50 Uses For A Penny

[simpleyme]

we needed brass washers to help rehang some loose gingerbread (fancy woodwork) on our house
we were going to go gets some when our neighbor told us to not waste money but to drill holes in pennies and use them instead

since brass washers cost about 4 cents each and pennies cost -well a penny

[disneysteve]

Did anyone mention tossing them in fountains to make wishes? That doubles as a charitable donation.

[Gruntina]

Use pennies for financial education. If you start with one penny on day one of a given month and double that amount everyday, how many you end up with on the last day of the month? This is a wowser amount for those who do not know.

A penny says "In God we Trust". Every time I pick up a penny, I pray for the military and those serving in our government... Otherwise I just complain about them instead of praying for help.

[vsjhoc]

Use pennies for financial education. If you start with one penny on day one of a given month and double that amount everyday, how many you end up with on the last day of the month? This is a wowser amount for those who do not know.

If it's a 31-day month: $10,737,418.24
If it's a 30-day month: $5,368,709.12

[Elgin526]

-Use it in a toll booth in IL, they still take pennies!
-As a spacer when laying tile.
-Donate to charities that leave change jars near cash registers, those collecting at intersections, or Salvation Army at Christmas. All those pennies add up!

That's all I can think of right now, I'll post again if I think of some more!

[jIM_Ohio]

It's up to all of you as to whether I win or lose a bet I was talking with a good friend the other day and he said that the penny was now useless. I said that I bet the people from this forum could come up with 50 or more ways that a penny can be used.

So have at it. List all the ways that you can think of that you can still use a penny.

If I lose the bet I owe him a dinner and if I win I get a dinner so I'm counting on all of you

scratching off lottery tickets

in college we could lean against a dead bolted door, then put pennies between "molding" and "door". If you could wedge enough pennies in, the friction/ stress on the deadbolt would prevent door from unlocking- so you could effectively penny/lock someone IN their room. Leave it to engineers to find ways around the system.

coin toss for soccer games

[Broken Arrow]

Back in college, my buddies made up beer games with pennies. I think it was like, you had to bounce a penny on the table and into a shot glass. If you make it, you get a drink. If not, you get a drink.... Waitaminute.

That and they were mischievous. They like to snap the penny in their fingers and make it shoot like a projectile. A well-placed hit can sting quite a bit.

Five pennies can substitue for a die (as in singular of dice ). For example, heads can count as 1 where as tails would not count. You would automatically start at 1 of course, and add up the number of heads you have.

If you're really mischievous and peeved, pennies would be the "ideal" form of revenge payment for money owed. Not that I would know though. Honest!

Two or more pennies are fun for a game of spin the top. Ever play that? Each would have a penny, and you hold it upright with one finger, and flick it with a finger in your other hand to make it spin. Whoever's penny stayed up the longest won. My siblings and I use to play that when we were kids.

Pennies are also awesome for its own version of curling. Draw a circle on a smooth surface, flick it from a distance, and whoever can get the most pennies into the circle would win. Heads vs. Tails. Of course, the fun part is you can knock your opponent's pennies out of the circle as well.

I guess some of these aren't applicable because they require more than one pennies eh? For even one penny, there are lots of cool sleight-of-hand magic tricks that one can learn.

I also remember being in an amusment park once, and they had this machine where if you insert a penny, it'll run it through a small machine press that will flatten the penny into an oval, and imprint the amusement park's logo on it. It's pretty neat.

Although it's not ideal, I've used a penny as a bookmarker before. But hey, that still counts as an use!

Did I mention that my college buddies were rather mischievous? They used to freeze a penny and dropped it down the shirt of unsuspecting victims... preferably of the female persuasion... but any made for a good laugh to them.

And finally, our current economic system still uses prices down to the penny. Sooooo.... I just keep most of my coins-- including pennies-- in my wallet, and use them to help pay for things whenever the opportunity arises!

[librarylady]

Put a pennie in your penny loafer shoes. There is a little slot at the top of each shoe for a penny.

[Broken Arrow]

Put a pennie in your penny loafer shoes. There is a little slot at the top of each shoe for a penny.

What's that for?

[kealina]

i know this isn't frugal but use them to play penny slots...
how about penny ante (is that right) stakes for a friendly card game...
use them as replacement checkers when you lose some...

[nanamom]

getting a friend to buy you dinner by making a bet you are sure is going to go in your favor sounds like a good use for a penny to me!!!!

[marjorie]

Using it as an example for my grandson. "See Josh we never spend everything we have. We FEED THE PIGGY" And our pennies so into a piggy bank. Accompanied with whoops and hollars, and pretty soon the 5 year old is doing a happy dance over saving money, while chanting "feed the piggy, feed the piggy" Grandma's sneaky, huh? LOL

[disneysteve]

i know this isn't frugal but use them to play penny slots...

Can you actually do this? Can you sit and feed pennies into a slot machine or do you have to slide a bill into the bill feeder?

[kealina]

Can you actually do this? Can you sit and feed pennies into a slot machine or do you have to slide a bill into the bill feeder?

you make a good point... now that you mention I'm not sure... i'm not much of a gambler but did see them when i was in vegas... hmm... strike that one?

[corns]

Did anyone mention anything about buying stuff with a penny?
Goto eBay and buy a downloadable e-book for a penny.