Husband buys a motorbike for his wife with a gallon of coins


In school, we’re regularly told of the common proverb sedikit demi sedikit, lama-lama menjadi bukit, or literally, “little by little, a hill can form”. Even the tiniest amounts of money saved could turn into something in the long run – as proven by Fajar Satria Nugroho from Demak, Central Java.

Taking the proverb’s advice to heart, Fajar saved every Rp. 1,000 (~USD0.07) coin he could find over a period of 4 years. This year, he finally saved enough money to help buy a new motorbike for his wife, and in the process, became a role model for husbands across the country.


Husband collected more than ten million rupiah worth of coins


gallon full of coins
Fajar’s gallon of coins
Image credit: Kompas

As reported by Kompas, the Cendana Harum dealership in Demak had a day worthy of the history books when on 31st August, Fajar walked into the dealership with a gallon full of coins. His sole mission; to exchange that gallon of coins with a brand new motorbike for his wife.

employees counting coins
Dealership employees in the process of counting the coins
Image credit: Kompas

While his transaction method was unconventional to say the least, we respect the dealership’s willingness to work with Fajar. 5 employees from the dealership had to spend 3 hours counting up all of the coins.

The head of the dealership, Pradita Sukmono, confirmed that all of the coins add up to a staggering Rp. 14,250,000 (~USD962.31). He mentioned that the dealership has met similar customers before but Fajar takes the cake in terms of the amount of money he brought in coins.

fajar and wife and new motorbike
Fajar and his wife with her new motorbike
Image credit: Kompas

While it turns out that the coins still fell short of the Rp. 20,600,000 (~USD1,390.73) he needed for the motorbike, Fajar was able to make up the difference. Eventually, he walked out of the dealership with a red Honda Scoopy, to his wife’s delight.


4 years of saving for the motorbike


1000 coins fajar gathered up
Rp. 1,000 coins
Image credit: @chandanypytaloka

While Fajar mainly works as a secretary for his local village head, he also runs a small convenience store with his wife. Thanks to the purchases people made from his store, he managed to save up all these Rp. 1,000 (~USD0.07) coins over the course of 4 years.

To carry the thousands of coins he’d collected to the dealership, Fajar had to ask for the help of two other people. It just goes to show that in life, even the usually negligible weight and value of a single coin can have a pretty sizable impact on your life when pooled together.


A penny saved is a penny earned


Reading what Fajar has done has made us feel guilty of all the coins we’ve lost and simply neglected over the years. The next time we’re pocketing some loose change, we’re definitely putting them in a safe place and seeing how much we can save up.

For more inspiring local news, check out these stories:


Cover image adapted from Medcom and @zirchovicks

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