What is Your Strategy for Dealing With Change?

The coinstar machines in the supermarkets around here charge no surcharge if you take payment in a gift card. Options include itunes, amazon, starbucks, LNT, etc.

Coinstar : Our Products : FREE Coin Counting when you turn coins into a Gift Card or eCertificate

So when my coin jar gets full, I take it with me to the grocery store. Dump it in, get either an amazon card if i'm planning to buy something from them or an itunes card for the wife.

I always keep a few quarters in my pocket these days though. SOMEBODY is very interested in the 'canny machines'... ;)

There may not be any coinstar machines near you, but somebody probably has a similar setup.
 
I keep mine in a pint Ball jar on the dresser. When it gets full, I take it to the coin counting machine at the grocery. I then buy that amount of canned food for my church's food pantry.
 
My change doesn't last 10 seconds after I empty pockets when I come home. My wife scarfs it up immediately and tosses it into her coin jar. When the jar gets full, she and my granddaughter roll it, and they both make a trip to the bank where it's deposited into my granddaughter's educational account....
 
Puzzley said:
When the jar gets full, she and my granddaughter roll it, and they both make a trip to the bank where it's deposited into my granddaughter's educational account....
Click to expand...

Similar for us. We fill a jar with coins. The coins then get distributed to our kid for odd jobs. She deposits the coins in her piggy bank, and when piggy gets full, we take the kid and the pig to the bank where the coins go into the free coin counter and then into her account.

When her account reaches a new multiple of $100, the bank gives her a free movie ticket.

So, the loose pocket change teaches her how to be a wage slave, encourages her to save, gives her a cheap thrill at the coin counting machine, and then keeps her quiet for an hour or two while she stares at a big screen. Ah, the power of change!
 
I don't have many coins since I charge everything. I have had money in my wallet for months.
 
I charge most things but there are some places where queueing takes longer if you use a credit card, e.g. the coffee shop at my hospital. So I do keep some coins in my purse, and try to provide exact change if possible. I also keep some change in the coin drawer in the car. Overflow goes into a dish on the kitchen counter and replenishes the "on-site storage bins" when needed. Probably no more than $10 there.

I travel a lot and if I have spare currency, I keep it in a Ziplok bag in my home safe between trips. On the plane I make the switch. Thank goodness for the Euro! I wish the UK would convert......
 
I never carry change. Any that I get goes to DW. WTH she does with it I do not know - Maybe that is what she uses at Yard Sales for all of those da** pots she buys. Every once in a while she will say she spent $1, $2 or $3 or so for this that or the other thing.
 
I use a coin purse to keep the handling reasonable and spend the change I receive.

Coach
 
Ever since I have been a kid, I have had a three foot high Galliano bottle that my uncle gave me. All my spare change goes in (DW's too). We go years without tapping it. The last time we emptied it, we bought the guy in my avatar (Welsh Pembroke Corgi).

Even though it takes years to fill, it is not as long as when my two girls were in the home. My "wild child" seemed to thing it was the family bank account that anyone could use without asking.:bat:


Milkman
 
Thats funny. I used to have one of those huge galliano bottles years ago and filled it with change. Just at the right height to take money out of your pocket and dump it right in.
 
I have a piggy bank in the kitchen, a coffee can in the bedroom, a cup in the laundry room and also the little drawer in the car dashboard for loose change. I hadn't taken the time to roll coins for a while and then I was in our bank and they were having a promotion for rolled coins. They had assorted wrappers all bundled and asked people to bring in rolled coins and if you deposited them into a savings account you were entered into a raffle for a $1000 savings bond. I rolled and deposited like the thrifty bank customer that I am, but didn't win the raffle.

But our savings account pays 3.5% so it's all for the best. http://www.amtrust.com/ProductDetai...avings-AMTlanding-2.asp?RegionCd=AK&PID=42003

Speaking of loose change..... My sister's car is always a mess. Files, papers, clothes, general clutter. Recently she asked me if I wanted her loose change from her car. She had collected it all in an empty water bottle and it had sat there for a month or so and was starting to look grungy. She was going to throw it out and then she thought of ME and how I know what to do with money, large or small. Yeah, I took that bottle of coins and washed them off and added it to the stash. It was mostly pennies but I did find a couple of dimes in there, too.

We are 2 very different sisters.
 
i keep all my loose change on the floor between the car seat and the center console. last time i vacuumed i made myself 4 bucks. sweet.
 
I charge virtually everything on my credit card. What little spare change I generate (maybe $1/month?), I usually leave it in the car console for use in parking meters or to buy stamps (neither of which I do very often) or some other miscellaneous purpose. Or if I'm inside the house when I discover the nuisance change, I'll "donate" it to my kids' piggy banks.
 
I have a basket which I throw my loose change and let it accumulate til I have enough for a round of golf. I use the coin converter at the supermarket - you pay a fee but since I don't know how much was in there I don't let the charge bother me.
Larry
 
Pump it into the coin slot at the Walmart self check out.
 
I just spend the coins as they come in, so they never accumulate.
Stores don't mind receiving change, it helps them out.
 
I rarely take coins with me, and usually pay with bills or CC. DW has coins in her purse and will try to pay exactly, or add coins to my bills to avoid getting coins back. The change I bring home goes in to a tall decorative jar in the bedroom. When full every 8-10 months or so, we'll roll it (it typically holds about $200). When the kids were still home, we'd roll it with them and plan a special outing to a water park, ball game, etc., to use it. Nowdays we'll do a weekend getaway with it, of maybe just put it in the bank, or whatever. Works for us.
 
RunningBum said:
I was thinking to start saving quarters for DD about to enter college, but most of those machines probably take their student cards these days, don't they?
Click to expand...

Nope! Start saving those quarters for the dorm's laundry machines - I've never seen one that uses the student cards; they still operate with quarters.

One of the most appreciated graduation gifts my DD received was 5 rolls of quarters!
 
cute fuzzy bunny said:
The coinstar machines in the supermarkets around here charge no surcharge if you take payment in a gift card. Options include itunes, amazon, starbucks, LNT, etc.

Coinstar : Our Products : FREE Coin Counting when you turn coins into a Gift Card or eCertificate

So when my coin jar gets full, I take it with me to the grocery store. Dump it in, get either an amazon card if i'm planning to buy something from them or an itunes card for the wife.

I always keep a few quarters in my pocket these days though. SOMEBODY is very interested in the 'canny machines'... ;)

There may not be any coinstar machines near you, but somebody probably has a similar setup.
Click to expand...
Cool, I did not know this! Looks like my nephew is getting an iTunes card for Christmas with some loose change.

You can also donate to one of the charities they list at many of the Coinstar machines. I assume you get a receipt for taxes.
 
I have a basket that I tend to throw loose change in. My daughter tends to take it out. I did manage to hide loose pennies in a decorative jar and accumulate those. But, the other day she said, "hey what are you doing with the loose pennies these days?" Now she knows where they are so they will slowly disappear too.:D
 
I have 40 pounds of pennies.
 
I have a crystal vase in a drawer I throw all the change in. When it gets full I take it to the bank, and keep 10% of it for me, and put 90% of it in the kid's custodial accounts.
 
At the rate the dollar is falling, soon there won't be a need for change...
everything will be rounded off to the nearest $1 - $5 - $10 - $100 !!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

R
Withdrawal Strategies
2 3 4
Replies
77
Views
9K
reneeh63
R
E
Five Years Retired: Lessons Learned
Replies
24
Views
2K
Koolau
Koolau
A
Now what
Replies
19
Views
3K
engineernerd
E
R
Final Approach Planning for Retirement
Replies
15
Views
1K
Route246
R
W2R
Dealing with modern pharmacy chains
2 3
Replies
72
Views
3K
target2019
target2019

Latest posts

Back
Top Bottom