Save your pennies! (and nickels...and dimes..)

[youngestof9]

I thought I would pass this along. My husband and I always save our change. I throw it all in a little glass jar and when it gets full, I dump it into a ziploc. I learned long ago from Suze Orman to actually break a dollar bill and get the change, and then save it, and you actually save more money.

Didn't think much about it until I went to the coin counter at the bank today and turned in $249!!! It went right into my credit union account that I'm using to save for my upcoming trip on AOS. Between that and the OBC I got from the RCI WOW sale, my tips for 4 are COVERED!

You don't realize how quick change adds up. We are by NO means wealthy (I'm a SAHM who is a really good coupon cutter!), but WOW I couldn't believe how quick it adds up and how normally, we would have someone spent that money on something without even realizing it.

So save that change!! Next batch of change is covering our hotel pre-cruise.

Happy Sails!

[kimmi5207]

Nice reminder that little things add up!

That's enough for a deposit for 1 person on a cruise! Or airfare, depending on where a person is flying into. Or tips for 4, as you mentioned.

Now that I think about it like that, I'm going to be more careful about saving the small change!

[cb at sea]

We always save our change, and you're right--it adds up fast, especially those quarters!

I have a large, decorative bottle that I keep mine in....it's almost too heavy to lift, when full----usually gives me in the $300-400 range!

[grod19]

My grandmother used to do this with a 5 gallon poland spring bottle. Her house was robbed twice and both times the bottle was too heavy to get out of the house so they left it. She cashed it in one time for $5500. And that was back in the days of having to roll all that change.

[Kwaj girl]

The only automatic coin counter machines around here are in grocery stores - I think they're called CoinStar? There's a "service fee" assessed when you use one but I don't know what % is withheld - might be about 8%. So that eats into the savings aspect...

[Lionesss]

Now, there is a way to get a quick free coin counter, and it can add some fun to the situation.

Put your pennies in one container.
Put all your silver in another.

Go to your nearest Casino.
The ones that still drop coins.
Turn in your coins for FREE and have them count them, and enjoy an hour or too on the machines.
The Pennies you donate to the favorite charity of your choice.

Later

[youngestof9]

Kwaj: We have TD Bank (which was formerly Commerce Bank) and they have a coin counter that doesn't charge. We have coinstar too in our supermarkets, but I'd wrap my coins before I gave 9% to them!! I see people doing it all the time and I tell them about TD and they are so happy. You don't have to have an account at the bank either, which is a bigger bonus!!

Maybe you have a bank like that where you are?

Lionesss....nearest casino is about 3 hours away, so wouldn't be worth it. Plus I'd get sucked in by the slots. LOL!!

[kgarroutte]

I think, emphasis on think, that at coinstar's they won't charge you the % if you use the money for a giftcard at the supermarket you are at. Since you have to buy groceries anyway...

[Thestapels]

Kim - Would you rather buy groceries or go on a cruise??/

[geoherb]

The coin machines at our local groceries started out charging fees when they were first installed a few years ago. Just recently, they offered to drop the fees if you took the amount in a store gift card.

But I just take my coins to my credit union--where there's never been a fee. I do it every three or four months. It's usually around $60.

[islandgirlejfan]

Our credit union has a counter right inside the bank and it's free. You pour the money in, it gives you a receipt and you take it to the window where you can either deposit it or cash it out. I just took a bag of mostly pennies with a few nickels and dimes here and there....no quarters as they usually end up being needed for the car wash or a dollar or two just to have on me because I'm too lazy to go to the bank. I thought if I had $6 or $7 in the bag I was lucky....turned out I had $29 dollars in the bag. It really does add up!

[yogi2929]

Originally Posted by Thestapels

Kim - Would you rather buy groceries or go on a cruise??/

We use the grocery store cards to buy groceries or other giftcards with them.

[G'ma]

Originally Posted by Kwaj girl

The only automatic coin counter machines around here are in grocery stores - I think they're called CoinStar? There's a "service fee" assessed when you use one but I don't know what % is withheld - might be about 8%. So that eats into the savings aspect...

Really? Gosh, where do you live?

Most banks around here have these machines.....and it's free....

I save my change in a huge coffee can.....it's amazing how it adds up. I also sell a little on eBay....all that goes into my travel stash, too.

[smokester]

I'm saving change for our cruise in Dec to pay for our gas to Miami, hotel & food for the trip down. so far so good, at least the DH & kids have no idea where i hide or it would be gone!

[cruiseat50]

We have a big plastic bucket that looks like a coke can which we throw all our silver coins into and a glass water jug that we put the pennies into. I used to work at a school and did the collections for the school banking program. This school was mostly all low to poverty level income so of course the kids would bring in mostly change. I hated to have the procedure the bank had set up for bringing in the change so I just bought the coins and put it in the change bucket. We filled it up twice and each time it came out to $2500-$3000. I refused to pay the coinstar percentage so we would roll them up and put them in a box and take them to our credit union. It was actually pretty funny as that amount of money weighs quite a bit so even though DH was pretty strong back he was starting to have back problems so he would have to put the box on a small handtruck. It was funny to see the expressions on the tellers faces...lol

We actually bought our current boat with the money and of course we had to christen it "Spare Change"

Unfortunately, I haven't worked there for the last 6 years so the bucket is still fairly empty still. But I told DH in July that we need to start bumping it up as we decided that the next bucket was going to pay for our onboard charges and excursions on the next cruise. So we have a rule that we can't spend any $1 & sometimes $5 bills and they get put into the bucket. I haven't counted them but occasionally take the bills out and put them in the fire safe in a bag. Will be fun to see how much we can collect.

I wish we could find a bank that would let us bring the coins in but so far haven't found one that has the machines anymore. I would even open an account if need be. Anyone know of any that have them on the west coast? Specifically Seattle if possible.

[Title39]

The spare change jar is like found money in our house. A couple of times a year we empty the jar and put it towards something special, usually vacation related.

[Colorado Kat]

Since I mostly empty the change out to have lighter pockets/purses for me ===> it's free money!

Kathy

[Nebr.cruiser]

We do this too--just empty out our pockets/purse of change each day and put it in a special basket. When we take it to the bank--our bank counts change for free--we've usually got $80 or so--more if we wait longer.

I put this money in a special place and add to it any birthday or Xmas money we get and any 'found' or unexpected money like bonuses, rebates, credit checks for overpaying something, etc. This all adds up pretty fast--we're over $2000 now and planning on taking our grandkids on a cruise with the money--plus some more, of course.

We don't miss this money so it's an easy way to save.

[newcruiser09]

I read this thread earlier today when I had some down time at work and when I got home tonight I decided to round up the spare change i keep in various places of my house - depending on where I change for the day. Then, I thought I'd go through all of my old purses (for some reason I never clean out the old ones completely when I get new ones) and added all that spare change to what I had around the house. I just counted it all and it was over $60!

What's even better is that a bank in my neighborhood that has a coin counting service for free is currently giving all new customers who open a new checking account $50 free! I need to do some more checking, but if it all works out, I'll have over $100 extra spending cash for my upcoming cruise!

[cruiseat50]

Originally Posted by newcruiser09

I read this thread earlier today when I had some down time at work and when I got home tonight I decided to round up the spare change i keep in various places of my house - depending on where I change for the day. Then, I thought I'd go through all of my old purses (for some reason I never clean out the old ones completely when I get new ones) and added all that spare change to what I had around the house. I just counted it all and it was over $60!

What's even better is that a bank in my neighborhood that has a coin counting service for free is currently giving all new customers who open a new checking account $50 free! I need to do some more checking, but if it all works out, I'll have over $100 extra spending cash for my upcoming cruise!

What bank is this? I would love to not have to roll up my change.