Do You Save Your Loose Change?

@gtargirl (5376)
United States
February 25, 2010 10:08pm CST
In a glass jar perhaps, a pretty little piggy bank, under your mattress, or a special coin purse? When do you roll them up and bring your earnings to the bank? Experts say (don't ask me who the experts are) that the average family has about $90 lying around the house in loose change. However, some banks don't even take your rolled up coins . . . really? How 'bout CoinStar? They take about 9 cents on the dollar. That's okay I guess. But they also let you exchange your cash for gift certificates without a fee, and there's tons of gift certificates to choose from. Anyhow, do you save your change and what will you use it for?
8 people like this
38 responses
@violeta_va (4831)
• Australia
27 Feb 10
I save my 5c, 10c, 20c and somethimes 50c in a rather big piggy bank and take them to the bank every month and split them into my kids accounts that way they get some interest on the money, I dont feel like I am missing the money at all. Last time my son had enough to pay for his air ticket when we went on holiday. This time he has again but I am not taking them out I will save them as I am sure he will need braces. My girl has enough to buy 6 tickets (as she is 10 months she only pays 10%)
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Money for vacation/holiday is always nice.
• United States
27 Feb 10
Yeah I've always saved my change. I have all my pennies in a little baggy and I exchange them when I need them for an emergency or something. Then all my other loose change I have in this little chinese bag that my friend gave me. All that loose chnage does come in a handy once in a while. I see a lot of people just leave change on the floor but they seriously don't know how much that could add up.
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
So true. Maybe all those people who leave change on the floor will let you pick it up. I know my son would.
@glambank (217)
• United States
26 Feb 10
I put loose change in a covered plastic container. Many times this loose change would reach as much as $20. Would be more if I never told the kids about it. If I am a little short for cash the plastic cup always gets hit for ice cream, soda or candy. One time I used it to pay for for gas, so its not all the kids fault.
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
All good things to spend that change on. Especially ice cream in Summer.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
26 Feb 10
I have an old fish jar where in I dump only pennies. The other coins I keep to myself because I always find that they're always useful around a vending machine at work. I doubt if the jar already has $90, but I'm sure I'll get other coins if I reached down on the couch corners. It may still not add up to $90, but maybe enough to buy a big mac meal at McDonald's.
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Mmmm, sounds like you have very good eating habits . . . vending machines and McDonald's. Oh no, I'm craving chicken nuggets now.
@magicwin (15)
• Singapore
27 Feb 10
I always use notes to pay for the things im buying so i will get alot of loose changes. I keep them in my wallet and sort of save them then when it comes to the end of the month when i have insufficient money to spend i take out all my loose changes and find that i have another $10 waiting for me! :)
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Hey saving $10 a month would be $120 per year, right? Nice Christmas gift for someone or someones.
@trebliw0 (147)
• Philippines
27 Feb 10
I rather save them in a glass jar, at least I'll get to know how much I have earn and I can just take them out anytime I need some spare change to use..;-p
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Very good point. It's also fun to be able to see the content of the jar grow every day.
@GardenGerty (160665)
• United States
26 Feb 10
We have a bank that has a coin star type machine, but they do not take any fees. They will offer you a voucher for your account or cash. I always have taken the cash.I will put all of my extra change in a jar until I want it for yard sales or for a special project. At Christmas I put my coins, about a quart of them, in a special project that is digging wells in other countries.We adopted this project as a church. I think we dug a well in Malawi. Hubby has various jars of coins. He collects different kinds. If he leaves it out and it falls on the floor it is mine. I am not sure which jar is what. We used to use them for toll roads but have an electronic account for that now it is easier. I am sure he has more than $90 right now.
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
That's a great idea. "Change" for charity. Love it. And I wish my bank had a coin star type of machine. That would be great.
@jennybianca (12912)
• Australia
27 Feb 10
I havent saved loose change for a very long time, until recently. My daughter wants to buy a dog, a Chinese Crested. They are about $600. We have a jar where we put loose change towards buying her! Plus, she is also fund raising for cancer. She has to spend 24 hours at a camp walking in a relay. She needs to raise at least $100. So we have a jar for loose change for that too.
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
2 Mar 10
Two very good reasons. May your change be multiplied fast!!!
@mkmsam531 (267)
• Philippines
15 Mar 10
We save our loose change in a small jar.If i see coins on the floor, i immediately put it in the jar. Usually, the change is used by my son to buy some candies or biscuits in the store. In our country, you can bring your loose change in a bank and deposit it over the counter. Or you can donate it to charity cans which is available in the cashier area of a store.
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
28 Mar 10
It's good to have that extra cash huh? My son usually uses our loose change for a drink at the gas station. Recently though, he saved enough change to buy drum sticks and a new symbol. That's quite a stash he had.
@primeaque86 (8108)
• Philippines
27 Feb 10
Well, I don't bring them to bank but save in my coin saver, and after a month or two, use for paying bills...
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
You can pay bills with coins?
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
26 Feb 10
I save my loose change sometimes and at home, I do have $50-$100 at times, depending on the situation. I keep them stashed in a special area at my home and you never know sometimes when you need some cash at hand. What I sometimes do is I go to the bank and change to stacks of $2 or something. And those coins come in handy too. My sister loves gift certificates so that's awesome too.
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Wow, up to $100. That's pretty sweet. I would go buy some new clothes since I don't get to do that very often.
1 person likes this
@zed_k4 (17589)
• Singapore
1 Mar 10
Heehee, I can think of ways to spend the money too.
@celticeagle (166976)
• Boise, Idaho
26 Feb 10
Yes, I do! I save it in a big cup I recieved from a job I had. I had a close friend that used to throw his pennies on the car floor. It really aggravated me. I was brought up in a post-depression era household. I have used CoinStar and even counted the coins before to see if it was accurate. I use this money I save for that end of the month shortage that seems to always happen.
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Uw, throwing pennies on the car floor. That would aggravate me too. Sounds like a messy car. I just put my change in the ash tray. Ah, well that's just me.
1 person likes this
@celticeagle (166976)
• Boise, Idaho
27 Feb 10
Takes all kinds to make a world, ya know?
@lynnemg (4529)
• United States
26 Feb 10
We save our change and when it is time to cash it in, I just take it to my bank. They don't charge anything to cash it in as long as you have an account there. I can't say that we have $90 in change lying around, as a matter of fact, I know we don't, but it does add up when it is lying around. As a matter of fact, we just cashed our change in earlier this week because I had my ring fixed and we had to use the change to pay for it. Our total, just from the beginning of the year, was $54. Not too bad for just under 2 months of saving, in my opinion. We are trying to get to the point where we no longer have to cash it in, but do so because we want to. It will be so niice when the day comes that we have been able to save and can afford a vacation or something similar.
2 people like this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
$54 is pretty good savings. Do you have to roll up the money in order to bring it into the bank? That must take a while?
@13tyates (1606)
• United States
28 Feb 10
We have a jar that we put all our change in, when it feels up we will take it to our bank that has a "Coinstar" type machine and put them in and put the money into a savings account we have it at our bank! It really is amazing how fast the change adds up! We always try to let the jar fill up! It may not be alot but it is always a nice little extra bonus!
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
28 Mar 10
Yeah, we're still trying to find a bank with a coin machine. It seems like you have to be a customer of that bank. My bank doesn't have it. They also won't let me turn in rolled coins. Something about them taking too much time to count it and if the teller doesn't count it we might have shorted them. Go figure.
@agrant10 (1476)
• United States
26 Feb 10
My spouse and I do save all of our loose change. We have it in a container. We are saving for a vacation this summer. We will probably go to the CoinStar machine when we are ready to cash it in. It is going to be very interesting to see exactly how much we have saved. Then the next year we will try to beat that total.
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Remember CoinStar takes a fee. I'm just sayin'. You would want every penny saved for that vacation.
@jambi462 (4576)
• United States
26 Feb 10
My girlfriend and I put our change in this old paint ball container that I have on our dresser. We save our change up until the jar is full and then we cash it in at a coin star. We then take the money and go on a trip to go out to eat in some other town and go to a bookstore there or something to buy some cool new books. Last time we cashed in our jar we had 97.77 dollars.
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Totally fun!!! And that's quite a nice pay day!
• United States
26 Feb 10
yes i did. we have a big jar here and thats where our loose change piling up. Then,i bring it in the bank and put it in the coin machine . then take the receipt to the teller and i got $120 lol.. Our bank is taking the rolled up coins.
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
$120 is awesome. I could eat for a month.
• United States
26 Feb 10
We save our change all the time. It goes into a sorter and when we have accumluated enough we take it to the bank and deposit it. I prefer this option over the CoinStar machine becase even something as simple as 9 cents on the dollar adds up and take away from the money you could be using for yourself. I would also much rather have real cash instead of a gift card anyways.
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
I agree. But I wonder how much time it takes to count, roll up and then go to the bank with it. And cash probably is my preference too, though I do love my Itunes.
@Mady2791 (545)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Yes, I have exchanged it a few times through the bank or Coinstar. I have used it for many things like clothes for my kids , their birthday presents or something for me. One time I had got back almost $200 dollars.
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
27 Feb 10
Wow!! $200? That's amazing.
@hofferp (4734)
• United States
26 Feb 10
I save all of my change in a jug. And when the jug's full (usually over $500), I take the jug to my local credit union and they run the coins through their coin machine. There's no charge. I refuse to give up $.09 or $.10 on the dollar to count my change. My change is my "play" money; no paying bills with this collection!
1 person likes this
@gtargirl (5376)
• United States
2 Mar 10
I don't think all banks have these coin machines, or at least, not all banks are willing to give us the use of them. They will make us roll the money ourselves, which means putting your name and address on each roll. Maybe that's changed. I think I will ask a bank teller next time I walk into a bank. I'm not to thrilled to give up 9 cents on the dollar either especially on $500. That's quite a chunk we'd be paying.