I am not new to money laundering. In my preteen years our stepdad would let us take all the money in his wallet/pockets to launder it. I don't know why, we just wanted to do it. We would fill a dishpan with hot water and detergent and dump in all the paper money and coins, swishing it around and actually scrub some of the coins with a fingernail brush. After rinsing we dried everything with old towels and then ironed the paper money. When we returned everything he gave us something, maybe a quarter. I think this happened several times during one summer, but I don't really remember.
In my car I keep change in the pocket made by the handle on the driver's side and use it for drive thru coffee and sometimes tolls. At one time I put it in a Baggie, but that was inconvenient so I just dump it in. But last week I discovered that water (or coffee?) had gotten in there and the coins were corroded and some were stuck together. Yuck! I dug them all out and put them in a dishpan, which caused me to remember my previous money laundering experience.
There was quite an amount totaling almost $15 - quarters, dimes, nickels, pennies, a paperclip and a safety pin.
The pennies were the worst and I gave them two consecutive soaks in vinegar with salt and still had to scrub some to identify them as pennies. I didn't need to make them "like new", just clean enough to know they are pennies.
Since the plastic Baggie didn't work well and just dumping them in created a problem I decided to make a Tyvek "bin" to fit in the space so I could remove all the coins at once.
i just used an old Tyvek envelope, measuring and folding and sewing it together. Looks like it will work well and I won't have sticky coins if liquid should get in with the coins.
This was a little side "adventure" that made me feel good because I had solved a problem and created something useful. In these days of the isolation it was a good project for me. Simple pleasures.... and all.
Now to get back to several projects in progress that I keep avoiding. Maybe this small success will lead to more.
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5 comments:
One of my neighbors is washing her currency (paper bills) these days. She’s working in her garden, and doing curbside pickup at Lowes. She likes to tip the employees, and puts an envelope with freshly washed and ironed currency in her trunk for them to take when they load her purchase. Dottie
I like your idea of using Tyvek envelopes for little car cups...I'll give it a try. Thanks. Stay well.
Del, thanks for the chuckle! Love the way creative people are coping with these strange times.
I love this memory! Kids do love coins. Tyvek sent me to the dictionary. I’d love to see a Tyvek envelope.
When my great nephew were little, and I needed to entertain them, I gave them a big bag of coins to play with. It went well until they decided to send the coins down the stair railing! Boys! Ha.
We had copper-bottom pans when I was growing up, and we used to clean them with vinegar and salt. That would have made your pennies shiny (I think...there's not much copper left in them).
Clever to use Tyvek! I've been seeing art quilters use something (can't remember right now) that is actually the covering of the bottom of my box springs!
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