I can stand almost anywhere in my home and see a penny. Sometimes it’s another denomination of coin; it’s more often becoming dimes that I’m finding throughout my home.
I have my kids to thank for this. They like to play with the change, so take it everywhere with them, and leave it everywhere. They treat it like a toy, instead of something that has worth.
This used to bother me. A lot. It doesn’t any more and I’ll tell you why at the end of this post.
My husband has this same “disrespect” of money that I see in my children. He used to be a waiter and always had handfuls of change on him.
When he brought it home, he’d just throw it down somewhere. Never the same place, never one dedicated place. Not even when I set one up for him. 
I’d find money everywhere - on the living room floor, in the couch, on the bathroom counter, in the bed. And I always had the same thought: “He just doesn’t handle money very well!”
If you’re familiar with the Law of Attraction, you can imagine what our finances have been like. Up until now, I got to experience quite a lot of my husband “not handling money very well”.
Over time I realized that what I really thought was that he just didn’t respect money. He would treat it almost like trash; on occasion I’d even seen him throwing pennies away. I would just get so frustrated over his behavior, particularly on the days when he was scrambling to find pennies in order to buy gas or toilet paper or some other necessity.
Whenever the kids asked him if they could play with the coins, he’d smile and give them each handfuls. I’d relax about it just enough to let them enjoy their play, and worry about cleaning it up later.
I’d also make sure that when I let them play with the change, I’d sit there with them and make sure it remained “tidy” (not being thrown all over the house as my 2 year old is wont to do), and I’d clean it up as soon as they were done.
Of course, they always wanted to take the money and go off and play… my way just wasn’t fun enough. Doing it my way didn’t happen very often; the kids would go to their dad for the change.
I realized I needed to relax about the subject even more.
Then, last November, I listened to an audio book by T. Harv Eker called Secrets of the Millionaire Mind: Mastering the Inner Game of Wealth. In the book, Mr. Eker teaches you a phrase to say and some actions to make any time you find money - even if it’s just a penny.
I started doing this, but only when I was away from home. I figured it didn’t count when I was at home. Always having change lying around at home felt like a mess, another job for me to do.
I certainly didn’t feel rich.
This thought made me realize… I am surrounded by money! This is what God/Universe/Source has been trying to show me! All these years, I’ve been frustrated over some apparent disrespect of money by others in my household, and my responsibility to clean up after them.
I’d been getting the message wrong!
It’s like I was looking at the situation through a filter - one that got set up in my mind as a child - and I couldn’t see it any other way until I was given a different filter to look through. So now, when I see money lying around my house - I still pick it up, but I thank G/U/S for it and know that I am surrounded by money and only have to allow for more of it to come into my life.
I also know that, by not giving my kids a sermon on the value of money, and letting them see it as a plaything, they will take that attitude with them… that they can have money whenever they want it, even if it’s to play with… into adulthood.
I hope that such an attitude serves them well; it’s an attitude I’m personally working to cultivate. 
Thanks to Ange for the wonderful photo from Flickr.
Remember your power. Feel your power. Embrace your power.
