Dan Herbert's

Up until recently, I worked for a transaction processor (company that processes credit transactions at stores). The 2 years working at this job made me aware of how dangerous credit card theft/fraud can be. As a college student constantly being warned about identity theft, this made me very paranoid about using a credit card for purchases.

As a result, I made a decision to use cash for purchases as much as possible, since you can’t become the victim of ID theft from cash. Although you definitely could become victim through other means, I figured this would keep me a bit safer, albeit at the risk of losing more real money in a mugging.

So for the past 2 years or so, whenever I made a purchase and got change back, I would save that change. I never used the change when purchasing stuff. I would always keep it, organized neatly by denomination. Today, I decided to cash in on my savings and see how much it was worth. Two years of purchases amounted to $174.53. This came from:

• $150+ in quarters
• $10+ in nickels
• $10~ in pennies

Just from saving small change when getting lunch and making other purchases over the years. All that money will come in handy when I buy my new Android phone next month!