By Mary Pannabecker Steiner

2011 wasn't a good year for found money, at least in comparison to the last four years. Guess the tanked economy made people more careful about picking up coins when they dropped them on the street.

Ever since some friends admitted that they don't allow themselves to end their daily walk until they've found at least one penny, we've adhered to the same rule. Most of the time, it works out. Sometimes, we have to give up and come home empty-handed.

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This can be a dangerous practice because you spend a lot of time looking down, hoping to catch a glimpse of something shiny...and you tend to forget that other people are walking on the same sidewalk until you run into them...literally.

It's even more dangerous if the coin is in the street. Of course, this becomes even dicier if you're riding a tandem and the front rider is the person who spends more time watching for money than oncoming cars. But let's not go there...

So for the record, here's the count of found money in the five years we've been doing this:

2007 $22.19
2008 $23.07
2009 $12.25
2010 $27.80
2011 $9.01

Also found this year, but not added to the count for obvious reasons were these three "coins":

*A gold-colored coin the size of a dime that reads "Napoleon Empire",

*a nickle-sized dirty coin that says "Ruhl's Bakery" on one side and "Good for one loaf bread" on the other side,

*and finally, another nickle-sized pewter colored coin that bears a number "1'' and reads "Missouri Sales Tax Receipt."

Your guess is as good as mine, but since the family numismatist hasn't squirreled them away, their countenance is suspect.

So okay...our next dinner out will more likely be Wilson's than Panera or the more electic Melt in Cincinnati's Northside. But hey, it's still a free dinner.

Bring on 2012 - perhaps a better year for finding loose coins and maybe some more paper currency.