It’s the 150th anniversary of the first U.S. nickel, and Mary Hunt is weighing in. The queen of frugality has teamed up with Sunoco to celebrate the birthday of the humble half-dime, which not so coincidentally is the per-gallon amount saved by Sunoco credit card users.
Given the reaction to a giveaway of Hunt’s “The Smart Woman’s Guide to Planning for Retirement” – or, heck, to anything she has written – I know that plenty of my readers are her fans as well. That’s why I jumped at the chance to chat with Hunt.
She’d given some tips to the Sunoco campaign, such as planning meals around each week’s grocery specials and making your own laundry soap for a cost of – you guessed it! – five cents per load.
That’s frugality, though: Little tweaks that add up to big results. And since like me she is a fan of small change, we chatted about the special power of specie.
To bring it back to Sunoco for a moment: Anyone who applies and gets a Sunoco card for the first time will get a 20-cent-per-gallon price break through the end of October. “That’s like found money,” Hunt said. “Or, as your daughter Abigail would put it, it’s like picking up pennies.”
(Gotta love an industry giant who remembers the theme of your kid’s website. Or who, in the interest of full disclosure, provided a very nice jacket blurb for your new book.)
Like pennies, nickels cost more to create (more than nine cents) than they’re worth. Probably it’s only a matter of time before a dump-the-nickel call arises. Small wonder that some people don’t bother to pick up pennies, nickels, dimes or sometimes even quarters. There’s this perception that coins aren’t worth it.
In fact, several times lately I’ve had cashiers ask, “Do you want your change?” When I queried one guy why he asks, he told me that “a lot” of people don’t want coins if it’s only a few pennies’ worth.
‘Attitude and habit’
Yes, I want my change. I want all of it. In fact, I believe coins are so important that I pick them up when I see them on sidewalks or supermarket floors, or in vending or Coinstar machines. As I wrote in a post called “Are dimes the new pennies?”:
“Some people are ashamed to be seen picking up coins. I’ve heard from them; in fact, some have told me I ought to be ashamed, too. Apparently such behavior is unseemly. Too nickel-and-dime, so to speak.
“When used as an adjective, two of the definitions of nickel-and-dime are ‘low-paid’ and ‘small-scale or of little importance.’ How much does it pay you, really, to bend down and pick it up?
“One-tenth of a dollar for a few seconds’ work, in my book. Is it small-scale? Yes. Of little importance? Depends on where you are in life. According to Feeding America (formerly America’s Second Harvest), $1 will buy the ingredients for eight meals. Thus a dime is almost somebody’s dinner.”
Not surprisingly, Hunt agreed. “It all adds up,” she said. “That is the kind of attitude and habit that infiltrates other parts of our lives.”
Real money
If you get that nickel-per-gallon rebate, Hunt said, put it in a jar when you get home. Buy the store-brand products and figure out what you saved, then stash that cash as well.
Put five or six dollars in the jar each time you pack your lunch instead of eating out. Empty your coins into the jar at the end of the day, or do some version of a savings challenge.
Oh, and make sure your children see you doing things like this. Explain to them how the dollars – and the nickels – add up to real savings.
“This is a wonderful chance to show kids the difference between cash and plastic,” she said.
Obviously she’s not averse to credit card usage; witness the partnership with Sunoco. But Hunt is concerned that the further people get from touching actual money, the more likely they are to lose control of their spending.
As for children who grow up rarely even seeing cash? Let’s just say that it’s harder to make the connection between what’s earned and what’s spent.
Some people think that saving a nickel here and a quarter there is too small-potatoes to make a difference. As frugalists already know, the idea is to employ multiple hacks, all the time.
“The secret is to make this part of your life,” Hunt said. “Now you’ve got a big difference.”
Readers: What small changes have added up to big savings in your lives?
Related reading:
- Is it ever too late to start saving?
- A found-coin moment
- Why I sewed my underwear
- Be yourself, and save
“the idea is to employ multiple hacks, all the time” – so appreciate this line! We do this too. We aren’t fixed on one way to save, but small “hacks” do add up. I am always surprised when people say – well I don’t bother with coupons. I don’t get many, but the store has some on their flyer when you walk in. Why not use them? A couple bucks here and there is hundreds over the course of a year!
Especially if you’ve downloaded them to your store card. They just come off before you pay.
I wonder if those folks would pick up two one-dollar bills from the ground, or if they’d just say “I don’t bother with easy money.”
Exactly. This is what I’ve asked people who question my bothering to use coupons or pick up dimes, nickels, etc. “Would you turn down two bucks if I offered it to you?” Some people think it is greed, but I think it’s anti-greed: I am not going to feed the greed of those CEOs and stockholders (those mythical stockholders) who believe they need mega profits all the time. Profits that I have to provide, by the way, by being overcharged. For instance, how many times were prices raised because the price of gasoline went up, and then when gas went way down, did the stores reduce prices on those items? In a few cases, yes, but most of the time, no. Those prices were the “new normal” to use an overworked phrase. Now that they’re used to it, why lower it?
A couple of years back I was an adult student at a local university. I discovered that the regular students quite often did not take their change from the vending machines. You can bet I checked each machine as I went by. At least one almost always had coins for the taking.
My grandmother, who was a young bride in The Depression, always told me to look after my pennies and my dollars would look after themselves. Very wise words that I try to live by. Both she and my grandfather held minimum-wage jobs all their lives, yet by watching their pennies, were able to buy two Mercedes… in cash.
Wow. Good on them!
DF bought his current vehicle for cash, after driving the old one for nearly 15 years. He researched what he wanted, put out the word among dealers and ultimately got the call to come test-drive that vehicle. He had the cash because he, like your grandparents, saved up for the replacement vehicle he knew he’d one day have to buy.
I will also bend down to pick up change in a parking lot, park, store floor, etc. It actually brings a smile to my face! I get a kick out of people who think change is nothing…it all adds up to bills. I am also into recycling not always for the $ but for the good of our world. I have found that this has cut my garbage bill down $5 a month and I make about $10 from the scrap yard with the bottles/cans/cords/paper/aluminum recycling that I take in 1 a month. They pay more for the cans/bottles and they do the sorting…so I feel it is a win ~ win! I think this year I have put 2 $25.00 deposits into a CD from this.
Like you and Kandace, we switched to the smaller garbage can and our bill went down. Only a few times a year do we have enough bags to fill even that can.
“We don’t generate much garbage, darlin’,” DF said just the other day. In part that’s because we cook from scratch so often but it’s also because we routinely buy in bulk, rarely shop for clothes or tchotchkes, and recycle paper, tin, glass, plastic, cardboard and newspaper.
I’m OK with that.
I agree that it’s the small changes that add up–I use a smaller trash can, saving me $5 a month from my city. Turn off lights, move the temperature for the AC up in summer so it doesn’t come on until it’s truly hot, showering shorter or less often, brown bagging lunch, cooking, growing vegetables…. those are the changes that bring the cost of living down and make life more manageable–and meaningful. It’s being conscious of what you are doing and how you are living.
“It’s being conscious of what you are doing and how you are living.”
This +++. Back when I started writing this I did a post called “Automatic frugality,” i.e., the things that are so ingrained we no longer have to think about them:
http://donnafreedman.com/automatic-frugality/
No Sunoco gas stations near me.
My dear father taught me about picking up change. He always checked vending machines for change. I do the same thing and also pick up pennies and high denomination of coins from parking lots.
No Sunoco here, either. Apparently the company is in only 17 states.
Here is my small change story. A few months back, J.C. Penney had a 1 cent T shirt sale to promote their new slogan, “get your penny’s (Penney’s) worth.” This was NOT a “buy one, get one for a penny deal” but a truly one cent sale. The flyer said “one to a customer” but when I got to the store, they told me that there were T shirts in the 1 cent sale in various departments, and that I could buy one in EACH department. I left with 5 nice T shirts of various sizes and colors for a nickel total, which I had found coming out of the grocery store earlier that week!!!
I love that! And I bet you took the shirts along when you volunteered in the Dominican Republic.
Yes, along with some colored pencils and crayons, thanks to a nice donation from my frugal friend from South Jersey–lol.
After a time, I think you became unconsciously frugal. I was getting rid of a mattress topper. I didn’t want to just throw it into the landfill. So I googled reuses for mattress toppers. Pet beds came up. That search result lead me to call my local Vet, who told me that they would be happy to take the foam topper. I drove it over and the vet techs were definitely going to put the topper to use.
There’s a home for almost anything you’d want to throw out. Witness my ability to find takers for five empty oatmeal boxes and a half-pint of door keys:
http://donnafreedman.com/jam-jars-and-laminate-flooring-why-freecycle-rocks/
I always pick up coins but what I do with them depends on where I am. If I’m at the local coffee shop, I’ll put the coin in the tip jar. If I’m at McDonald’s, I’ll put it in the jar for Ronald McDonald House. One year, I found a $5 on the floor of the local supermarket… and when I stood up, I was face to face with the Salvation Army kettle! Guess where THAT fiver went!
I put McDonald’s found money in the RMD house bin as well. It seems appropriate.
The rest of my found money goes to the food bank, with another donation on top. While I’d been giving it close to Christmas, I’ve decided to wait until January because it’s my impression cash donations drop off in the new year. This year’s will be a nice one: When I was in New York a few months back I found a $20 bill while walking on the High Line.
It took me a over a year, but I finally convinced my husband that we could go down to a smaller garbage can because we recycled so much. So now we’re saving $5/month. There’s still one smaller size so I’m hoping to downgrade to that after the holidays, saving even more.
And I’m so proud of my daughter because she’s learn from me to look for and pick up coins. She excitedly and proudly showed me a penny she’d found the other day. And she also brought home a red Solo cup from somewhere the other day saying “I thought we could wash and reuse this, Mommy.” ???
My favorite frugal hack is when I buy something on sale, with a coupon, and it also has several rebates available. SCORE!!!
*learned not learn!
We sell at farmers market and craft shows. It’s astounding how many people don’t want their change – silver even. And we’ve run into a couple of people who won’t take dollars!
I have no words.
Donna, I completely agree with you. I am horrified that people have become so out of touch that they do not value small change. Do they understand what ten American cents would mean to someone in a third world country? I also believe that scorning small change shows a tremendous lack of gratitude for what we have.
I have also been scorned for accumulating small amounts here and there. But, at the end of the year, the $120 in Bing points ($5 a month for me and another $5 a month from my husbands account) goes for Christmas spending. I get another $120 in Amazon gift cards ($10 a month) for being part of an online focus group community. Then there’s the survey money I earn (an average of $620 a year). I take the time to transfer my prescriptions to get a $25 store credit. On average, I’d say I get about $500 a year. That alone brings in $1360 a year for just a few minutes of effort each day. Who would turn down $1360 if it was handed to them?
Then, there’s the cashback credit cards. That averages about $1000 a year. We bought our flat screen tv with cashback. Right now, we have about $2000 accumulated. We a re saving it for a new fence. Even though coupons are not what they were, there are still deals to be had. The other day, I got five bags of Starbucks whole bean coffee for $12. People are astounded that we were able to put our son through college debt free. They would be even more astounded to find out that all the money we put out on his education came from coupon savings. Without a doubt, small amounts add up. If you add up our cashback money to my other earnings, that comes to $2360 a year. In ten years, that comes to $23,600! That’s a serious chunk of change and that doesn’t even include my coupon savings.
The other day I was in line at JC Penneys. I had some extra 20% of coupons, so I offered one to the lady in line with me. She cheerfully waived away the offer. She never bothered with coupons. She bought about $200 of merchandise. Had she accepted my coupon, she would have saved $40 0n the spot.
Conversely, the same thing happens with debt and spending. People wake up one day to find out they are thousands of dollars in debt. It comes from charging a small thing here and there. It doesn’t seem significant but everything adds up with time.
“Peple wake up one day to find out they are thousands of dollars in debt. It comes from charging a small thing here and there.”
This ++++. If Mary Hunt is reading this I know she would agree.
And I can’t believe the woman declined the coupon offer. I would have been oh so tempted to say to her as she walked away, “Had you taken the coupon your $200 purchase would have cost only $160.”
Hats off to you, ma’am, for your frugal savvy! Making it possible for your son to graduate without crushing debt is a huge gift.
Thanks for being such a consistent reader and commenter.
Some years ago, I read your articles on MSN Money for the first time (ironically, it was right after Christmas and I learned how much money I could have earned back if I had done my online shopping through Ebates! Doh!!)
I think this current article is at the heart of what I learned from you almost immediately back then; small changes add up and small change adds up! Thank you for the paradigm shift your wise words brought on in my life. I often find myself saying “sure, it’s just a few cents saved, but multiply that by a year of similar savings! Or,” it’s just one light left on…but that light turned off day after day, equals money!” That new-found awareness, is in large part, thanks to you, so…many, many thanks Donna!
Thank you so much for your kind words. I appreciate hearing that I gave you some tools to change your life — but remember, you did the work.
I just remembered. There is a term for a type of embezzlement where, if your company’s accounting software rounds fractions of a cent to the nearest penny, you program the software to funnel those fractions of a cent into a bank account which you own. It is called salami slicing and it took banks and companies years to wise up that some employees were doing this.
One bank employee in Canada accumulated $70,000 before he was caught. Again, that was for a fraction of a penny on thousands of transactions, but translate this into an individual saving $100 (10,000 pennies) from small amounts. Over time, that’s powerful.
Wow. That’s horrifying, yet a great example of how small change adds up.