apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

It's been adding up in a carboy for years. No worries about it being stolen - it weighs a ton!

At the end of every day, I empty my pockets and bag and put all my spare change in a large opaque vase on my bookshelf When it's full, I donate all of the money to charity. It's amazing how much it adds up!

bag it and put it in the bank periodically.

We dump our loose change into a old glass vase/empty fish bowl. Once a year, I clean it out and roll the coins because it is full. It comes out to about $350.00. Have you ever tried to carry $350.00 worth of rolled change to the bank?! Hernia city!

We have no set use for the change, but in the past we have always used it on our vacations to cover a dinner or two. Now that a baby is entering the picture, I think we will probably dump the money into a savings account for the little one....well at least until he is old enough to steal the change from the jar and thereby reduce the chances of a hernia.

I've been sticking $30 in pennies up my ass for the past 11 years! That's 3,000 pennies a day; 21,000 pennies a week; 1,092,000 pennies a year! To date that's 12,012,000 pennies, 8 times the population of Nebraska. Those pennies were in my ass! You think you're better than me? Oh, you're not better than me. You handle my ass pennies everyday. You pick up my ass pennies for good luck. You throw my ass pennies in fountains and make wishes on them. You give my ass pennies to your little daughter to buy gumballs with.

UCB that was such a funny skit!!

I guess I'm the boring one - I keep it in my wallet and use it.

We had a glas jar with lid, but it got to small, so now we have a square dark brown basket.

Use the money once every 3 months and go on a date movie, 3 course dinner dancing ( just for me and Hubby )
that is off course after we have cashed it in @ the bank, don't wanne pay for a dinner with a bag of cents.

Commerce Bank here in the city has free coin counting. I keep mine in an old Flake tin and when it gets sort of heavy I take it in. It usually amounts to about $25 which I then put towards quarters for laundry.

Our local "variety store" (most likely, it's a numbers front) sells defective brightly-colored plastic piggy banks from China that have a slit at the top for putting in coins but no opening or plug at the bottom for taking them out. We wait until it's full, then cut it open, roll the coins and apply the cash to our vacation expenses; usually it's earmarked for the car service to and from the airport.

I keep my pennies separate from my other change. When I accumulate a fair amount of pennies I dump them into the "Penny Arcade" (it'll take all your change not just pennies) over at a nearby Commerce Bank, get a receipt and submit it for cash at a teller. I had enough to buy a pair of Old Navy cargo shorts the last time.

My change goes into an inappropriately small chocolate box I keep on my dresser. For the time being it sits there as a minor obstacle to quickly finding laundry money.

I don't save change--I use it all in the vending machines at work. But $350? Maybe I should.

We save ours mainly in two little copper jars I inherited from my grand grand aunt; when they fill up, I sit down in front of the TV and count them up while I watch. Last time we had over $100. I usually deposit it into the bank and then the next time I buy a splurge item, I don't feel so bad!

i keep change in an old milk jar too! And, i just took it all to coinstar today. coinstar usually takes a percentage of your coins, but not if u donate them to a non-profit. And those charitable donations are tax deductible, which is just one more thing to think about this time of year.

we have a giant blue-glazed clay bowl on a table near the front door and drop our daily pocket stuff in there... stuff = everything from restaurant candies and pens to kinder egg toys and random perfume samplers. it's a memory soup of days. we drop coins in there too.

In Canada the coins can add up to a lot of cash: $1 Loonie coins (called Loonies because of the loon on the 'tails' side) and $2 Toonie coins (called Toonies, well, because it's a two dollar coin and the polar bear on the 'tails' side just didn't inspire its own nickname -- poor bears) make for a killer month-end fancy dinner out with good wine and a big tip!... and the candies that come with the cheque? yup, into the bowl.

Last weekend my boyfriend and I combined our change (collected in coffee cans) to buy Christmas presents. We took it to Commerce bank and got 704 clams!

I keep mine in a little metal Snoopy lunchbox. Whenever my dog needs food, we walk to the bank, cash the change in, get him a treat from the tellers and then go buy the dog food!

It's a nice little ritual!

And I love the penny arcade machine at Commerce! It is nice to cash my change in and not have anyone take a cut.

Take it to commerce, I am surprised by the end of the month to cash in my coins and have 30 dollars good for a trip to the movies.

At the end of each day, I dump half my quarters into a change purse I've designated for laundry money. The other quarters, pennies and such go into an old vase. Once every three months or so I take what I've collected to bank and change it out. It's then placed into an account I've set aside for my 40th Birthday blowout - I have another three years to decide how it will be spent.

Until recently my change jar was a pint size rubber made pitcher. I decided to chuck it and get a real piggy bank from Container Store. The haul on the old one, less Coinstar fees, was about $35. Urban Outfitters has this cool owl shaped ceramic one. I went to get it yesterday and saw that it was huge. The size of a small table lamp base. I have no need to accumulate that much change (Estelle, put that money back in circulation).

I used to roll but it's too much trouble. And the 181st Street Citibank refused to cash them once (after five years of doing it). Some trumped up lie about having to deposit it first. And I had an account there.

Marie, what an adorable tradition for you and your dog! I really love that, so sweet!

I am a houseplant enthusiast, so it was a natural step to put three funky cache pots in a row on the top of my fridge for sorting change. (Which also stops me from piling other crap on top of my fridge.) Quarters in one, saved for laundry and parking. Dimes and nickels go in another, and I have rolled these up to take to the credit union on occasion, when I've been a little strapped. Pennies kept separate...mainly because I hate handling masses of pennies*, so I just donate them in a bag whenever a non-profit is doing a penny drive.

(*Am I the only one? Just touching and counting masses of pennies makes my mouth taste weird - it's almost a metallic taste, but unpleasantly so. I always thought it was something to do with my fillings. I discovered it when I was young and counting cash register floats on my first job.)

I live in Canada also, where we have the $1 and $1 coins, but in my case, these usually get spent within the week, usually at my favourite bistro. But they do add up. At the end of a heavy shopping day, it's nothing to have $20 in change in your wallet. I think no longer having bills for those small amounts tricks us Canadians into thinking we're not spending that much money.

Years ago I got tired of storing change in the apartment, so every moring I put 99 cents in my pocked and paid exact change for everything I bought during the day. I don't remember how long it took to get through the change, but I rarely have more than 99 cents sitting around anymore.

I use copper tins that in my living room, under a former buffet that now serves as my TV "shrine." Here are a couple of photos of it:

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/gallery/album210/P9180112

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/gallery/album210/P9180113

*ahem* That should say $1 and $2 coins. Harumph.

i kept my spare change in a pretty turquoise glass on my dresser. once it got full, i would throw it into a shoebox under my bed. when i got ready to move out of state 7 years later i had to transfer the loot into 3 shoeboxes in order to lift it. i took it to my local coinstar in the hood where people began to gather around me and cheer me on like i had won at slots in a casino. in all i had about 630 dollars...i bought a couch with my "winnings" and have started the same process all over again...

put my change in a dubble bubble tin on my bookshelf. the quarters go for laundry and sometimes toll money. the rest gets put into savings when i finally roll it up and take it to the bank. it's always surprising how much it adds up!

Hubby and I have a gallon-sized jar that we empty our pockets into every night. If/when it gets too full we transfer some of it to smaller mason jars and stick those on a shelf. Once or twice a year we put all the jars in a box, load it onto the luggage cart that we use to drop off and pick up our laundry with and wheel it a few blocks to Commerce Bank. The Penny Arcade does the rest. We average about $1000 a year from our change-saving habit. It's a good way to save some "mad money" without feeling like you're really saving anything.

I am another one who has a glass milk jar on my nightstand and when it gets full I take it to Coinstar. No bank around here will take change, rolled or not. I get the cash if I'm short and push the charity button if I'm flush. And of course I always give the little neighbor girl change from my pockets. Except for quarters ... quarters still count as spending money.

I have a friend who embarked on a really aggressive change program. For over 5 years, she never used so much as a penny to pay for anthing. Nothing made her happier than a bill that came to $X.01. She put all the change into a designated account, and finally used it to buy 2 tickets to Italy for her honeymoon. Unfortunately, their wedding was September 15, 2001, and they were therefore unable to use the tickets. But still, wow. And I think about that every time I see those tv ads for whatever bank it is that has a debit card that automatically rounds up to the next dollar and puts the extra into your savings account. (A system which, by the way, I believe must have been thought up by someone after watching Office Space.)

The best recommendation I can to give to my younger colleagues is to start saving ALL your change. Every day, all the time.

I have been saving ALL my change for over 40 years, and it has been the BEST, non-invasive savings plan ever. I have saved THOUSANDS of dollars, have paid for several cross-country household moves and several trips to Greece.

The vessel that you save in doesn't matter . . . right now mine is an old peanut butter jar . . . it's the savings that is important!!!

Save all your change. Save $1/day. Save, save, save. And $10 saved does NOT mean YAHOO!! $10 to spend!!! $10 saved means $10 saved. DO NOT CHEAT.

In early August I met with a mortgage lender to discuss the purchase of an expensive condo, a deal that had to be secured in only a couple of days. As I laid out my financials for him and the bank to review, the look on his face was PRICELESS when I explained that one of my savings accounts/assessts, in the amount of over $20K was the result of saving my change and my personal weekly savings plan. I thought he was going to fall off his chair!!

I apologize that this is long, but I will add one other note . . . I was out of the country for 9/11 and Katrina. But please remember that in the event of a disaster, having cash on hand may prove to be vital . . . even if it is only jars of coins.

Katrina taught me to at least stockpile a stash of WATER. (That aspect was the scariest of all.) And while I don't have a good emergency supplies, at least I will have CASH on hand.

Major emergency . . . no power, no telephone, no banks . . . no CASH. Consider this if you do everything electronically via debit cards, etc. At the very least, I will have CASH. That might be your best commodity.

My change goes into four glass jars that originally held candles left at a gravesite. They were just tossed when we replaced the candles and I suspect the cemetery wasn't recycling, so I kept a few, washed them out, tucked them in an out-of-the-way corner of the kitchen counter. They're beautiful straight vase-like glasses, heavy, clear. I segregate the coins, use quarters for laundry, pennies for my son's school's annual penny harvest (all proceeds go to a designated charity), and after reading these posts, I'll do an annual count/wrap session on the dimes and nickels. Thank you, magnolia, for the reminder that little quantities can accumulate into significant amounts...

My husband tosses his change in a tin canister in the closet each night. When that got full, he filled up another. When that was full--he said, "Let's go on a 1-night vacation with it."

Dang, there was $180+ in there. That almost paid for our San Francisco hotel room last weekend! (We're on the West Coast.)

Keep it in a jar until it hits top. Then I take it in my strongest sack to the local Commerce Bank (The one with the blue and red signs all over NYC) which has a machine that anyone (not only customers) can use to dump it and get paid back in dollars. Free.

We found a great old/reproduction tin called "Robot Sam" that has...a robot on it. We fill it in and feed "Sam" whenever possible. As soon as he's full we hit the machine at the grocery store and then take ourselves out to an expensive/romantic dinner. Yay!

also, coinstar wont take the 8.9% of your coins if you get an amazon gift certificate. you can get other certificates, too.

i use it to buy stuff for my husband.

Change goes into a glass milk jar weekly, although it is a sensitive subject in our house.

My grandfather saved all his pennies from the time I was born until the day he died and them left all of them to me. I kept them in a nice jar on a bookshelf until my boyfriend (now husband) "borrowed" them to buy a half-gallon of milk.

Most change I just keep and spend on either laundry or stuff. But ever since the 9/11 attacks, I keep an eye out for New York quarters. I keep these in small recipe box throughout the year. At the end of the year I count out this money and donate it all (which isn't usually more than $20) to a people-benefiting charity. My sister thinks this is a little weird to do this but it allows me to remember and help out in the small way that I can.

I personally like to wrap my own coins. Maybe it's because when I was a little girl, I used to sit on my parents' bed for hours counting and wrapping coins with my father. So I have nice memories by doing it now.

I usually put the money in the bank (especially now that I have an ING account, it's easy to accrue interest!) or sometimes, when my finances are a little tight, I'll roll some coins and cash them at the bank for pocket money. Quarters, of course, are designated for laundry!

It's inspiring, though, to think about putting it towards charity or saving it long-term.

I keep mine in a Harvey Nichols cookie tin. I pull out laundry quarters ever so often. I cash them in around my birthday or right before I travel- whichever comes first. I don't accumulate as much change as I used to since I frequently use my debit card, plus there aren't ATMs on every corner here like there are in NYC.

I keep my nickels and dimes in a milk jar just like the one in the picture, pennies go in to mason jars, and quarters go in to a small tin. The pennies have been accumulating for far too long, and the rest of the change goes to Commerce Bank once a year or so. It's usually enough to pay for my plane ticket to go skiing out west.

You call that spare change?

Sorry but I call it money.

I keep it in my wallet and spend it.

Jessica, I'm with you - I keep coins in my purse and spend it when something costs x-dollars plus change.

Melissa, ING is really hitting hard with the advertising right now, but if you check Bankrate.com you will find there are other online e-savings accounts with better rates. ING currently has 4.5, I've had 5.05 on my Emigrant Direct account for a while now, and it isn't an introductory rate. HSBC is at 5.05 and Citibank Direct is at 5.0.
I know this is AT and not a financial site, but while we were on the topic thought I might throw out a few places to make some extra bucks off of your savings!

Jessica, I'm with you, too. Stores appreciate getting change back occasionally; I've never had one who wasn't happy to get a huge handful of pennies, as long as I wasn't holding up a line at a busy time.

As far as saving, we do that by spending less than we earn. No tricks required.

I try to use the coins in my purse all the time. I put the quarters in those old film canistes for laundry day. The rest, I use whenever I can. If something costs 4.92, I'd give 5.42 so that I can get 2 quarters back. If I don't have 0.42, then I try to give 5.02, which gets me a dime change instead of the 0.08 cents which will be heavier. The pennies pile up quickly if you don't use them.

Sorry, that's 8 cents, not 0.08 cents. I think I just did the Verizon 0.002 cents mistake.

Food Emporium has a machine that will swallow your coinse and spit out a receipt, which you can redeem for bills.

Magnolia's right. I saw the trick on Oprah (pay only with full bills, stash the change when you get home at night) and I have at least $60 every month that I can use for emergency money. I bought a coin sorter at Brookstone so that it sorts automatically. I have it stored neatly in a little box on a shelf. Once a month or so I deposit all of this in my checking account -- I will start following Magnolia's advice in the new year and put it in Savings instead.

This string of posts is so boring it's comical.

Got on board this thread pretty late...anyhoo...I separate out the quarters for laundry. The rest goes into a glow-in-the-dark piggy bank from Old Navy. He's got a bat tatooed on his butt and his nose screws off for easy access. This is my second attempt at saving for "something big" in this manner. I failed the first time as I "needed" the cash for other things (gas, electric, etc...). I had been saving for a Mont Blanc pen. I never got that pen, and I could kick myself because I was within $25 of having enough. Now, having pretty much given up on the pen (hoping to stumble upon one at a junk shop where they have no idea what they have) I'm saving for a washing machine! Then I can add the quarters right back into my savings plan for the next big thing! And I do have one of those Bank of America keep the change deals - they round up all of my check card purchases and put it into my savings. I've got $300 in there now!

I first started saving change when I was about 20, throwing everything into a Glenfiddich container, and collected enough to roll up and exchange for cashiers checks at the bank to send in my college applications for 4 year university programs.

Now, I save my change in a metal canister that a friend decorated for me and threw in all her change so I could come home during my first semester at grad school. I wasn't able to come home that time, but I've continued to use the canister as savings.

My husband also saves all his change in jars. We'll be cashing it all in mid-spring to buy tickets for our 2 week European vacation.

It's a great feeling to cash in your huge change jar at the end of a year and get what feels like a free vacation.

But it would be better to have a smaller change jar and just stick it in the bank often or to try to keep it on you and spend with exact change. Money lying around isn't earning interest and is therefore worth less every day.

I try to pay with exact change as often as possible.