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Spare Change Adds Up
I have been saving my husband's and my spare change for years. This year I decided to document every "cash-in", to see exactly how much change that we DID wind up with at the end of the year. I have always used this money for a rainy-day fund, like when I was absolutely out of money, needed gas for the car, or an unexpected item from the grocery store.
This year, I determined to earmark the money for a special project. so I started collecting in January, and planned to use the money for garden expenses. If I used any of the money in the jar, then I made note of how much was taken, and put a reminder to repay it in the jar.
This way, I was able to: 1. See how much money that I was able to save from just loose change, and 2. Keep up with how much was spent on my garden in a year's time. Since I knew that I was "saving" money, I often would give a dollar to pay for an item, instead of correct change. I knew that the small amount would not make a difference to my budget, but would help contribute to my garden fund.
As of this date, November 5, I have so far saved almost six hundred dollars in loose change, and spent $582.00 on my garden. I knew that the change collection was a big help, but now realize how much, since I started actually keeping track of "deposits and withdrawals". I was very pleased to learn what the actual figure was.
By Carole from Locust Fork, AL
By
05/11/2009
My husband and I have done this for years. We call it our "spend to save" plan. We never use our change for purchases -- we always use our dollars. All change makes it home and it is placed in a small crock. As the crock fills up, I sort the silver from the pennies. The pennies go in a large 5 gallon jar and the silver all goes into a large red piggy bank from my husband's childhood. Over the years we have bought a new large TV, a laptop, it has financed a couple of trips to Florida, etc. It is always there if there is an emergency but so far we have not had to use it for that reason. When we cash it in at the bank we go splurge on ourselves.
By
05/11/2009
My sister did this years ago, she saved just dimes and made 2 trips out west. My man & I save all change to go on vacation with. Bee
By
05/11/2009
I only change pennies at commercial "CoinStar" change machines - because they do charge a percentage & with pennies, it is much less due to lower value - but the convenience is worth it!
By
05/11/2009
Its amazing what saving change can do. My husband and I last year put a down payment of 800.00 on a piece of land we were wanting to buy. We save ever piece of change we have left over. We even tend to notice the change people have dropped and now take the time to stop and pick it up
By
04/09/2009
Oh my gosh sometimes I wish we didn't save change. Well, we don't actually save it we end up grabbing a bill instead of change. That's why my purse weighs 10 lbs and my shoulder aches! MY hubby tells me to empty the change out but I just don't do it! We have change in every drawer and in plastic butter dishes in deep drawers etc! We seem to forget about and now is a good time to use it with my hubby being laid off!
That last time we rolled all the change and took it in there was over $800 about 6 yrs ago. We need to do it but man its a job! But its a good way to save.
By
04/09/2009
What a great idea! We toss our change in a jar also but I hadn't thought about keeping track of the ins and outs. I'm gonna give it a try. Thanks for sharing.
By
04/09/2009
This would be good for anyone who has a child in school that does the "Pasta For Pennies" to help fight childhood lymphoma and other blood diseases.
I just decided today that I will take the Jr. Crystal Springs water jug (I think it is 2.5 gallons) and start collecting at this moment for next years drive. I have a son and daughter both in elementary that participated this year. My son's first grade class won and man did they ever enjoy their Olive Garden meal today.
Maybe next year my little girl's class will win if mommy can fill this jug up and get some friends to start saving now as well for next year's fundraiser.
By
04/09/2009
Most banks, at least where I live, have a change machine and they don't charge a fee for customers.
I have been saving change for a while and used it to help my son go on a school trip to Washington D.C. In just a few short months my coffee can had over $200! My parents also are saving their change to give to my son for his trip.
I also have started "saving change" in my checkbook - I round the total of the check that I wrote to the next dollar amt. (even if the total is $22.01 I round it up to $23.00) in the check register and it adds up fast. I just started 3 months ago and I already have $60 extra in my account.
By
04/09/2009
We also save our change, my latest is filling up a baby bottle to give to a friend for her new baby boy. My daughter is 5 and has a large glass bottle, 5 gallons maybe? Our son has one as well, but being only 9 months his stash is a lot less than hers!
I also put in bills, a few years ago,I won bingo during the city carnival and that went into her jar. I should probably put it into savings to get the interest, but, I'm no longer able to even move the jar!
My daughter will find change and puts it in the jars. We say her's is to buy her first car, lol.....maybe....8>)
By
12/29/2008
We save our change too, and it is amazing how fast it adds up. We used to save it all year before cashing it in, but now I take it to the bank and deposit it every month or so just to get the interest--it's not much, but I figure I'm saving change, so every little bit helps. My bank allows customers to use the change machine free of charge. If you're a non-customer then they take a percentage.
By Mama2one (Guest Post)
11/20/2008
We keep a tin can in the car for loose change. We use it for tolls on the highway, drive through snacks or other incidentals while travelling. When the can gets full, we take it to the bank and change it out. We put 1/2 in a savings account and the other 1/2 back in the can.
By michelle z. (Guest Post)
11/17/2008
I also save all the change with one small change, when you go to any store look at the receipt, see how much tax you paid on whatever you bought and add that to your change jar.
By ginger (Guest Post)
11/12/2008
I just save pennies, and I do it in a piggy bank from the dollar section of Target. Our family plays "find the pickle ornament" (an old German tradition) and the "most observant child" who finds the ornament hidden in the Christmas tree gets the money in the bank. It usually adds up to about $20.00.
By
11/12/2008
My fiance and I save our change also. In years past it has come in very handy. I have been laid off 3 or 4 times in the last 8 years and each time I was thankful for just knowing that if things got really tough we had that extra money at our disposal. We counted our change about 2 weeks ago and had over $208 then.We have decided to use it for my kids Christmas. I use to deposit it at the end of each month but we like to see how full we can get the jar. My bank has a machine that counts and rolls it at no charge. They will not take rolled change anymore.
By
11/11/2008
I was doing that once and had a bad tooth emergency, that would have been really hard to come up with the money. It cost me 346 dollars. I had 360 dollars saved up, so it was no problem. Was a real blessing. Then I was living with my brother and sis in law. We all threw our change into a small trunk. We drove cabs so we always had tons of change. When we decided to move, we were able to pay our deposit and first months rent with the change.
11/10/2008
My daughter tells me that the machine takes whatever the tax is in the county or city that you cash it in in. Like if the tax is ten percent, then they would charge you ten percent to count it.
I just roll it a little at a time as I go along, it doesn't take long doing it that way; like, when I could see that I was about ready to have enough change to make a roll out of, whether it be pennies or quarters, then I would just do it as it needed to be done. I'm too cheap to pay someone or something to do something for me that I can do myself, plus, it takes away from the amount saved, which would totally defeat the purpose. I'm so excited I had a good amount of money for the garden this year; I wish I had taken a picture to post. Carole
By
11/10/2008
Good for you!!!!
I saved my loose change for about a year too, and it only totalled about $70.00. Still it was so much fun.
My bank has a coin machine for members, so it was free to cash it in.
By ~gloria (Guest Post)
11/10/2008
When you were ready to "cash in", did you roll it and take it to the bank (many banks grumble about this), or did you use one of the machines and how much does the machine take for the transaction?
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