" at NYC! :D

During high school, we would "flick" pennies at each other, so the ground was always littered with them. My senior year, I decided to pick up every coin I found and put it in a jar. I had $82 at the end of the school year. Not bad, eh?

On my way to work one day I was turning to get onto the onramp of the 5 freeway in my VW bus, and thought I saw a paper bill. Turned out it was several paper bills that amounted to $63. I took it easy that day at work!

Since these two experiences, I always pick up every grungy piece of money I see.

Brenda

I was riding along one day when I saw a $20, then another, and another....

then a credit card, a medical card, another credit card, a starbucks card... eventually pretty much the contents on some poor guys wallet. Lucky for him he also had a good stash of his own business cards in there too. I got in contact with his secretary and dropped off all his stuff. He even went back to the spot where it all was and managed to find his drivers license. He'd left the wallet on top of his car after getting gas - never did see the wallet itself, just most of the stuff that was inside.

I found another wallet once before - sadder story there. It had been stolen and tossed out of a car no doubt. I found it and called a phone number that I found inside (turned out to be his daughter's boyfriend) before he even knew that he'd been robbed. At least he got all of his medical cards and stuff back.

Back when I was in college I used to work in the darkrooms (I'm a photographer). If you worked the last shift one of the things you did was turn on all the lights and check all of the rooms for cleanliness and thing that might have been left. I found lots of small change that way - and we did a really good clean down/inventory once a quarter, that would also yield a good change dividend. I seem to remember putting in all in a jar and having about $50 at the end of the year.

If I am riding by myself, I always stop and pick up the change, never have found any dollar bills.. My sister and her DH got me started on doing that when we used to have time to walk once a week. I do see lots of pop/beer cans that could be turned into change. My mom who grew up during the depression picks up any change and you would thought she just won the lottery..and she also will pick up all the above mentioned cans on her walks.

Our found walking and riding money goes in my son's piggy bank. It's about half full now, mostly with pennies but every so often we find bigger stuff.

Thanks for sharing! It's nice to know that I'm not the only one out there.
I, too, find it silly that in our country people pass up money on the road. What we've picked up in discarded/lost change is the monthly or yearly salary for some in third world countries. Oh, what we take for granted here. Mimitabby, I'm with you about how sad it is all the things we throw away here. Others in poor countries would love to have our trash. I haven't bought a new item of clothing in a long time. I'll only buy from the Salvation Army, Goodwill, or resale shops. I just feel too guilty for having new things when my money could be given to others who might need it more (and why buy new when used things can be just as nice).

Let's see, I've found $20 bills on two separate occasions, one $50, some fives and ones, lots of junk jewelry which I intend to make into art "someday" and more drug paraphernalia than I would expect, since I don't use illegal drugs so aren't tuned into that stuff. Oh, and a small bag of pot. Two pocketknives, one in good condition and one ran over. A zippo lighter, many disposable lighters that still work. Dogtags and leashes. A CD case containing somebody's works, :eek:

My best haul was an old lady type wedding band, with many diamonds, which I turned in to a flight attendant immediately. That was somewhere over the Atlantic, going to Europe. I'm good at finding stuff. Unfortunately to have a finding talent you have to have a losing talent, they just go together.

The only thing I have found out on a ride was someone's ATM card. I called the number on the back to report it. It had already been reported lost and they asked me to cut it up and throw it out.

A couple of months ago I found $20 in a snowbank while walking my friend's dogs.

BF once found a $10 floating by in the ocean, then some more bills. Someone must have forgotten to empty their pocket!

When I lived in NYC, I had a window box, and someone left me a painted rock in it, that was really cute. I also found a crack pipe in their, so it really ran the gamut!

Spring is the best time to find money on the street, at least here where the snow covers everything all winter.

I used to go for money walks, and not let myself go home until I'd found a certain amount of change. Now I just pick up every cent I find. I keep the "lucky" money in a special little cedar box from the Grotto of the Redemption, and use some of it whenever I want to do a money spell. Found money is supposed to work better for those.

I did find 20 bucks in Target a few weeks ago, that went into my emergency cash hiding place in my purse, rather than the cedar box. Unfortunately, when I need it, I always forget I have the emergency cash, so I've yet to use it.

Incidentally, I'd picked up a penny earlier in the day before I went to Target. I believe you have to send out the signal that you want money, and then you'll get more. I feel like if the universe gives me a penny and I act like I don't need it, then I am turning down future wealth possibilities.

My friends are amazed when I can find a coin on the sidewalk in the dark. I've trained my eye to see them, just like some people do with four leaf clovers. Once you learn how to see, you can find them anywhere.

:)