I have this little mini vay-cay coming up next month. Being that it’s a purely selfish trip on my part ~ having nothing to do with work or family ~ I’m trying to find ways to finance it with little or no damage to the household budget.

I have become a scrounger. I’ve been digging in my luggage-sized purse for loose change, emptying the ashtray in my car, pulling out couch cushions, rifling through my desk, and pilfering the stack of nicely rolled coins on the dresser in my bedroom.

Today, I’m cashed it all in to seed my fun money account. I took the whole bag of coins, and it was at least 20 pounds of mint, to my bank. (Okay, it was 18.5 pounds. I’m a geek and stopped at Publix to weigh the bag before I cashed the money.) In the lobby of the bank is a Coinstar machine. I dumped the cache into the funnel and it spit out a receipt for $110… $110! I’m stinkin’ rich!

If you have any spare change just lying around, not doing anything… if you think it would like to take a trip to New Orleans in the fall… please feel free to send it my way.

Thanks!