Little by little, thanks for the nickel

So, yesterday I took back 234 cans and bottles, amassing the grand fortune of $11.70.

You might say, "Why do all that work for $11.70?" It's peanuts. Yup. But, it's peanuts that others THREW AWAY. All I did was pick it up. (With the help of my hubs. Thanks, dear.) Some of that $$ came from my husband's office, where people met in huge groups, for lunches, for meetings, for seminars and threw their water bottles away. My darling husband rode public transit with a giant bag of recyclables for the Five Mill. Can Project.

I was taking some old clothes to the Salvation Army and found a bunch of really big beer cans smashed and left on the street. Picked those up. I found bottles in the gutter in yesterday's storm. I found cans on the street in front of my daughter's preschool. I found cans on an early morning jog.

One day it was like following a trail of water bottles. I timed my run to the post office. (Needed to mail in my unemployment form.) On the way back, I wasn't sure which way to turn, but found a bottle on the corner, picked it up. I kept going. Then I saw another bottle, picked it up and turned again. Finally I found a water bottle as I ran (okay, walked) past the park.

All I can say is thanks for the nickels. $11.70 added to the college fund.

(And RIP to the Snapple bottle laying below the bridge in the water reclamation ditch. I couldn't reach you.)

About the Five Million Can Project

I'm an out of work mom. When I had this idea, I was still working. Even then, with the cost of daycare, the cost of our mortgage, the cost of health insurance, the cost of day to day life, I didn't know how we were going to save for our kids' college fund.

This idea began that everywhere I went, if I saw a plastic or glass bottle or aluminum can-- a recyclable, that I'd pick it up and take it home and recycle it. I looked at it as a nickel. If I saw a nickel on the ground, I'd pick it up. Wouldn't you? So, these are my nickels.

After looking at the estimated cost of college in 2024 and 2027, respectively, my kids will probably need anywhere from 125,000 to 400,000 to go to college. EACH. If I can raise that minimum amount of money, then put it in a CD for the kids over the years, I should be able to have enough to pay for college for both of them.

How many of those "nickels" or cans would I have to find in order to pay for my kids' college?



Five Million Cans.

So this is the Five Million Can Project. My goals is to get Five Million Cans for my kids by the time my daughter turns 5. She is 3 1/2 now. I and my husband have currently found 416 cans and bottles. (Some bottles are worth more than a nickel according to California Recycling Value-- CRV). This is currently equivalent to 22.45. Obviously, I cannot do this alone, especially since my husband and I rarely drink soda-- Okay, I'm the soda drinker in the house-- and we have made it a rule that we don't buy bottled water unless absolutely necessary. We used to use a Brita filtered pitcher and now we have a filter built into our refrigerator. So, between our offices, where people are pitching their recyclables without a second thought and finding bottles and cans on the street, we're finding those nickels wherever and whenever we can. Even still, we need help. So, will you donate your cans and bottles to our little project?

Hopefully this will lead not only to my kids having a college fund, but also to a larger realization that empty cans and bottles have value. That wasting them by throwing them into the trash where they will just poison the Earth isn't just bad for the environment, but that you can really DO something positive when you don't waste.

Thanks!
The Can Mom.