This is submission for the HP Magic Giveaway. Feel free to leave comments for this article as you see fit – your feedback is certainly welcomed! If you’d like to submit your own how-to, what-is, or top-five list, you can send it to me. Views and opinions of this writer are not necessarily my own:

Are you a coin geek like me? Or are you saving up for a new gadget? Finding money that people have left, forgotten, or lost is really quite fun, and it can quickly become a habit. So, whether you’re looking for some loose change to help you get just a bit closer to being able to buy your next new gadget, you’re trying to find some money so you can keep your home, or just because the ride home can be really boring, here is my how-to guide for finding lost money.

When you are riding home from work in a bus or train, check under the seats, where change can be dropped while loading baggage or sitting down. Also check between the seats, as it is really easy for a few quarters to fall out without you even knowing.

When in public, check the not-so-obvious places. I’m talking about really not obvious places, like at furniture stores. Pretend you are looking at the rocking mechanism of the chair out for demo, while you really scour the ground under the chair for change lost by people who have sat in the chair. Also check similar places like under movie theater seats and park benches. Another one of my recently-discovered places is on top of phone booths. Yes, the return drawer is pretty common, but sometimes unknowing victims will place their change on top of the machine and simply forget to pick it up when they’re finished. Another place that usually has a good turnout is in a parking lot. When entering and exiting a vehicle, the angle sometimes causes change to fall from the pocket to the asphalt.

Then of course, there are the just plain strange (and sometimes, gross) places. When at a drive thru for a fast food restaurant, look under the window where you pay the cashier. If you don’t really want to appear to be exiting your car for no apparent reason, drop a coin of your own and retrieve your coin and your newfound treasure. But, be very careful, because there are all sorts of items that can be found under these windows. Check in storm drains and in places where puddles of water form in parking lots, as it’s easy for a coin to be washed into the crated in a hard rain.

If you are a student, check your cafeteria. While eating and being distracted, it fairly easy for that dollar or dime to slip out of your pocket. If your school has drink machines, go up to them and press the change return button, people commonly forget to take their change. Also, if your school has lockers, check under them. If a person has recently put some money in their pocket, it can slide out, especially if it’s a dollar bill. Then of course, there are field trips. After everyone has moved on to other places, snoop around the gift shop or other places requiring money to enter or use.

I hope you are successful in finding loose money, so you can do whatever you want, and enjoy your new hobby!

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michaeln1978 is right:

I know this is old, but I couldn’t resist…

It takes 100,000 pennies to make $1,000.00 not one million. That said, if Chris hates pennies so much he would have to throw away ten pennies each day for approximately twenty-seven years to throw away $1,000.00. Now, if Chris is the geek he claims to be that means he hates cash, and if that is the case he doesn’t actually spend enough cash to throw away ten pennies a day. So, although it is physically possible to do so I would imagine Chris has, at most, thrown away around $100.00 or so in pennies.

So you see, in a way, you were both right in this old video from May 2007 I am sure neither of you remember. :)

Fine. I’ll stop throwing away my pennies. DOES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY?!

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• Tips For Finding Loose Change
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“How to make money?” Coin collecting!

As a child, I collected stamps (and was even president of our grade school “stamp club” – with all the benefits of getting out of fourth period math class to discuss the latest in philately). My grandfather, on the other hand – was more of a coin guy. These days, I’d wager his collection is worth more – as coins have been around a lot longer than stamps! So, the question I pose is: how profitable coin collecting be as an investment? The consensus seems to be to that if collecting isn’t a labor of love, then perhaps the long term payoffs simply aren’t worth the effort.

Martijn Buurman

I think it is not too profitable. You have to consider that a lot of coins take 50 years or longer to become rare. The only option in my opinion is to buy a collection from somebody who has not got the slightest idea of what he is selling (”I inherited this collection from my mother in law”). But that chance is very small….

Mathew Shember

You really have to know what you are doing. I knew someone who did it rather willynilly and didn’t make much more then he spent.

Scott Thompson

As with all “collectibles” collect them because you enjoy them. They are after all called collectibles not investables! If they do increase in value great if not you get to enjoy them even longer!

Anatoly Reznik

I don’t think it can be profitable unless you spend a lot of time researching and traveling to tradeshows and conventions. However, just like most things if you put your mind to it, you can make it happen. Here’s a link to a good article for beginners.

Stephen Dyer

Numismatics is a hobby, not an investment opportunity.

I must admit, though, that the commercials for buying “rare” or “limited edition” coins are fairly funny.

William Vu

I think that being involved with collectibles depends on the ability to buy or acquire at wholesale and sell at retail. Not buying at retail and hoping to sell at higher retail later. Salvaging a ship with $500 million in gold coins might be a good investment. With that said, generally, the best, most desired and most expensive collectibles, are able to increase in value beyond inflation. Rare precious metal coins, Old Masters painting, the Honus Wagner baseball card and the like would probably be your best bet, but this requires a lot of money and effort. Remember, these are not liquid investments with established markets by any means.

Tanya Bronstein

You can invest in hard currency, which can be profitable — especially in recent years since the price of gold and silver has been on the rise (for example, gold has doubled against the dollar since 2001). Thus, for me, buying coins has nothing to do with numismatics; it’s more about having gold and silver as a physical asset. (I hate to quote Wikipedia, but I’m short on time — gotta take off my tin foil hat before anyone notices — and maybe you could use it as a start).

Kathy Gill

Like most people who have already answered, I think coin collecting is a hobby … but it can be a very interesting touchstone with the past. I had a friend who always gave a mint set of that year’s coins to high school graduates as their graduation gift. Assuming that they didn’t lose it … it was more valuable 25 years later, in a sentimental way, if nothing else. :)

I’ve started putting together sets of coins (like the US state quarters) for nieces and nephews … as gifts sometime in the future. But for investment, I’d probably be better off buying them blue-chip stock. ;-)

Kannan Ramasubramanian

I think collecting coins can be hugely profitable. You could even become a billionaire. Of course, you need to collect **lots** of coins…

Maybe I should go with Beanie Babies, instead?

• Tips For Finding Loose Change
• Making Money, Penny by Pennies