Good idea, though I don't use it. Having been a personal financial advisor for almost twenty years, I always have enough in bank account to cover even unexpected expenses.

My son's clown business involves having quite a bit of his income in the form of change.

He has trouble getting change rollers from the bank, and has bought a number of them at the Dollar store, so it costs him to roll his own change.

My bank gives me some change roller tubes at no cost, so all that it costs me to roll his change is a bit of time - which I can invest when I choose.

So when I take $50.00 in rolled change of his to the bank - I get the whole $50.00.

A penny saved - is better than a penny of extra employment income (as it has not yet had income tax deducted).

Good wishes for making each of your dollars (marks, yen, francs, dinars, hwan, etc.) work hard for you and yours.

joyful Ed

My parents do this. They save their change for a year and then they spend a night counting and rolling. When they are finished they have enough for a nice night out on the town and what is left they donate to a charity.

We have one of those big water juggy things. We put our change in their when we think about it. We (DH and I) just don't think of it often. The other thing I have done is buy my kids penny banks. They put much of my change in their penny bank. I keep telling them it's their college fund and that they have to save their money to get things they want. The penny banks have to be broken to get the money out, so they can't get to the money until the bank is full and then it goes to the bank... (that is what I tell them).

Ginger

There was a thread on this forum some time ago when someone posted a website that lists banks in every state that have free coin counting machines. commerce Bank was one of them.

Here's the link

Here is a link that might be useful: free coin counting machines

My sisters and I were talking about this last weekend. They have both saved phenomenal amounts of money simply by collecting their change. I have a nice vase on my dresser for change, but I can't say I've had quite the same results. Part of it is my change gets so easily diverted!

We have a pop machine at work, and people rarely have change, so I keep a handful of silver in a mug on my desk, so people can get change.

I drive around town a lot, and am often pulling up to meters for an hour or two. I keep quarters and dimes in the cupholder in the car, so I can park with impunity.

I do my clothes at the laundromat, so I'm regularly raiding the change vase for quarters.

I suppose I could simply get a roll of quarters every week or so for the mug and the car and the laundry -- but that seems to sorta defeat the purpose. Still, I am accumulating a lot of pennies and nickels! (Thanks for the link to the free counting machines!)

Hi again all,

Son has a small plastic tray with sized depressions for each type of coin - aids a lot in counting.

It's easy to juggle coins in one's hand to arrange a number to lie side by side in a roll which can then be picked up to drop into the designated depression.

Then he has another plastic thing-ee that has a cylinder on each end, with an open, funnel-shaped hole in the middle.

Pick up the counted roll of change, drop it into the slot, slide the pile into one end, drop the rolled tube into the other end, tip the tubed holder toward the end with the wrapper - presto! the pile of change slips easily through the middle and piles up in the wrapper, ready to close down the open end.

If your wrappers are flat, slip a magic marker with a blunt end into the tube, fold over the end four or five times, then slide it into the one tubed end - (you'll get better results if you put the blocked end of the roller tube at the furthest end of the assembler tube).

Works really well.

Biggest problem - sorting the coins by type.

Find a piece of aluminum sheet (galvanized or painted steel will do, but harder to shape it). Cut a piece somewhat larger than enough to hold a handful of coins, then with Vise-grip locking pliers tip up the edges near one corner to leave a hole just large enough for a dime to slide through.

The dimes from your handful of coins will slide down into a container, the other coins will stay in the original holder.

Cut another piece of aluminum of similar size, twist at one corner just enough larger than the hole for dimes to allow a penny to go through but not larger coins.

Or ... you may choose to make the reservoir for coins a little larger, then twist the edges near another corner to the size required to allow, after the (smaller) dimes have gone, only pennies to go through.

Prepare another slot large enough to allow nickels through.

Then all that will be left will be quarters (barring a rare half dollar).

Unless you're a Canadian resident - in which case you'll have brass-coloured Loonies (Cdn$1.00 coin) quite a lot larger than a quarter and, more recently released, brass- and nickel-coloured Toonies/Twonies (Cdn $2.00 coin), somewhat larger than a Loonie.

Don't have any idea what to do with them (?).

I appreciate your interest and presence.

joyful guy

My father did this religiously! How many of you remember the little "booklets" available at the bank that had slots for pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters...?

I had forgotten ALL about it until I caught a bit of the Oprah show some years back... the guest was Suze Orman. She suggested this technique as a method of drumming up "extra" cash to apply to CREDIT CARD DEBT... .

The "lightbulb" glowed... I began doing it and rolling the proceeds over to the principal of my (easily affordable) car loan. By "rounding" the payment up to the next even denomination and adding the "found" money in the pocket change, I turned a 3 year loan into a 2 year loan, WITHOUT A SHRED OF SACRIFICE.

Thanks, Suze. But most of all, thanks, DAD, for providing the ready example for all those years. My only regret is he didn't live long enough for me to relate this story with him; nor did he have the time to see us burn our mortgage...

I grew up with wonderful examples of patience and frugality. I was so, so VERY fortunate!

Hi Chelone,

Wouldn't surprise me if you find out, when you get to the Great Beyond, that your Dad knows.

ole joyful

Maybe you're right! and it'll be good fodder for conversation if that's the case, won't it?

Hi again, Chelone,

Think we'll be like cows, lying there contentedly, chewing away on their cuds?

Figuring that they have the world by the tail!

Sure will be interesting times, I expect.

ole joyful

P.S. At age 74, probably a good chance that I may find out before too many years. EB