I can’t imagine that there is anyone out there who hasn’t heard the saying, "A penny saved is a penny earned."

Of course, these days, no one over the age of eight really cares about pennies. In fact, stores even have "penny catchers" on their counters, where folks can leave their pennies if they don’t want them, and others who don’t have a penny can take one if they need one. The penny catcher is like a shallow bowl -- open for everyone to see, and for easy penny access.

But did you ever wonder why it’s such a shallow container? Because if it was a deep bowl of pennies, someone would probably steal them.

Somehow, a few pennies seem not worth anything, much less the trouble -- but a lot of pennies? Well, they have value.

Over the years of my life, I’ve ended up with about seven piggy banks in the house. (Only three are actual pigs, the others include a dog, an owl, and a pair of birds.) I didn’t buy any of them because I wanted a bank. In fact, I think I only bought one of them. The others are antique hand-me downs or were party gifts, or something I found in the barn. My point is this -- I kept them because I enjoyed their aesthetics - not because I had consciously made any decision to begin saving change.

But "change" happens, you know. I clean out my purse and the bottom if full of change. (No wonder it’s so heavy!) So, I have change I want rid of, and -- oh, I have those banks. And that’s how I began filling the piggy banks.

There’s one by the dryer to collect change found in the machines. There’s one in the living room where I clean out my purse. There’s one on Frank’s desk, where he empties his pants pockets, and one on my dresser where I empty my pockets. We put them in use -- not to save -- but just to keep the change from being strung throughout the house. We never really gave a second thought to what might be accumulating inside them.

Then one day, we didn’t make it to the bank before it closed, and needed some cash. I recalled, vaguely, putting a couple of dollars in the owl a few months back, so I went to grab that bank off of its shelf. It was so heavy, I almost dropped it.

And once I figured out how to get the stopper out of the bottom and was able to pour the contents out on the table... Well, we felt like we’d hit the jackpot! Those pennies and dollars and quarters, dimes and nickels saved sure felt like money earned that day.

Of course then, my curiosity about the contents of these scattered banks increased. So, we gathered them all, grabbed baggies and coin wrappers; we had to go to the bank the next day anyway... And we doubled the amount of our original deposit.

I thought about how we missed the bank by a few minutes, and how nice it would be if we had "time banks," where we could collect minutes spent idle, waiting or wasted, and pull them all out at once. Would'nt be long before there would be time for that home-improvement project or heck -- maybe even time for a weekend away.

As the March issue came together, it seems as though many of the plans and initiatives we began in the hibernation times of winter just -- fell into place and kicked in. For months, they were unfinished projects, things I would piddle with one day, rearrange or rework another day, never finding the time to complete any of them.

And then, many of them were just -- finished and in place. I realized, I had created by own time bank by not wasting the time I had. Let me give you an example:

I got three books for Christmas, one on marketing and advertising. I knew there was no time to just sit and read, so I put the book in the bathroom with a pen and paper. So, when I... uh... had time in the bathroom, I read a few pages, highlighted a few points, took a few notes.

When I finished reading the book, I took the book and my notes to the bedroom, where I could take the topics I wanted to tackle and brainstorm and draft plans while I watched movies before bed.

When I finished that, the book, notes and plans moved to my desk, where I would polish them and type them or design them in the computer -- and put them into action.

You see, I couldn’t tell how much I had accomplished when the book was in the bathroom. That’s like the "back-burner" space of my projects. That book was there for almost two months.

And I couldn’t tell how much I had accomplished with the process in the bedroom, because I was just scribbles and thoughts and concepts and theories -- scattered on sheets of paper across the bed spread. The book spent a month of nights on the nightstand.

And I couldn’t see how close I was to finished when the process moved to my desk, because then it became on of many piles that needed dealt with. But the desk is the forefront of project management, and when all the piles were dealt with and distributed -- many projects I thought I didn’t have time to address were completed before I ever "had the time" to tackle them head-on.

I am not a fan of multi-tasking. I believe if you do more than one thing at one time, nothing gets your full attention. But some things don’t need your full attention.

Why waste the time spent waiting in line? I have a friend who carries a notebook wherever she goes. When she has a moment idle (she’s a very busy person) she writes stories and poetry in her notebook. (Plus reminder lists, phone numbers, things to do, ideas, etc.)

You see, she never had time to "sit down and write." But, by carrying her pen and paper with her, her writing began to fit within her time.

So many people work so hard to cram as much as they can in a moment to try and "save time." But, consider. Instead of making busy minutes busier, try making idle moments active -- don’t let them go to waste. You can’t make time, you find it. Try it, then maybe you will discover that projects you didn’t have time for are suddenly, already done. ~ Lisa