MSI Press Blog

  When Marsha Franklin chose the title No Pennies to Pinch for a forthcoming book that we do still plan to publish, she was playing with metaphor: scarcity, thrift, and the emotional weight of small things. But now, the metaphor is literal. As of November 2025, the U.S. Mint has stopped producing pennies. The coin that once bore Lincoln’s profile and anchored idioms like “a penny for your thoughts” is slipping into history. 🌍 Global Echoes: When Small Coins Disappear We’re not the first. Other countries have retired their lowest-denomination coins: Canada phased out its penny in 2013, adopting “symmetric rounding” for cash transactions. Australia removed 1- and 2-cent coins in 1992; New Zealand followed in 1990 and later dropped its 5-cent coin. Sweden began eliminating öre coins in the 1970s, embracing digital payments early. The Bahamas , Belgium , and Finland have also discontinued small coins, citing inflation and production costs. In each case, the disappearance ...

  Peek into the future! Wait just a bit. Coming up some time this year is the publication of  No Pennies to Pinch  by Marsha Franklin.  Raising a family happily and healthily while careening from one financial crisis to another, Marsha shares woes and laughs -- and lots of everyday financial advice of the kind really needed and not typically given by financial advisors. Funny, too!  Watch for upcoming excerpts. For more posts about Marsha Franklin amd her books, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow  MSI Press  on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with  MSI Press LLC ? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  revie...

  Peek into the future! Wait just a bit. Coming up some time this year is the publication of  No Pennies to Pinch  by Marsha Franklin.  Raising a family happily and healthily while careening from one financial crisis to another, Marsha shares woes and laughs -- and lots of everyday financial advice of the kind really needed and not typically given by financial advisors. Funny, too!  Watch for upcoming excerpts. For more posts about Marsha Franklin amd her books, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow  MSI Press  on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with  MSI Press LLC ? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  revie...

  The penny is about to be gone. Not just from our pockets, but from our language, our habits, our sense of scale. It vanished quietly, without ceremony—retired for costing more to make than it was worth. But when the smallest things disappear, what do we lose? We lose the comfort of rounding down. We lose the sound of coins in a jar. We lose the metaphor that once meant thrift, humility, and overlooked value. We lose the chance to say, “Here’s a penny for your thoughts,” and mean it literally. We lose the tiny rituals that made scarcity feel survivable. And maybe, just maybe, we lose a little bit of ourselves—the part that knew how to stretch, save, and savor the smallest things. a post inspired by the forthcoming book, No Pennies to Pinch (Franklin) See related posts HERE . Watch for precerpts (book excerpts prior to publication) of No Pennies to Pinch  on Wednesdays. CONTACT editor@msipress.com FOR AN ADANCE REVIEW COPY MSI Press,  a veteran-owned   publi...

  Peek into the future! Wait just a bit. Coming up some time this year is the publication of  No Pennies to Pinch  by Marsha Franklin.  Raising a family happily and healthily while careening from one financial crisis to another, Marsha shares woes and laughs -- and lots of everyday financial advice of the kind really needed and not typically given by financial advisors. Funny, too!  Watch for upcoming excerpts. For more posts about Marsha Franklin amd her books, click  HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow  MSI Press  on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with  MSI Press LLC ? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  revie...

  Peek into the future! Wait just a bit. Coming up some time this year is the publication of  No Pennies to Pinch  by Marsha Franklin.  Raising a family happily and healthily while careening from one financial crisis to another, Marsha shares woes and laughs -- and lots of everyday financial advice of the kind really needed and not typically given by financial advisors. Funny, too!  Watch for upcoming excerpts. For more posts about Marsha Franklin amd her books, click HERE . Sign up for the MSI Press LLC newsletter Follow  MSI Press  on  Twitter ,  Face Book , and  Instagram .   Interested in publishing with  MSI Press LLC ? Check out information on  how to submit a proposal . Planning on self-publishing and don't know where to start? Our  author au pair  services will mentor you through the process. Interested in receiving a free copy of this or any MSI Press LLC book  in exchange for  reviewing ...

    Today's tip for parents from two talented teachers comes from  365 Teacher Secrets for Parents  by Cindy McKinley Alder and Patti Trombly. #49 Learning Styles   Learning is more effective when it is an active rather than a passive process ~ Euripides If you are like most parents, you have repeated yourself many, many times to your children. You may have even uttered the words, “How many times have I told you...” If this sounds familiar to you, perhaps you need to think about how your child learns and learn to work with that style. How does your child learn? Consider the three types of learning styles: auditory, visual, and kinesthetic. Most children learn best through a combination of the three types of learning styles, but many children favor one over the others. Auditory Learners: Hear Auditory learners would rather listen to things being explained than read about them. These children can benefit from reciting information out loud or retelling it to someo...