Spending money to find money...

I've noticed that the more money I tend to spend, the more money I find. Now while I'm happy that 'charity' generally benefits from this I'm wondering why my bank account, albeit indirectly for I'm not giving my money to a cause, is taking the hit! :)

I've also noticed a small trend in my streetchange location method. I tend to find only small bits, coppers if you will, when I'm actively seeking floor-fundage yet I tend to find silver coinage by simply looking down at my feet from time to time. This was further backed up this week when I found 5p at my feet when I was buying some new headphones. Then I found 5p at my feet when I went to get off the bus on the way home.

My ex-housemate's stag-do shenanigans last night yielded an additional 61p to the cause bringing the weekly total to 71p and sending the total to date over the £5 barrier.

Wet month but dry in the streetchange stakes...

Yep, it had to happen. July proved to be a useless month for finding change. I have thought long and hard about it and I can attribute it to several possible factors.

1, Bournemouth is full of foreign students at this time of year.

Milling around in large numbers, waiting an age for their bus, these are the people who are more likely to find fallen change. Their limited knowledge of the currency will also mean that they're more likely to pick up money on the floor without the usual stigma attached to picking up 'coppers'.

2, Bournemouth is full of foreign students at this time of year.

A large number of English people have this weird idea that foreigners are stealing English jobs (idiots the lot of them) and this could lead to a greater vigilance by English people during the Summer months when numbers of foreigners are up.

3, Interest rates are up.

Penny-pinching and tightening of belts due to the Bank of England interest rates continuing to go up will lead to eagle-eyed individuals roaming the streets of Bournemouth. It could also stop people dropping money in the first place.

With these three factors in full effect July was dire indeed until last week when Simon produced 2p that he had found at Castlepoint. I found a 1p and 2p haul at a Bournemouth pub and then found another 2 p at the busstop straight after. A few more findings later and the total found this past week is 11p.

It keeps rolling in...

Yep, two weekends have passed since the last update and the discarded shrapnel of the Bournemouth citizens continues to be discovered. Last Saturday yielded a mighty £1.05 from my housemate's evening jaunt around the clubs and this Friday delivered the coppers to the cause, seeing the total rise by another £0.22.

We're approaching the point where an internet saving account will begin to accrue monthly interest so i'll start looking into them this week.

Well what are the chances?

A quick search to see if the name Street Change had been taken and lo, there is a like minded individual out there!

http://streetchange.blogspot.com/

It seems we share some similar ideas although I'm not restricting this to a year, I plan to keep it going until there is a sizeable amount to give to charity. I'm guessing around the £20 mark would be the rough aim. I'm thinking about setting up an internet bank account so that the randomly found pennies can have a chance to accrue other pennies in interest.

I guess the American continent is covered though. I may end up sending the $0.01 Canadian his way should the opportunity arise.

The London Weekend

Well obviously living expenses are higher in the capital if the denizens are going to be throwing their money away!

The grand total found on the Saturday getting to Bexley Heath, getting the tube to Hyde Park and then marching around the Wireless Festival?

A whopping £1.30!!!

Simon had even given me a friendly berating for constantly looking at the floor while walking through the crowd when I happened across the second £1 coin of the hunt.

The task was made somewhat difficult on the Sunday due to tiredness and the fact that Wembley was covered in white plastic covering making street change easier to detect... for everyone. Only two 2ps found, one each side of the Beer tent. I just hope all those other shrapnel collectors are doing it for charity!

March 30th - June 15th 2007

The grand total found on pavements, in roads, under benches, in office canteens, in pubs, clubs and bars and in all of those same places but in foreign countries was £1.74 and $0.01CAN.

Not a bad haul especially as it includes a single £1 coin found at the bus stop not 100 metres from my very door.