FMJ - Day 126

We found Six Pennies on Day 126. Our first find happened while shopping at Camarillo Outlets - 3 cents. Next find of a penny was made while walking Biscuit in our neighborhood. In the evening, another 2 cents was found at Topper's Pizza.

FMJ - Total Found: $547.09
Since Blog Inception: $87.49
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $462.92

FMJ - Day 125

Twenty-Seven cents found on day 125 (2 dimes, nickel & 2 pennies.) Find #1 was made at the ARCO gast station on L.A. Ave. -- a dime and a nickel. Find #2 was made while shopping at Cerritos Mall for a gift for little cousin Leela who had her third birthday yesterday -- a dime and 2 pennies. These coins were found in and around the Sweet Factory candy shop. I guess the candy fiends can only think about gobbling the delicious treats they've purchase and could not care for their change. Note to coin finders: SWEET FACTORY STORES -- good coin hunting spot.

Recycling turned in yesterday netted another $9.52 for the fund.

FMJ - Total Found: $547.03
Since Blog Inception: $87.43
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $462.92

FMJ - Day 124

Sixty-two cents found on Day 124 in the form of a quarter, 3 dimes & 7 pennies. The first finds of the day occurred while shopping at Valencia Town Center Mall. The mall is in the Santa Clarita area about 33 miles from our home in Simi Valley, CA. There we found 2 dimes and 6 pennies. The kids and I did a little exploring. Santa Clarita is a little too busy and dusty for my taste... Simi Valley had more trees and is better planned... and more laid back! In the evening, a trip to Janns Marketplace in Thousand Oaks brought us a quarter, dime and penny.

FMJ - Total Found: $546.76
Since Blog Inception: $87.16
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $453.40

FMJ - Day 123

Fourty cents found on Day 123 in the form of 2 dimes, 3 nickels & five pennies. Our first find occured in the late morning with an early lunch stop at In-N-Out Burger in Moorpark, CA. At the counter, we found a dime and two pennies. One the way out, we found 2 nickels and 3 pennies. In the afternoon, a trip to the 99 Cents Only store on L.A. Ave. brought us another nickel and dime.

FMJ - Total Found: $546.14
Since Blog Inception: $86.54
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $453.40

FMJ - Day 122

Thirty-nine cents was found on this day 122 ( 3 dime & 9 pennies.) A stop at the 7-11 on Cochran Ave. in the morning gave us 2 dimes and a penny. Next stop Costco and another penny. Then, a walk for Biscuit produced a penny. In the afternoon, the kids needed some pool time... splish, splash and a little cash -- a dime and 2 pennies. Our last find was during a stop for gas at ARCO on L.A. Ave. -- 5 pennies.

FMJ - Total Found: $545.74
Since Blog Inception: $86.14
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $453.40

FMJ - Day 121

We found eleven cents on day 121 -- a dime and a penny. Both were found while shopping at the Simi Valley Walmart. Big stores are good places to go to beat the heat and has it been ever hot... HOT and then some! Temps were 105 to 107 in the afternoon yesterday.

During our trip to Long Island, I turned in our bottles and cans from our travels at a Waldbaum's store along Old Country Rd. in Glen Head, NY. We added $1.20 to the bottles and cans fund.

Day 121 was also a turn-in day for recyclables here in Simi Valley -- another $8.12 for the fund.

FMJ - Total Found: $545.35
Since Blog Inception: $85.75
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $453.40

$50.00 bill found on Day 120!

The kids and I needed to make a very necessary trip to the bank... No cash left in our wallets after the big east coast trip. It was a very fruitful excursion as Ajay found a $50.00 bill lying in the grass near our parking space. That boy sure can make good finds... He's got some kind of lucky magic. Earlier this year, he found a $20.00 bill while grocery shopping with his mommy. My wife was in total disbelief about this find... She said we should take the bill to the bank to make sure it's real. I checked it... it's most certainly real! GOOD GOING BOY!

FMJ Blog Day 120 marks the 2032 day since we started the Found Money Jar project. Here's a few stats:

Average daily finds: 27 cents per day.
Average annual finds: $98.55
Total Value of FMJ Stock holdings as of today: 15 shares of PEI = $586.05
Original amount paid for PEI Stock: $202.50 (from found money jar funds)
Cash payment in Lieu of Fractional Shares at Merger: $5.85 (added back to found money)
Total Amount Invested from Found Money Jar: $196.65
Total Dividends Received since merger of Crown American and PEI: $83.25 (held separately since 2/26/04)
Annual Dividend Income from Stocks: $34.20

FMJ Net Worth: $1017.89

(FMJ Net Worth Formula: Found Money less invested funds + Stock Value + Dividend account = NW)

FMJ - Total Found: $545.24
Since Blog Inception: $85.64

Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $444.08

FMJ - Day 119

Well, after arriving back home on sunday from the airport at about 2:30 a.m., we slept until noon. During a late afternoon trip to Ralph's market in Wood Ranch, we found a penny in the parking lot.
In the evening, we made a trip to Glendale Galleria to take refuge from the excessive california heat wave. Temp. was 107! That's way too hot! We found 5 pennies and a nickel while strolling and browsing.

FMJ - Total Found: $495.24
Since Blog Inception: $35.64
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $444.08

FMJ Finds for Days 107 thru 118

The following is a list of the known finds made while traveling for twelve days of vacation. On Day 107 -- No finds. Day 108 -- 2 pennies. Day 109 - 34 cents (3 dimes & 4 pennies) found while shopping at Tyson's Corner Mall. 2 pennies found at a Burger King in Baltimore, MD. A nickel and 5 pennies found at various stops while driving to NYC. Day 110 -- A dime found at T.J. Maxx Store on Glen Head Road in Carle Place, NY. 1 penny found in the parking lot at T.J. Maxx. 12 cents (dime & 2 pennies) found at the 7-11 in Glen Cove, NY. 2 cents found at Dunkin Donuts in Carle Place, NY. Day 111 -- A penny was found while shopping at Roosevelt Field Mall in Glen Head, NY. 13 cents (a dime & 3 pennies) found while snacking at Taco Bell in Glen Cove, NY. Day112 -- While driving back to D.C., we found a penny at the Getty Gas Station on Richmond Ave. Exit along Rt. 278 in Staten Island, NY. Day 113 -- 21 cents found while grocery shopping at Gaint Food on Colesville Rd. in Silver Spring, MD. Day 114 -- No Finds. Day 115 -- 18 cents ( a dime and 8 pennies) found while shopping again at Tyson's Corner Mall. Day 116 -- No finds. Day 117 -- 3 pennies found at the Burger King on Route 7 in Sterling, VA. 13 cents ( dime and 3 pennies) found at the 7-11 in the Countryside Shopping Center in Sterling. Day 118 -- While dropping of the rental car at Dulles Airport, Maya found a 25 cents ( 1 quarter.) At the airport, I found a nickel and Ajay 3 pennies. We found a total of $1.76 during our vacation to the east coast. FMJ - Total Found: $495.13 Since Blog Inception: $35.53 Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $444.08

Back from Vacation... Finally!

Just a few laborious details about our trip... It was utterly exhalsting! First, we flew into into Dulles International Airport outside Washington, D.C. Nice flight on Jetblue from Long Beach, CA. We arrived at 12:10a.m. EST then went to Alamo to pick-up a minivan... Pontiac Montana! We felt great in it for the first hour then realized that the bolsters on the driver's seat were'nt adjustable and would put my legs to sleep... Not good for a drive the next day to New York City for 5 - 7 hours. So, off we went... deciding first to see our vacant house in Potomac Falls, VA. Everything was fine there except for my setting of the Minivan's Car Alarm at 2:00 in the morning on our old neighbor's... DRATS! After drooling over our house and the kids wishing to move back to Virginia, we drove to my mother-in-law's (a.k.a. -- MAYMA) house in Chevy Chase, MD. Awaking her at about 3:00a.m. --- Still on California time... I stayed up for a while to watch T.V. -- Very sleepy to next day.

Day 2: My wife needed some shopping time and wanting to visit Tyson's Corner Mall in Mclean, VA to see its Multi-million dollar expansion... Tyson's is now the best mall on the east coast... it's huge and there well over 250 stores! The food court and Barnes & Noble... fantastic! We found 34 cents there! She found an amazing dress for the wedding reception -- low-cut, black and exquisite.

Other news: Mayma just sold here house and will be coming to L.A. to live with us and my brother-in-law and his wife in Pasadena, CA. She will also spend time in Cerritos, CA with her sisters. For now though, she will just sit tight on the proceeds until she figures out what kind of home she wants in L.A. - Condo or house... I'm voting for a house with pool for the grandkids!

Anyway, Mayma decided to fly to New York after work and that we would carry here travel bag with us on our drive to NYC. No problem... will do. So, at about 7:30p.m, after strolling and browsing all the shops at Tyson's Corner Mall... my wife suggests that we just drive up the next day in the morning... I took one look at her and said, "Are you crazy?" If we didn't go that evening... I would hear about my Mother-in-law not receiving her bag on time for the next decade... Ouch! So, we left for New York from the mall and spent the next 8 hours on the Route 95 and various detours thru NYC. Absolutely the worst traffic! The Goethals Bridge was closed into NY (they didn't put a sign alerting us to this fact and we got of at Exit 13 only to spend another 20 minutes fuguring our way back to the NJTP. That sucked.) So, we decided on the Holland Tunnel -- bad choice on our part as it too was only a single lane in... more waiting. The Manhattan Bridge wasn't too bad at 2:45AM... we arrived in Roslyn Harbor, NY at 3:30am... Almost 8 hours to travel by car to Long Island from D.C. -- I won't be gladly doing that anytime soon. BTW -- Pontiac Montanas SUCK! The first words from my Mother-in-law upon arriving at Aunt Smita's house, "where's my bag?" Isn't life grand?

We made several coin finds getting to Long Island, NY... 34 cents at Tyson's Mall, 5 cents at rest stops, a few pennies at a Baltimore Burger King, 12 cents at a Glen Cove 7-11, penny in Dunkin Donuts and a dime in a TJ Maxx store on Glen Head Rd and a penny in Roosevelt Field Mall.

I would have a more accurate list but failed to keep one -- I did, however, store all our finds in a separate compartment in my shaving kit. Must be about a $1.50 worth of coins in there. Unfortunately, I left the shaving kit at my mother-in-law's house and will only be able to retrieve it when I return to help her move in late August. I will update it then.

Next Post -- The wedding.

On Vacation!

The Found Money Jar blog will be on "hiatus" until July 25, 2006. We are leaving for the east coast tomorrow afternoon on Jetblue Airways. Got another wedding to attend in New York (Long Island to be exact.) Then, we'll travel down Route 95 to Washington, D.C. to visit Grandma and our D.C. friends. Also, we've got to check on our vacant house in Potomac Falls, Virginia. We return on July 23 but we most likely need a few days to get back up and running. Vacation Recovery mode is about 48 hours at least.

Thanks for reading and look forward to hearing from you all soon.

The Found Money Jar Staff

FMJ - Day 106

20 cents was found on Day 106 - a dime and 10 pennies. The first find was a penny at Carl's Jr. on L.A. Ave. -- good Iced tea at Carl's. For lunch, we made a Taco Bell run - another penny. In the evening, a trip to Northridge Mall scored us the dime and 8 more pennies.

FMJ - Total Found: $493.37
Since Blog Inception: $33.77
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $444.08

FMJ - Day 105

We found 64 cents on Day 105 in the form of a quarter, 3 dimes, a nickel and 4 pennies. All coins less a penny were found at McDonald's on Tapo St. where the kids and I had a cooling afternoon sundae each. In the evening, a trip to TGI FRIDAY'S on Tapo Canyon Rd. gave us the last penny.

FMJ - Total Found: $493.17
Since Blog Inception: $33.57
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $444.08

FMJ - Day 104

On day 104, we found 12 cents - dime & 2 pennies. The pennies were found at Sharkey's Mexican Grill on Sycamore Ave. in Simi Valley. The dime was found at the Arco Gas Station on L.A. Ave. We spent the day going to open houses here in Simi Valley... The sellers here are still thinking they'lll get top dollar for their homes... seems no one has told them yet that there is currently triple the house inventory for sale this time in 2006 over last year. The homes are sitting on the market... they'll have to lower their asking prices to get me to buy. It's taking on average 5 to 6 months to sell right now. That's quite a wait... of course, our house in virginia has been on the market since last August 2005 --- we've lowered and lowered... NO BUYERS!

Bottle and Can Returns on Day 104 -- $4.68

FMJ - Total Found: $492.53
Since Blog Inception: $32.93
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $444.08

FMJ - Day 103

29 cents found on Day 103 -- 1 dime, 1 nickel & 14 pennies. In the morning, a stop at Carl's Jr. on Madera Rd. found us 3 pennies. In the afternoon, we went to The Grove Mall in Hollywood. We found 6 pennies while shopping there. In the evening, we stopped at the Promenade Mall to look for a boy's size 6 suit for Ajay as we will be attending his auntie's wedding in Long Island next weekend. We found a nice suit at Macy's for him and a dime, nickel & 5 pennies along our mall walk.

FMJ - Total Found: $492.41
Since Blog Inception: $32.81
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $439.40

FMJ - Day 102

$10.09 found on Day 102. (1 $10 bill, 1 nickel, & 4 pennies) It was a day of searching for a new pair of tennis shoes as my trusty pair of Adidas sneakers is now a "discontinued model" and I haven't been able to find a size 13 anywhere. So, off I went... and after 6 six different shops and trying on 14 different tennis shoes... I settled for a pair of New Balance 653 sneakers. Ready for play tomorrow morning.

Our first find - a penny - was made on Biscuit's morning walk. The second find was a penny at In-N-Out burger in Moorpark (lunch with Maya and my wife.) The third find was a penny at Finish Line in the Simi Valley Towncenter Mall (shoe hunt.) A stop at Walmart in Porter Ranch provided a nickel for our fourth find while shopping in the store and a $10 spot, our fifth find, on the way out to the parking lot. The sixth find happened during a stop for gas at ARCO on L.A. Ave. -- a penny found near the pump.

FMJ Factoid: The average amount of money I have found per day since starting this blog is 32 cents.

FMJ - Total Found: $492.12
Since Blog Inception: $32.52
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $439.40

FMJ - Day 101

17 cents found on Day 101 in the form of a dime and 7 pennies. The first find ( the dime) was made at Citibank in Porter Ranch where I stopped this morning to pay an account. Our second find was a penny at In-N-Out Burger -- Our Lunch -- in Porter Ranch. 3 more pennies were found at City Walk at Universal Studios. The kids and I have annual passes to Universal Studios. Next year... Magic Mountain. In the evening, we found a penny at Pagoda Restaurant and 2 pennies at the Albertson's on Madera Rd.

Busy Day!

FMJ - Total Found: $482.03
Since Blog Inception: $22.43
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $439.40

FMJ - DAY 100

13 cents found on day 100 -- 2 nickels & 3 pennies. The first find was a penny found at the Rancho Simi tennis courts near my car. Another penny was found in the parking lot while shopping in Moorpark at the Best Dollar store. A nickel was found during Biscuit's afternoon dogwalk. Later, a trip to our pool pooled in another nickel. In the evening, a penny was found in the parking lot of the Arroyo Vista Park.

FMJ - Total Found: $481.86
Since Blog Inception: $22.26
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $439.40

Happy Fourth of July! 230!

1776 - 2006! May we all keep the good experiment alive! And, remember why we came to the new world... Freedom! Let Freedom Ring!

On FMJ - Day 99 (July 4), we found 2 pennies! We spent the day in Santa Barbara... strolling State Street and eating a delicious lunch at Zilo... Good fries and Rings. My wife's brother, Nicky and his wife, Resh, were there with us. Zilo had an excellent Bluesy Three-piece band playing on the patio... We stayed for 3 sets and two margarita's each. With a cool buzz going, we shopped then hit the beach. AJAY took a dip in the cold pacific ocean... seems he doesn't mind the cold water at all... Yeah, he'll be a surfer someday. Resh, my wife and I just hung out on our beach blanket to watch the waves and kids play. As the Sun went down, the beach sand got cold... so, off we went home... made a stop in Ventura to watch the Fireworks... Nice show... but, nothing competes with the fireworks on the Mall in our Nation's capital. Once, you see that... all others are puny. Again, happy 4th everybody!

FMJ - Total Found: $481.73
Since Blog Inception: $22.13
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $439.40

FMJ - Day 98

Total of 3 cents found on Day 98. The first find was made at Topper's Pizza during lunch by Maya - one penny. I made the next penny was found in the evening at Ralph's while checking out. The last penny find was made while walking Biscuit around our wood ranch neighborhood.

We turned in $8.16 worth of recyclables.

FMJ - Total Found: $481.71
Since Blog Inception: $22.11
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $439.40

FMJ - Day 97

13 cents (dime & 3 pennies) was found on day 97. All finds were made while browsing the shops at the "Paseo de Simi shopping center in the evening. They have a Kohl's store. Kohl's was one of our favorite stores back in Virginia but we avoided it here for some dicotic reason. Probably our wanting to try everything new here in California. On sunday's most of the shops close here around 7 or 8pm but Kohl's stays open til 9pm... Wow, someplace to go on a hot summer night.
Got to give credit to Ajay for helping me make all the finds.

FMJ - Total Found: $481.68
Since Blog Inception: $22.08
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $431.24

Kudos to Liza at Change is Good!

Hey, Liza. That $20.00 find of yours was spectacular! You must divulge all the particulars of how you spotted it. Maybe you have an especially keen eye for the larger finds. Congrats on your windfall. Brian is a lucky man to have a partner like you. Keep up the good work.

FMJ - Day 96

We found seven pennies on Day 96. The first find was again made while walking Biscuit in the morning - a single penny. The next find was another single penny under our court bench at the Rancho Simi tennis courts... played a three-set doubles match in 96F degrees hot sun... It was a scorcher and our matchplay was top-notch. All four of us played in the zone for the entire match... lots of long volleys at the net and tough serves. I held my serve all three sets. Several times, I pulled off the drop shot to lob volley combination with exquisite success. Also, I was hitting my service returns with authority... made several service return winners down the alley. SWEET!

(Enough of that, we'll now return of scheduled programming.) Our next find was 2 pennies at the Arco Gas station on L.A. Ave. Afternoon trip to the Oaks Mall in gave us three more pennies.

FMJ - Total Found: $481.55
Since Blog Inception: $21.95
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $431.24

FMJ - Day 95

23 cents found on Day 95 - 2 dimes & 3 pennies. Our first find was a single penny in the parking lot as I took our dog, Biscuit, for his morning stretch. In the evening, we made a trip to the Janns Marketplace shopping center in Thousand Oaks. There, while strolling the shopping plaza, we found 2 dimes and 2 pennies. After that, we went to the new Fuddrucker's -- I ate a 2/3 pound Triple Cheese with lots of onions and tomatoes... delicious!

FMJ - Total Found: $481.48
Since Blog Inception: $21.88
Bottles & Cans Return Fund: $431.24