A huge change jar fan here (well, in our case it is a change bowl...but same difference). It ends up providing us with a few hundred dollars a year--we tend to use the money for nice meals when traveling. There is nothing like a "free upgrade" due to the change that accumulates week to week!

For me, change is clutter. I use it up as I go.

we have two! One for all the annoying 1, 2 and 5 cent pieces here in Paris, and another for the gold coins. Its amazing how much you can save by emptying your pockets! we had 140€ last time! =)

I love all of it...except #6: I like the idea of saving for a party, but suggesting others contribute is a bit crass.

Never heard of a rent party lawruh?

These are nice ideas. Unfortunately I'm a stickler for using my credit-card (1% cash-back on all purchases) and getting interest on savings. Therefore change jars and I will never be.

HA!

my husband serves at a restaurant therefore we have about $100 a month in change. we put it all in savings. this year along with our tax refund we will be able to pay off our 2 year old car.

Coinstar keeps this fact oddly quiet, but if you cash in your coins at a Coinstar machine and get a gift card, the merchant pays the Coinstar fee. So you get the full cash value of your coins.

Several merchants participate in this plan. I cash my coins in monthly for an Amazon.com gift card. I ordinarily save around $35 - $50 per month in coins. They pay for most of my Kindle books.

I agree with LittleMissSunshine. I use my credit cards whenever possible for the points/cash back. The money I spent on my wedding gave me enough points to cover the honeymoon. However, I do have a piggy bank; over the past 5 years, I've accumulated about $2.

Years ago (17, if my math is right) husband & I paid for our modest $700 Nantucket honeymoon with quarters, dimes and nickels saved in a fancy bottle from a bar (batchelor decor!) We didn't plan to do that, we just ran out of cash paying for the big event and didn't feel like starting married life with a debt. Cash (or in this case, coin) is king!

We use a glass Oberweis milk jug for change. I wish I could do ALL of these ideas, but it would take me years to get to all of them! Our current jar is for a new point and shoot camera...borrriiing.

I really like the idea on #1! We aren't able to exchange gifts this year but for a minute I thought about suggesting this over the camera fund and throwing the camera on the best buy card...

I don't seem to get a lot of change since I just use my debit card for most things. The change I do gather I tend to separate quarters out for parking meters and anytime I'd need change on weekend - plus a few times I've counted up a $20 in quarters to put in nice handpainted jars for friends who have to go the laundromat route for their clothing.

All other change gets saved up until our change jar is full and dumped into the local Coinstar machine. Yes, you lose a bit of money that way - but I rarely count the change sitting around as "true" money, so it's like getting a nice bonus of money.

I take coffee cans and decoupage them with celebrity images (sounds corny, but it is really is an homage) to make piggy banks. Here is a Morrissey example:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/11464603@N00/2495184247/in/set-72157605076756044/

For those who have them TD Bank has a coin counting machine. Dump your coins in, it spits out a receipt, take you receipt to the teller and they give you all your money. No fees AND you don't have to have an account there to use their machine!

I use my change jar as my iTunes fund jar. Once full I take it to a coinstar and fund my semi-yearly media purchases since I cut cable over a year ago.

Our family uses the coin jar for emergency lunch money, on those days when mom is just too dang tired to pack lunches.

Ever since I've stopped using my debit and switched to spending what I had in my pocket, I've been plagued with change. The change jar has been something of a lifesaver.

I take a handful of coins from my change jar at the end of the week and put it in a pouch to carry to the farmers' market. The sellers always appreciate being paid with correct change. I can't count the number of times I've received a delighted smile or a grateful "thank you."

(Admittedly, I live in Australia where the 1 and 2 dollar coins make it a bit more valuable to carry around lots of change).

Keep in mind, credit card/debit card users, that simply using plastic instead of cash means you spend, on average, 20% more than people who use cash. So, those "great points" may not be all that much to write home about...

Before I got a nicer espresso grinder, I used to use canned espresso. I use a can for all my change now, and a couple times a year I separate it out into other jars so I can grab quarters for toll roads, etc when needed. I didn't know that about Coinstar, though... I'll have to look into that. Daddy may be buying a Kindle for Christmas this year...

The last time I emptied mine -- a huge glass jar from a restaurant -- it came out to over $500. My intention was to get a little "mad money", but when it came in so high, it blew me away and I went straight from the TD bank to my own bank and put it in savings!

Change jars rule! We save on average about $500 to $600 per year. Been doing this for years.

We save ours all year until just before each family vacation. We use the proceeds, usually several hundred dollars, for one special activity that we all agree on, or an upgrade in the activity to make it even more special.

I absolutely love idea #1!! Once I have enough in our change jar to buy the rug I really want, I'll suggest it to hubby - for next year. :) Lots of other great ideas too! :)

To those who only pay with credit cards, do realize that when you pay with plastic you are effectively paying about 95 cents on the dollar for your bill and dont get me started regarding leaving tips on credit cards. So if like where you are shopping or the service you received you might consider paying in cash, I'm just saying...

We have two piggybanks...the owl on the bookshelf gets the quarters for the washing machine, and the cute little piggy gets everything else that eventually goes to Coinstar, woo!

When I dont feel like cooking....I pour out some change from my change container and buy sushi! I have walked into our sushi place with two rolls of quarters and they dont mind a bit!

Change jars rule. but there are many options, far more stylish than on old jar. (hint, hint, bloggers)

I use my credit card for pretty much everything over $10 too, but I still have a change jar and I take the money a few times a year and put it toward my mortgage principle. It's an extra couple of hundred a year, and it adds up on that prinicple! (Yes, I do pay off my card each month).

I save up my change and about quarterly I cash them in at the change machine at TD Bank here in NYC. Then I take the money and split it between two college fund accounts for my grand niece and nephew. At the rate I'm going (plus a $10 a month contribution per child) by the time they reach college age, I should be able to cover them each for at least two semesters depending on what college they go to.

Every Christmas, we use the contents of our change jar to buy ourselves a present (that we label "from Santa"). We ended up with almost $200 at the end of last year in our change jar, so we bought ourselves a Wii!

I used to save up my change to donate at church. One Sunday a month the kids in the religious classes would collect members' pocket change for a charity of their choice. They called it the "Noisy Offering" and used big plastic jars as containers and shook them as they collected. It made for a fun way to donate. I don't get much change but I save it in a jar out of habit. It often goes to kids fundraising door-to-door. What can I say, I'm unable to say no to a candy bar. :P

On a side note, I live in a state where we pay a deposit on many of our soda and beer containers. As a poor college student, I saved them along with my coin jar as my "rainy day" fund.

We have a GIANT piggy bank that gets most of our change - with the exception of change we receive while in the car, which goes into a coin slug for tolls and meters.

We bank with Bank of America and use their "Keep the Change" program - essentially purchases are rounded up to the next dollar, and the difference is swept off into our savings account. BoA matches your Keep the Change savings 100% for the first 3 months, then 5% annually. We've saved 462.94 in the last 3 years this way.

I don't even have a very big jar, but the last time I emptied it, it was worth $142! Talk about a shock, I went to the bank thinking I would get $30-$40.

The TD Bank machine is quite awesome - they will let you use it even if you don't have an account.

When I was growing up, we had one of those huge jars. My parents said that when it was full, we would do something for the whole family. When we filled it, we got a puppy!

I mostly pay using my credit card (I get the 1% cash back deal, too, and I pay everything off each month), but at small neighborhood businesses, I try to pay cash so they don't have to pay the credit companies' transaction fees. The change goes into the jar, and the cash from the jar goes into my savings account... sometimes. Usually, though, it goes towards buying something I need (like clothes).

@nestchick:

That is killer. I love that...am going to steal your idea (maybe not with Morrissey - maybe I'll use old flapper photos or something)...any excuse to use Mod Podge is a good excuse!

I use an old plastic elementary school work box as my "change jar." My husband and I have had it for the last three years. It paid for our coffee table, our area rug, all meals on a 3-day trip to Las Vegas, a car rental in Ohio... and next will be a fireproof safe for our important documents. I regularly bring the change to my bank and they convert it for free.

I hate carrying change around so I dump it in the container as soon as I get home. It's amazing how quickly the coins add up! It's like getting a several hundred dollar bonus at the end of every year. =)

I had a change jar saved up before I went to Vegas last weekend. I would even put $20 bills in there because if I didn't know I had it I wouldn't miss it. I ended up saving $150 for my trip and I'm proud. I have a very had time saving even in a savings account.

I've never been a change jar person but when I moved in with my boyfriend, I inherited his enormous change jars. He said, "If you want to count out all this change, you can spend whatever is in here on decor items and art and such for the house." There was $1200 in those jars! I bought a Noguchi coffee table.

I have a nice antique-ish tin as a change jar. It fills rather slowly when I prefer to use my credit card and I use all the quarters for laundry.

After getting annoyed with my boyfriend's change piling up around my apartment, I also gave him a change jar. Not as pretty, but it gets the job done. I've marked a line near the top to mark when he will have to buy me drinks. :)

If you decide to donate to the Salvation Army bell ringers please change the coins up. They don't need all that extra work counting heaps of change. They politely request this be done in our community. Can't blame them.

that sounds fun, but our jar only collects pennies. Most of the time, the change in my wallet is all I have.

I use mostly plastic, but I still rely on cash too - not all delis, restaurants and bars take cash! I earn Thank you points on my citicard - which earns me gift certificates at the end of the year (Last week I just bought a lovely canon digital cam) Anyway, I have used a change jar to save up money for play money on trips or wedding gifts. I love that it's basically money you would otherwise not miss.

Just cash it in frequently or hide the jar. We had a huge water bottle (the kind they deliver) half full of change and our house was broken into and it was stolen. Cops won't do anything even if you know who it was.

Growing up, my parents had several change jars (still do). When they'd get full, we'd spend the night laying on the floor, separating all the change by type (nickels in one pile, dimes in another, etc.), and then parcelling it out between us. We didn't get an "allowance" when I was younger, but this would have been it.
I'd then put all of my new change into my piggy bank and start saving up for a trip to the movies.

Now, I keep my change in a similar bottle to what my parents had - I call it my "moonshine change jar," but it originally housed a large amount of sangria. It serves as a doorstop in my bedroom. Someday, I'll fill it.

My fiance has collected change for years - he literally had a hundred pounds of change we had to schelp up 2 flights of stairs when we moved in together. It turns out it was upwards of $4,000 (no lie!) and he used it for my engagement ring. I've since stopped complaining about the change :-)

You overlooked a classic- the swear jar! ; )

Great ideas!
http://felicitylingle.blogspot.com

TD bank charges if you don't have an account. Something that started Nov. 1st. I was very upset to have to give them 6% of my change. I didn't find out until after I put my money in the machine.

I use a really pretty tea tin that I got as a gift a few years ago. Whenever it gets to about the 3/4 mark I roll all of the change and throw it in a canvas bag in the bottom of my coat closet. There's about $350 in there right now, and the jar is getting close to another cleanout. My very small local credit union doesn't have a machine, so I just print my account info on small labels and slap them on the rolls and turn them in. I used to be a head cashier, so I can count it all out really fast, and it's something relatively mindless to do with my hands while I watch Scrubs reruns. I haven't decided what to do with the money yet. I'm in grad school, so it might involuntarily become an emergency end-of-summer grocery fund when I'm waiting for the student loan check.

I have one of these. It's our Franzia fund jar.

I use mine up as I go, too. If I start to accumulate too many pennies or something else weighty, I dump it into the donations box at MacDonalds or somewhere.

Great excuse to buy cute folk art piggybanks. I'd never mix pennies and other change, though. I have two giant bell jars full of pennies. In NYC it's a pain to find a bank that has change machines--most require paper rolls. Bah.

Do you need an account at TD to use the "penny arcade"? TD has terrible services so no account there.

"Keep in mind, credit card/debit card users, that simply using plastic instead of cash means you spend, on average, 20% more than people who use cash. So, those "great points" may not be all that much to write home about..."

One, no accredited study exists supporting this.

Two, let's assume it is true, it would likely include the statistics of those card-users who are not financially savvy and go into high consumer debt which would skew those numbers considerably. Believe it or not there are folks who use a credit card as a payment form, a budgeting tool, even for investing, and pay it off in full every month.
If anything I personally spend more with cash because I can't really track it (unless I'm willing to write down each purchase--which I'm not). Psychologically I tend to view cash as money already out the bank and there's a "no turning back now" aspect (unless I'm willing to drive to my bank and fill out a deposit form--which I'm not). I tent to spend cash in vending machines, when people ask to borrow money, it gets lost or stolen.

I make about $100 each January with my CC, pay it off in full every month so I've never accrued interest. I get a free 1 month float, which means an extra month I get to keep in savings, is 1.10% interest earned (in addition to the 1% earned by my CC for spending it in the first place). Not to mention that my savings compounds monthly, so even when I take the money out eventually to pay off the card, I still get to keep the interest I earned from not spending the cash at the time purchase and it rolls over to accrue interest in the following month and so on.

Some people may say that CCs make you spend more because when you're out of cash, then you can't spend it. This fails in a lot of people's circumstances because many CC users have the funds to exceed their CC purchases but choose not to spend the cash now, vs, later. Another fail is that even if I used cash only and ran out of funds, if I had no self-control and wanted something badly enough I could just start tapping into my savings. So really, the only sure way to not be able to spend money without a credit card is to literally have no funds, anywhere---which is not a reality for most people.

Anywho, didn't mean to turn this into a financial post but the point is, vague stats don't really explain anything an they certainly don't apply to everyone. It only takes 1 screw up to make everyone else seem slightly more incompetent.

We have a tin, which is almost full, now I come to think about it...
When living in the US, I loathed the penny thing - some bus drivers & the like tried to tell foreigners that they wouldnt take them - they were so annoying.

Coming back to Australia, had to readjust to the gold coins thing. And remembering which coins where to collect for laundrettes get confusing.

Got my husband a beautiful Paul Smith wallet for his bday. It has NO coin compartment, so his pockets, my purse, and any handbag lying around, is now weighted with coins. I once managed to pay for $16 worth of coffees in silver...

I work for TD Bank and yes, it is true that as of November 1st, we have started charging non-TD customers a 6% fee for using the Penny Arcade (what we call our change counting machine). Coinstar, at least in my area, charges 8.9%. The service is still free for account holders.

Also, if you go to a branch and ask, you can get a free TD bank to put that change in.

I also keep a coin jar. I keep it on a shelf by the door because in addition to putting change in it, I have begun charging myself a $1 "toll" when I leave the house each day to try and save up for a bigger apartment.