Looking after the pennies: Man pays off mortgage in coppers

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Published time: July 06, 2012 12:49
Edited time: July 06, 2012 16:49

The saying goes that ‘look after the pennies, and the pounds will look after themselves’. Well one man in the United States has taken it literally to pay off his mortgage.

Thomas Daigle from Milford near Boston delivered 800 pounds of copper coins to pay the final mortgage payment on his home.

Unbeknownst to his wife Mr. Daigle had been hoarding pennies since they moved into their Milford home in 1977.

Over the years he collected the coins in rolls of fifty, and kept them hidden away in his basement workshop. After a while the crate became so overloaded Daigle had to substitute it for two steel military rocket launcher ammo boxes he had bought.

Mr. Daigle long ago decided to make his final mortgage payment a “memorable” one, and it became a borderline obsession.

“It was something I wanted to do,” he said. “I always follow through.” He told local newspaper Milford Daily News, adding that “I was just praying I didn’t die first.”

“One thing led to another and all of a sudden there’s a serious amount of rolls of pennies. I said you know this is something I can do,” Daigle told CBS Boston.

He says his actions send a clear message to his children – “If you say you’re going to do something, you do it. Pennies add up.”