The Krone Stops Here Richard Quinn | May 19, 2022
I LIKE TO KEEP my wallet organized. It’s a bit obsessive. All my bills must face the same direction and be upright, with the 20s in the back and singles in front. I’m thinking that means something. Turns out an organized wallet is indeed a thing.
I also save my change. All those little coins add up. To what purpose? Before we travel, I take the coins to the bank and then add the proceeds to our spending money. Once, they added $700 to the pot.
If you received a cash gift, would you be offended if the bills weren’t brand new? Not me. Still, I’m sent to the bank to get new 50s around the holidays. My wife insists new bills are essential for gifts. Apparently, she’s not alone. They’re hard to get. The bank teller says they run out quickly. As for me, donations of old, crumbled bills in any denomination are welcome.
Money has been with us a long time and, for just as long, we’ve been losing it and hiding it—and apparently forgetting it.
The Mesopotamian shekel was the first known form of currency. That was nearly 5,000 years ago.
The Hoxne Hoard is the biggest collection of late Roman gold and silver coins discovered in Britain, as well as the largest collection of coins of the fourth and fifth centuries found anywhere. It contained 14,865 Roman gold, silver and bronze coins.
For any number of reasons, burying money seemed the thing to do. I watch old Time Team shows on YouTube. Medieval coins are a common archeological find, many with pictures of the king of the day.
My father had a collection of Indian Head pennies. Today, that collection would be worth a small fortune. Sadly, as a child, my sister used most of them in a gumball machine.
The world has 164 national currencies. But thanks to the euro, travel today in Europe is less confusing—usually. Scandinavia has its own way with money.
You cannot use the euro or Danish krone when paying in Sweden. It uses the krona, which is not to be confused with the krone. I once took the train from Copenhagen, Denmark, to Malmo, Sweden. I went to buy the return trip ticket with a Danish krone and it took 10 minutes for my American way of thinking to grasp the difference. I didn’t have any other money, and ended up paying a premium to use my krone.
Money around the world has different colors, shapes and sizes. Some of the coins have holes in the middle. I find myself not taking foreign cash seriously. It doesn’t feel like I’m spending real money. I’m sure I’ve occasionally paid too much as a result, especially when some foreign coin is worth more than a U.S. dollar.
Read the rest of my article at the link below.
Source: The Krone Stops Here – HumbleDollar
QUINNSCOMMENTARY 
I too, use plastic all the time for cash back, 5% cash back on gas. $300 so far this year on all cash back and the IRS does not tax it.
The Fed is working on a digital dollar and the elimination of paper money. The new Fed dollar may even have an expiration date. Spend those food stamps or Social Security checks by the end of the month, cause it goes to zero. Plus they get the transaction fee on every purchase. Not so when people use cash. Also, no cheating on income taxes by hiding cash income. The last thing I saw was there is only 3.5 % of our currency in circulation, so going to a cashless society is not going to be all that hard.
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Sadly, I believe that the value and understanding of money is disappearing with the use of plastic. Debit and credit cards have removed the sense of how much you are spending. No more wads of cash in your wallet to count out. As long as your card doesn’t get declined, it is just a number on a statement. In retirement I have switched to all plastic for the cash back except for gas. If I don’t have gas money, then I probably exceeded my income for the month. Lately with the gas prices, I had to take notice of where else inflation has hit hard like at the supermarket.
There was a lot value having a newspaper route when I was a kid. Nickel and dimes did add up. It taught me to save. Now it’s just here my card, I’ll figure it out later.
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