What I'm Doing With my Spare Change...

[shultice24]

Thanks, I've heard that since I was a kid and never questioned it.

I assumed the same thing. Then again, I highly doubt many people who buy and sell currency for the intrinsic value would ever consider doing so. As long as you can trade them freely for the metal value, there's really no reason too save for a metal shortage or something.

[am_vanquish]

I used to save all my change in a jar which I considered a "vacation fund." Over the 5 years I knew my wife before we got married, this fund accumulated over $400 (it included a few $1 and $5 bills which I dropped in here and there). We used it for our honeymoon.

Since I graduated college, I've started using my debit/credit cards for EVERYTHING due to the rewards programs. I never have cash. Although I still save all my change, the rate of growth has slowed drastically. Maybe I should start converting all my rewards for debit/credit into miscellaneous change to put in jar labeled "vacation fund."

[MyLifeFinance]

I save all of my change as well. I keep it in two separate containers. One for all silver change, the other for pennies. The reason I do that is so I won't go cash in the silver change so quickly. With the pennies and silver change combined, the pennies accumulate fast and fill up the container quicker leading me to cash it in before it's worth much.

[PetMom]

shultice24 that is fascinating and how much easier to keep a few coins for the metal value than that huge bag of squished soda cans - gave up on that.

[rob62521]

My husband is a firm believer in "cash is king" and he always has a bunch of change which comes in handy when we park where there are meters. He also accumulates lots of pennies. I pull them out and save them and when we get a bunch, take them to the bank and deposit in a vacation fund. Often dh will then give me teh bulk of his saved change too and together we get between $40 and 50 a few times a year.

[Jazzmint98]

I very rarely use cash, so it isn't worth it to me to save the spare change. It would take me too long to accumulate anything worthwhile!

[shultice24]

I very rarely use cash, so it isn't worth it to me to save the spare change. It would take me too long to accumulate anything worthwhile!

I hear ya. My incoming change has definitely slowed down over the past years as I moved more to plastic. Kind of a bummer.

[gk advocate]

Very nice idea. I might as well do that this coming summer..

This summer, the kids and I are saving all of our spare change + any we find and we are going to donate it to a charity, probably one that provides medical care to impoverished children.

[disneysteve]

I was reminded yesterday of what I do with some of my spare change. I always separate the quarters from the rest. A few times each year, we go to Seaside Heights, NJ. We enjoy spending a day down there walking on the boardwalk, having lunch and playing in one of the arcades (play games, save points, redeem for prizes). I use the accumulated quarters for most of our play so that the trip doesn't really impact our spending much since the change in the little bank on my dresser isn't counted among our assets. It is like bonus fun money.

[shultice24]

It's becoming clear to me that I should have named this thread- "What do you do with your spare change?".

Lots of good ideas here!

[savingchic]

I like to save my change in a jar and then use it to buy a treat (that means self control not buying anything in a typical shopping trip)

[fruitbowlk]

We have a 5 gallon water jug that we keep spare change in and each dec. we deposit it in our daughter account.

[Permanent Temp]

I just started using cash again. I have a jar with about 10 bucks and I'm not sure what to do with it. But because of my strange job situation I may hold on to it for a rainy day. One time my mom and I paid for a 4 purchase for pizza completely in pennies because we were so broke and just wanted to have a meal out, that's all we had. The guy thought we were being pains in the butt but I almost cried when he said "Is it really that bad ladies." When he saw the sadness he actually gave us free sodas with it but we didn't go back there again for a while since we a little embarrassed.