A Little Change Goes a Long Way

Want an easy way to have a little more money at the end of the month? Toss your change in a bank or a jar or even a cup at the end of every day, and then at the end of the month, take to the bank, and cash it in. It’s as simple as that. Or the concept is anyway. The finer details may be a bit more complex, but not too much. Just make sure that your bank allows you to turn in your change for cash without any charges. If they don’t you may have to try and find a coin sorting machine to use, but many of those cost extra as well.

So what should you do? Easy, buy a coin sorting bank and wrap your own change. Then most banks, and many other places, will let you exchange them for cash. Even if you can’t turn them in, many places will accept a roll of quarters the same they would a ten dollar bill.

But, can you really save any money? It’s still your money isn’t it? Think about it, what do you do with spare change that you don’t use during your day? Either you load it up in your pockets or purse and be one of those people who everyone hates standing in line behind who always has exact change (usually in pennies and nickels) or let it sit on your table doing nothing until it gets knocked under the couch, lost in the couch, or sucked up in the vacuum. Look at it this way:

Say you spend $2.14 on a drink on your way to work 5 days a week. You give the clerk $3 and get back 86 cents. Take that change back ($.86) times 5 days a week and you have $4.30 in change lying around somewhere. That’s just over $17 a month in change. Put that in a jar, turn it in to your bank at the end of the month, and put it in a high yield savings account. Or just keep putting the cash you get in a safe place and use it to pay extra on your bills, save for a vacation, or put in an emergency only fund. Just by saving that 86 cents 5 days a week, you could save just over $200 in a year. From one daily purchase alone.

If throwing all your change in a jar seems to extreme, or you need some of it for other things (such as quarters for laundry) keep the quarters out and use them at the store. That way when the purchase comes to $2.14, you give the clerk $2.25, you get back 9 cents for your jar, but you don’t feel like you “wasted” an extra dollar. Do this for all, or even the majority, of your cash purchases, and you’ll have extra money saved for that time you want to pay more on a bill or you have an emergency.