Big Find After The Long Drought

Awesome find in an unexpected place,was walking to my car when i spotted it, a nice newish $10 note!! right there beside my car, i was so dumbstruck that i had to examine the note again in the car to make sure it was real.
Goes to show you'll never know where you'll find stuff.

Started with $310.09

Ended with $320.09
$10.00 from him

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Horrible State of Economy

As we all know, the current state of the world economy is ridiculous, with global stability a question sometimes we just gotta bite the bullet and do the best we can on our end. Just gotten the cheque for my surveys and the exchange rate they gave is so sad.. 1USD to 1.196SGD. I think that is the lowest I've ever seen the USD go.. at this rate I might as well open a USD account and have them deposit into it or better still if they have paypal just have it credited straight in. At least then I'll be able to use it for overseas purchases.. sad real sad...
$59.80 less 40% = $35.88


Started with $274.21

Ended with $310.09
$35.88 from Surveys

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Eyes Wide Open

Sometimes it really pays to keep an eye out on the ground, regardless if its for coins, notes or even the rare gem that you might have missed if you've just walked with your nose up high.

I read an article awhile back about this guy that makes his money literally looking for lost gems and flakes of gold off the sidewalks of New York's Jewellery District. He spends hours on his hands and knees scouring the crevasses of the pavement for loose gemstones like rubies, sapphires and even diamonds that fall off the people that work around the area. Diamonds as big as half a carat have been reportedly found in those nooks. Gold is also something that he sweeps up off the walk ways but he says its a lot more work as it involves sifting through the dirt that he collects and takes far longer to accumulate than finding gemstones.

I bring this up because when we were out having brunch over the weekend, we missed out on a few $10 notes that were flapping around on the ground infront of us. I only realised that there was something there when the guy infront of us picked it up, I mean he must have seen it fall out of a lady's pocket further up, cause he rushed forwards to hand the lady back the money. I'm not saying that I would pocket any money that I saw fall off someone, just that if the guy infront had not bent over and picked it up I wouldn't have even noticed it in the first place.

So just keep your eyes peeled where ever you may go, cause who knows what sort of treasures you might find.

And if you must only look when you want to look, then look around cashiers. I've found a fair amount in loose change around cashiers while doing this so the area around a cash register is a safe bet :)

Found 2 $0.10 coins around a cashier on sunday. I know what I'm talking about :P

Started with $274.01

Ended with $274.21
$0.20 from him

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Vouchers Vouchers

Received the vouchers from the survey on friday, they are efficient if I have to say so.
$30 of vouchers into $18 into the fund.

Started with $256.01

Ended with $274.01
$18.00 from Vouchers

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin 

Quick Trade

Managed to sell another item from the RC stuff I bought, if everything goes well I'm hoping to sell the lot for over $300 but it seems like alot of work ahead, nothing worth while comes easy...

1 RC Item Sold - $20

Started with $236.01

Ended with $256.01
$20.00 from Trade


Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Trade And Her Venture

Today I managed to sell 1 item in the pile of RC stuff that I got at the Thrift Shop awhile back.

Also she has started her own little blog shop selling Vintage Knick Knacks over at Mimi's Alcove
we've been heading to thrift stores and garage sales to look for nice things to turn a profit on. In our own way we're kinda doing our version of Picking. Hope it pans out.

In turn with helping her on her shop, anything that I purchase while picking with her will be listed on Mimi's Alcove on consignment and her shop will get 20% of the sale price.

So head over and take a look if anything catches your fancy!

Bought 2 items at the thrift store today that I like but she didn't so I'm gonna count it under my inventory.

1 RC Item Sold - $15
2 Knick Knacks Bought - $14

Started with $235.01

Ended with $236.01
$1.00 from Trade

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Small Wins with the Dark Knight

Got a dollar off a trolley last night when we went to watch The Dark Knight Rises, which was awesome by the way. But would they really do a spin off movie with NightWing aka Joseph Gordon Levitt?? Cause that would be even more awesome!
I'm hoping that if DC is now on this path with the Batman franchise to really go with it and retire Bruce Wayne to a supportive role and let his protege take over the heavy lifting. Just my 2 cents.

And she just informed me that she found 5 cents at the train station today so just updating.

Started with $233.96

Ended with $235.01
$0.05 from her
$1.00 from him 

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

keep them coming

Got a really weird $0.50 the other day, was having dinner with her and when it was all done, I noticed a $0.50 coin on the next table with no sign that it belonged to anyone. So its mine! :)

Started with $233.46

Ended with $233.96
$0.50 from him 

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Update... And a new venture

little here little there. She found 15 cents the past week, 5 cents from the coffee shop and 10cents from a vending machine.

She also recently decided to start a vintage knick-knacks blog from stuff we find at thrift shops and garage sales but its still kinda rough so will post her link when we get it done :)

Started with $233.31

Ended with $233.46
$0.15 from her

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Update update

Sometimes I really wonder how lazy some people can get... but its all good for us cause its less work for us, the trolley was like less than 100m away from the trolley point so there is really no real reason why not to return it and get the dollar back but hey without them we wouldn't be getting this much $$ :) So thank you lazy people! Well so on Thursday we found a total of  $1.10 at IMM while furniture hunting $1 from a trolley and $0.10 from spotting it under a vending machine by her, $0.10 on Friday while grocery shopping and $0.05 today while just window shopping.

Started with $232.06

Ended with $233.31
$0.10 from her
$1.15 from him

Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Dry Spell Broken And First Note Found!!

Broke my personal dry spell today when we were having a late lunch at Vivo City, spotted a 5 cent coin under the cake display at a food outlet. And after on our way to our friend's birthday dinner, she spotted a $2 note on the road! What a day!

Still trying to find the motivation to fix up the RC cars that I bought the last time and list them up.. but been kinda listless this past few months... Can't seem to concentrate on anything.. and add to that the deaths of our pets happening one after the other... makes for a sad couple of months..

Anyway its time to get my act together and do something about it.. gotta get past this step ASAP!! Its been AGES!

Started with $230.01

Ended with $232.06
$2.00 from her
$0.05 from him 


Wish Us Luck
M$Penguin

Thrift Store Hunting

Went to the red cross' thrift store on Friday to look around and ended up buying $70 worth of 1/10 Electric Powered Remote Control cars that I'm gonna fix up and try to hawk them off.

Got a great great deal but they need a lot of fixing up and some spare parts to get them into shape for sale but I got them for cheap so it shouldn't be a problem putting in a little wee bit more to double or triple the investment. I just need the time...

Finally doing something with the fund rather than just stagnating, hopefully everything will work out fine.

On another note, I really love finding trolleys :) she found another one yesterday after having dessert while heading back to the car park.

I've stopped wondering why people are so lazy to leave them there and started to be grateful instead. Wee~

Started with $299.01

Ended with $230.01
-$70 for trade items
$1.00 from her


Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

Addicted to KickStarter

I know it sounds crazy.. but I'm addicted to this damn model of public funded projects... So far I've pledged to support 5 projects, there are seriously good stuff being brought to the public and the fans of certain game designers/visionaries.
 And the best thing is that if the project doesn't get enough funding by the end of the time frame then you don't even lose any money! But if the project is a go then its a go! A great all or nothing format to really gives the people power over what gets done or what shouldn't. So give it a look-over and who knows you might just find a project that you like and give them your support.

She found $0.05 while studying at the library today.

Started with $298.96

Ended with $299.01
$0.05 from her

 Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

An Ode to the Abandoned Trolleys

It seems that now a major part of our fund is found through trolleys be it the nice shiny dollar coins or the 20 cent deceptions they really do form a big part, so this post is an appreciation of abandoned trolleys all over the island.

We spotted one abandoned at Center Point shopping mall not 100m away from the trolley collection bay so that was a real bonus.

Started with $297.96

Ended with $298.96
$1.00 from her

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

Unexpected places

Went looking around the Salvation Army Thrift Stores for no apparent reason then window shop and she managed to spot a coin each under the 2 vending machines that were there, the first one was a 10 cent coin and the second a 5 cent coin. She really has gotten the lark's eye at spotting coins.

Started with $297.81

Ended with $297.96
$0.15 from her

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

Updates, updates and more updates

Went to Thailand last weekend for my good friend's wedding, on the way to the airport I found a 1 cent coin under the train seat then at the departure lounge I happened to find a dollar coin and a $0.20 coin.

While over at Bangkok, she found 1 Thai Baht under a vending machine.
I spotted a few coins while over there too but it was in a place where there were beggars around, so I decided that I wasn't going to pick up any coins if there were people who needed it more than I did, like beggars...

After coming back while shopping for groceries, she saw a trolley at the carpark and there was a dollar in it!

Then last night after having dinner and doing a bit of groceries, she spotted a trolley in the carpark but was disappointed when after bringing it back all was in the coin slot was $0.20! She was kinda miffed but it wasn't the first time....

Started with $295.40

Ended with $297.81
$1.21 from him
$1.20 from her
1 Thai Baht from her

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

Valentine's Day!

This Valentine's my dear surprised me with a bouquet of Roses and a box of chocolates that she won from a contest by writing a Valentine's Day message to me!, she's really great at winning at those things and I've been urging her to start her own contest winnings blog to share and keep track of what she's entered and won.

Anyway after the organisers came down delivered the items, we proceeded to our lunch venue, Red Star Chinese Restaurant. It was my little surprise for her as she's never tried the Dim Sum there before. Food was good but I think we ordered way too much... Bill came up to $80+ for the both of us... *burp*

After the hearty meal of dim sum, we decided to head down to Ikea to walk off our full bellies and take a look at furniture for our future home.

After a good hour walking around deciding what look our home will take on, she spotted a coin in the most unexpecting place... under a palate of boxed furniture! It turned out to be a nice shiny Dollar coin! She sure is lucky and I'm lucky to have her too.

Started with $294.40

Ended with $295.40
$1.00 from her

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

updates

She found 10 cents below the vending machine at the hospital and another 10 cents in the lecture theater.

Started with $294.20

Ended with $294.40
$0.20 from her

Wish us luck
M$Penguin

Money at our feet

Went to have dinner with the future in-laws at a restaurant at Eastpoint this evening to celebrate the last day of Chinese New Year. After parking the car, we headed inside and low and behold! A Trolley! with a nice shiny dollar coin still in it. So we took it downstairs and claimed the dollar Wee~!

Started with $293.20

Ended with $294.20
$1.00 from her

Chinese New Year

Been really sick through the new year and then some after... only managed to find a dollar in the office of all places.. must have been one of the agents that dropped it or something... o well their loss.

Started with $292.20

Ended with $293.20
$1.00 from him

Wish us luck
M$Penguin

Weekend round up

Still on the search for places to hold the wedding... found a few coins along the way. 5 cents at a fast food restaurant and a dollar coin from a trolley at the carpark.

Started with $291.15

Ended with $292.20
$1.05 from her

Redemptions Received

Got the coupons and cheque from my surveys in the past week, so a total of $50 in vouchers and $62.71 for my $50 USD. The conversion rate now seriously sad.. at only SGD1.2542 per USD... sad indeed how the USD has fallen...

So after taking 1/3 of the amounts its time to tally the cash
$50/3*2 = $33.34
$62.71/3*2 = $41.81
Total of $75.15

Started with $216.00

Ended with $291.15
Profits Taken $37.56

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

Weekend Wedding Venue Hunting

Its crazy... finding a venue here for her dream wedding is proving to be more insane than anyone can imagine...
Still no locale up to now...
She found a dime at a hotel we were looking at.
I found a trolley with a dollar in it after visiting a bridal roadshow.

Started with $214.90

Ended with $216.00
$0.10 from her
$1.00 from him

Wish us Luck
M$Penguin

Aussie Money

Went down south to visit her relatives last month, can't say we did much just abit of cycling snorkeling and alot of sitting around. Did manage to find some Aussie $$ but not any of the $2 coins that they have there.
Found 3 Dollar coins at the casino but spent 1 at the slots because I happened to ask the person next to the machine if it was he's and he said "why not just put it in and spin, we are in a casino" so I did and lost that dollar...
Found another 20 cents around the shopping centres in the form of a 10 cent coin and 2 five cent coins.

Cheerio Mate
M$Penguin

P.S
And A Happy New Year To All!