Speaking of coins...

Russell · #1 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 10:49 AM

Last week I brought a jar full of coins to my local grocery store where they have one of those Coin Star machines.

Typically the machine keeps a % of the money as coin-counting fee. However, now they give you the option to buy a gift-card from Star Bucks, Amazon.com etc instead of taking cash and waive the coin-counting fee. I buy a lot of stuff from Amazon so naturally I picked the Amazon option.

Now I was thinking I'd $40 or so in change but it was $107. Needless to say I came home and bought $150 stuff from Amazon...

akaivyleaf · #2 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 12:11 PM

Thats a nicer option than the company getting a percentage of the change.

DivaJen · #3 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 12:17 PM

Interesting - wonder if any of ours have that sbux option.

Russell · #4 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 01:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DivaJen

Interesting - wonder if any of ours have that sbux option.

Are you kidding ? A coinstar machine in CA and not have SBUX option ?

Check out their website link I posted above, if you punch in your zip, it'll tell you what they carry.

DivaJen · #5 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russell

Are you kidding ? A coinstar machine in CA and not have SBUX option ?

Check out their website link I posted above, if you punch in your zip, it'll tell you what they carry.

LOL! Good point.

I don't see Coin Star in Vons, which is where I shop if I'm not shopping at Trader Joe's. And, most of the Vons here also have Sbux inside. Wouldn't THAT be convenient for feeding my sbux addiction?

Tree0164 · #6 (**permalink**) 08-18-2005, 05:47 PM

We have a lot of change... hmmm maybe getting an amazon gift card for Christmas would be great!

Tree0164 · #7 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 11:45 AM

I got all excited for awhile and looked at the website. I didn't Amazon listed. I guess I am going to actually take a look at coinstar machine.

PRICEPLUS · #8 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 05:36 PM

I have a sort and save piggy bank. I roll my own coins and deposit them in the bank. I just can't see my way clear to give anyone some of my money for something I can do myself.

cercis · #9 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 05:42 PM

I agree priceplus.

My boys have a 5 gallon watercooler bottle that they are saving money in. I told them when they filled it we would go to DisneyWorld. I have a feeling it will be a 3 day process to count and roll those coins, but we'll do it unless our CU will do it for free (this one does, but we might move again before it is full).

But we'll do it without the bank because I don't want to spend money to buy something we won't use that often (I can see it being helpful when you put your change there everyday).

PRICEPLUS · #10 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 05:52 PM

Cercis,

I got my bank at a garage sale for .50 cents. One of the best investments I ever made. Counting out coins can be a family affair with a guessing contest involved. Makes for a good way to spend a rainy afternoon with the kids.

cicy33 · #11 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 08:13 PM

We did (and do) the five gallon thing. We take it and go on vacation with it. This was our first this year. we went to the Smokey Mountains. It probably took us about 3 1/2 hours to roll almost $500 in change. We had only been saving about 7 months. There was also cash in there but that didn't take any time to count. In addition to the change we throw in a dollar now and then if we have extra. The yard sale I just had went into the jar. I only made about $70 but everything was a quarter. and I live in a rural area. The way we counted the change was we dumped it a bit at a time in the middle of our kitchen table and each child was assigned a coin (we have 4) so they would pull only their coin out and after they were all seperated we set them in stacks.

cercis · #12 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 08:22 PM

We've been saving for 2 years, but it's strictly the kids' project. DH and I give them change when they've had an especially good behavior day.

They also put in money from their bdays and xmas. They have several 1's and 5's and a few 10's and 20's. I figure they have about $400 in there and it's a 5th of the way full.

As soon as the nature park opens back up the kids and I are going to start volunteering on their volunteer days. I'll give the kids a salary for their help, all in change for their jar.

I want the jar to take another 2 years or so to fill. I want my youngest to be at least 7 (he's 5 now) before we take such a big trip. I figure at 7 he should be old enough to have lots of good memories. I figure I'll also have them do a lot of the planning and help write a budget. They'll use the internet (with my help) to search for the lowest price for the options they want (for instance, if they want a meal with a character, they will search to find out the cheapest way to do it).

PRICEPLUS · #13 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 08:27 PM

Sounds like the kids will have a lot of fun and get an educational experience as well. Good luck!

cicy33 · #14 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 08:50 PM

Sounds like a good plan. We stopped giving the kids the extra change we had when we made our plan and they understand that it goes to the jar. If they want a nice vacation then I feel that they must be willing to give up some things as well. And if that means a few less trips to the dollar store for more junk they will lose interest in a day then so be it. they are very good about it and had so much fun on the last trip. I agree on the disney world thing. I want mine to actually be a little older than they are now before we go there. 7, 8, 9 and 10. I want to make sure they can ride on what they want.

cercis · #15 (**permalink**) 08-20-2005, 08:58 PM

The size thing was another factor. We're expecting our 5yo to be big enough to ride most of the rides. Our current 7yo is tall enough to ride all the rides at silver dollar city and the 5yo is tracking to be taller than him. I'm fairly tall and come from a line of tall people. My genes seem to be dominant for height.

I'd never really given my kids change to spend, so they don't even know about the idea of getting money to spend on whatever the want.

It's taking so long to fill the bottle because DH and rarely spend cash. We put most things on the credit card (and pay off monthly) so we can get the cashback/dividends. I'll actually have to get rolls of coins from the CU to pay them for volunteering with me.

akaivyleaf · #16 (**permalink**) 08-21-2005, 01:34 PM

My change jar is slowly filling up as well, because I very rarely have change. I have been saving my change since January 1 and it might have 2 inches worth of change. Be that as it may... I'll wait until Sometime in December to count it, I might be pleasantly suprised at how much is in there, between that and the console in my car...