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Minding the pennies:

Are pennies worth the same as before? I used to hate pennies with a passion; the copper-coloured coins, the 1p and 2p. I used to throw them away. I don't know when I started to dislike them or what it was about them maybe they weren't shiny enough or they just cluttered up my wallet or hung around the backs of sofas needlessly and generally never came in handy.

Some might ask: well why didn't I just collect them in a jar or piggy bank and then take them to a bank to be cashed in. Do I look like a five year old? I hated wrapping those measly coins up in those special paper wraps or putting them in designated bags. It was annoying, time consuming, and the payback never amounted to much after all of that effort. Pennies were a waste of time and space.

So each time I came back from shopping or a night out, I would sterilise' my wallet, clean it out of unwanted pennies and receipts and literally throw them in the bin. Or in shops I would say to the person behind the till to keep the pennies or put them in the charity boxes. Luckily, no one gave me back pounds and pounds worth of change in coppers. Even shopkeepers thought I was crazy, but as I always said to them: the pennies would never come in handy since I would have just spent them on nothing useful anyway, so it was already wasted money not going to waste, because the pennies had no value, in my view. Not my problem. How could you waste nothing? I would even just discreetly drop them along the street or in a street bin. The streets were literally paved with copper and someone else could find them and use them. I just didn't want them in my wallet, in my house, in my life.

But then things took a turn for the worst and I was out of work for a long while. Money got tight. I had to sell possessions, look for food and household bargains, and most of all I had to save every penny. I even had to retrieve pennies from my bins at home. I was amazed that even a few pennies were the difference between getting one more item of food for a decent meal or for posting an item I had sold. Everything was added up before I went shopping, my tightest ever budgeting period, and I learned if not to love pennies then at least to respect them. Pennies came in handy in my darkest hour of need.

Now I'm back at work and I keep the pennies in my wallet, though I do still try to get rid of them first when paying for something. They're not as beloved as the silver or golden coins, but I now know that the pennies' beauty comes not from any attractiveness, but from their intrinsic value. So there's an uneasy truce with my pennies; they don't bother me and I won't chuck them away so cheaply. I've learned my lesson and look after my pennies. Pennies are worth a lot more than you know.

Learn more about this author, Ray Burke.
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