Man has been saving up pennies for 45 years – Bank tellers are at a loss for words when he arrives to cash in

“Penny saved is a penny earned” is a saying that people who are good at managing their finances believe to be true.

Otha Anders, a former teacher from Louisiana, had been collecting pennies for a very long time. It all started as a goal of collecting pennies he would find on the street, and it soon turned into a passion he couldn’t say no to. Over the course of 45 years, this man had managed to fill in 15 5-gallon jugs of change before he finally decided to cash the pennies in 2015 when his homeowner’s insurance stopped covering the collection.

Source: YouTube Screenshot/ watchJojo

Speaking of his achievement which left the clerks at the bank totally stunned, Anders told ABC News: “If I would see a penny when I’m gassing up, on the ground, or in a store, it would be a reminder to stop right there and say a prayer. I never failed to do that. That’s why they had so much value to me.

“I would never spend a penny,” he told USA Today. “I would break a dollar before giving up a penny.

“I wanted to fill five five-gallon water jugs. That was the goal, but I couldn’t stop. … If I hadn’t turned them in yesterday, I was not going to stop,” he said.

Source: YouTube Screenshot/ watchJojo

Everyone who knows Anders knew of his passion and his collection. Even the kids at the school where he worked. He would sometimes buy pennies from them, but he would never take, not even a single one, without paying for it.

“I never allowed anyone, not even my wife nor children, to give me pennies without being compensated,” he told USA Today. “I wanted the inner satisfaction that God and I acquired this collection.”

Source: YouTube Screenshot/ watchJojo

When he arrived at the Ruston Origin Bank in Ruston, Louisiana, the staff welcomed him in and were more than happy to assist him. For his stunning collection of pennies, Anders got $5,136.14.

Source: YouTube Screenshot/ watchJojo

Take a look at the video below to learn more about Anders and his collection.

She was frequently beaten by her husband, so she left the house with her kids.

Cara Brookins was left emotionally broken when her second abusive marriage ended. She got well by building her own house, which she did after seeing YouTube videos on how to do it.

The mother of four started looking for a new house in 2007 after being forced to sell the Bryant, Arkansas, home she and her soon-to-be ex shared. At the moment, though, anything the computer programmer analyst could afford was too tiny. Brookins too felt obliged to take action to bring her family back together. She admits, “But I had no idea what that should be.”

Brookins, therefore, came up with the idea to build her own house from the ground up. According to Brookins, 45, “If anyone was in our situation, they wouldn’t do this.” “No one else viewed it this way, and now that I think about it, I understand it sounds crazy.”

One acre of property cost Brookins $20,000, and she obtained a building credit for about $150,000. She then started watching YouTube tutorials to learn how to do things like run a gas line, build a wall, lay a foundation, and install plumbing.


Her children, ages 2 to 17, helped her throughout the nine-month construction of the 3,500-square-foot home. At the time, Drew, who was 15 years old, helped Brookins make the preparations. Jada, who was 11 at the time, transported water from a neighbor’s pond using buckets because there was no running water on the property. She then combined the water with 80-pound sacks of concrete to create the mortar for the foundation.

It felt impossible the entire time, according to Brookins, who worked when the kids were in school. After school, Brookins drove her family to the five-mile-away construction site where she worked late into the night on the new house.


YouTube videos previously were vague and provided numerous solutions to a task. Brookins employed a part-time firefighter with building experience for $25 per hour to help with some of the more challenging tasks. She remembers, “He was a step ahead of us in knowledge.”

On March 31, 2009, Brookins and her kids moved into the five-bedroom home. She gave it the name Inkwell Manor in recognition of her desire to become a writer.

In the years afterwards, Brookins has written numerous middle grade and young adult books. She has also written a biography titled Rise: How a House Built a Family, which will be released on January 24.

Building the house helped Brookins emerge from her depression. We were ashamed that our best option was to construct our own shelter, Brookins adds. “We weren’t really proud of it,” In the end, it proved to be the best thing I could have done for myself.

She says, “You can do anything you set your mind to if I, a 110 pound computer programmer, can build a complete house.” Choose one goal and stay with it. Find the big thing you want to do, move slowly in that direction, and take those who also need healing with you. That has a lot of influence.

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