2006's Total Surpassed!

Hey! Today was a big day for my coin finding as I surpassed last year's total in less than half a year. NH was good to me.

I thought of a good bed and breakfast tip for other cheapos like me. Book your mini-vacation slightly off season. Not everything will be open, so you have to check around to make sure the things you want to do will be available and that any specific restaurants will be open, but the rooms are a lot cheaper. And when you book your room be sure to take the cheapest one, because chances are the B&B will be almost empty and you'll get a free upgrade. This happened to my wife and I two times in a row now.

If you're going to New Hampshire's Lake Region we recommend The Riverbend Inn. We had a great time there. The setting was perfect.

Today I also got our latest electricity bill. It was a new record low.

Found: 3 pennies (1 at Rite-Aid, 1 on the street in North Conway, 1 Bass Outlet), 1 nickel (at Papa Gino's), 2 dimes (1 at the Riverbend Inn, 1 at Rite-Aid)

Highest Find

Today I had my highest find. While hiking Mt. Chocorua I searched a hiking shelter at 3475 ft. In the cabin I found a penny and a dime. It was a small tip for the 6.6 mile hike.

I also had some other random finds, including a nice 1941 penny which I'll add to my coin collection. I'm getting close to last year's total!

Found: 16 pennies (12 at McDonald's, 3 at the supermarket, 1 on Mt. Chocorua) 3 dimes (2 at McDonald's, 1 on Mt. Chocorua), 1 quarter (1 at the supermarket)

Coin Collection Finds

Well, I've gone through quite a few coins in the past few days. I'm on batch #2 right now. The free coin counter at my bank sure helped a lot. After going through 2100 dimes I've found examples of every date and mint mark post 1964. No silver dimes though, oh well, I'll keep trying as I look for better examples from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. I've also gone through 2600 nickels and found a lot cool old ones. Today I even found a World War II silver nickel.

Off to NH tomorrow for a small vacation. Looking forward to hiking, reading and relaxing. Hopefully I'll have some NH finds to mention when I get back.

Found: 2 pennies (1 at the Westin, 1 in a parking lot by work), 2 nickels (at the Westin), 1 quarter (at the Westin)

Inflation

Well, it had to happen sometime ... my Mobil Mart raised the price on it's 32 ounce soda from 62 cents to 99 cents. Bummer. I think the cost of my other favorite treat, a big 500 calorie, packaged "pie" has gone up too.

After twenty years I've decided to get back into coin collecting. My current goal is to get the best specimens I can of all the coin types in circulation for all years and mint marks without spending more than face value to obtain the coins. To this end I ordered some nice Dansco coin albums online and got $170 worth of coins from the bank ($100 in dimes, $60 in nickels and $20 in pennies). I'll return those I don't need. I'm a about half way through sorting them all. So far I've found one 1919 Buffalo nickel in the batch and 12 Canadian nickels. Haven't gotten to the pennies, yet. Anyone have any dimes or quarters pre-1965 they want to donate? I'll pay for the stamp.



Found: 4 pennies (Mobil Mart), 1 dime (Burger King)

Cheap Ice Cream

My sister gave me the heads up on a good deal. Today was 31 cent scoop day at all Baskin Robbins locations. My wife and I went for a small dessert. My sister also told me about an opportunity for some free pizza at Pizza Hut, but I couldn't make that.

While enjoying my cone I found my second foreign coin of the day, a 1976 Canadian penny.



Found: 2 pennies (1 at cafe at work, 1 at the Belmont Car Wash), 1 foreign coin

Foreign Find

Today I found a cool foreign coin. Killing time on the way to work I stopped at an Exxon station. In the parking lot by the pay phone I found an old coin. At first I thought it was a worn quarter, but on closer inspection I noticed it was something else. Turns out it is a 1937 Dominican Republic 5 Centavos coin. My second oldest find of the year!



Here's a picture of what a similar coin looks like in much better condition.



Yesterday was a day for some good deals. At Costco I got shredded cheese at less than half the price I usually get it for at the supermarket. My wife and I also found a lot of good stuff at the GAP Outlet near us. The first Tuesday of the month always gets us an additional 10% off if we use our GAP card. Last night though we also got double rewards points. Good deal, I say.

I also heard this great eco-cheap piece on NPR yesterday about a guy who is into hypermiling (the act of trying to get outrageous MPG through all means). He reminded me of myself a bit. I don't think I'll his methods, but for the past year I have been trying to drive the speed limit and to be less aggressive. It's probably one of the tougher things I've been trying to do.

Found: 12 pennies (3 at Costco, 7 at Burger King, 2 near the pay phone at the Exxon), 2 dimes (1 at the Mobil Mart, 1 at the Exxon), 1 foreign coin

Free Entertainment

Last night I found some good free entertainment - a talk by two authors followed by a book signing. It was at a library in Newton. Diana and Michael Preston spoke about their new book Taj Mahal. I haven't read it yet, but plan to. I enjoyed their books Boxer Rebellion and A Pirate of Exquisite Mind. They signed both and were very friendly. I'll have to remember to keep an eye on my local paper's listings for more authors.

Found: 9 pennies (1 outside Prospect Auto Body, 1 outside Enterprise Rent-A-Car), 1 dime