The Persistent Power of Pennies

Nutrisystem’s team knows a lot of people. One of our favorites is an older guy in our town, Mickey, with whom we have dinner almost every Sunday night. Mickey grew up pretty poor, worked his way through school, got married, raised two wonderful kids and has five grandchildren. Now retired, he lives a very simple life. He goes to the gym, he watches sports on TV, he goes out to dinner once in a while with his wife of 50 years. And he saves his money.

We know this not because Mickey brags about his bank account. No, we know this because he recently asked us if we would help him move something. We agreed. And that something turned out to be the loose change he had been accumulating—in shoeboxes, wine jugs, vases and glasses—since moving to our town in 2008. That’s seven years ago, and that’s a lot of change.

It wasn’t all types of change, either. It turns out he puts nickels, dimes and pennies in the various vessels described above, but he actually uses quarters. “The smaller ones aren’t worth the trouble of lugging around,” he told us as we made multiple trips up and down the stairs from his bedroom to his car. “But quarters are still worth something. Besides, the vending machine at the YMCA charges a buck and a quarter for a soda, so I always need at least one quarter.”

We mention this to you during the week Nutrisystem is touting the power of persistence, because through the nightly action of throwing his loose small change into a shoebox, over the course of seven years, our friend Mickey was able to save $155.57. That’s what the guy at the bank gave him after the machine shifted all his coins.

“Not bad, huh?” Mickey beamed. “That’s about four dinners in a restaurant for me and Anne Marie, as long as we don’t have dessert.”

Over time, little things add up. Small steps complete a long journey. Be persistent. Don’t quit.

You have so got this.