I'm interested if some people save their loose change below a certain value. Putting away nightly all the loose pocket change below 50 pence in a container will soon mount up, and provide a nice little nest egg at the end of each month. It also saves your pockets from wearing out!
Does anybody save their change?
- Thread starter happywriter
- Start date
I save 1ps, 2ps and 5ps in an old ornamental bucket. I don't save them up for anything in particular, though every few months I'll cash them in and fritter the money away on some treat or other. I take them to my local Asda where they have a coin machine that sorts and counts the change and then gives me a ticket showing how much I have accumulated. The ticket can be exchanged for real money at Asda's customer services desk. They deduct about 7p from every £1 poured in to the machine, though this beats counting and bagging the money and taking it to the bank, which would incur more than 7p in the pound in parking charges.
My wife does. Handy when I run out of money (often, as I don't usually carry cash and pay on card)
Argh! My wife does that when there's a huge queue!
I always feel like disowning her at that point....
I always feel like disowning her at that point....
We have old brass tankards on a shelf -one each for 1p, 2p, and 5p. Pocket and purse tip outs top them up! Every Christmas we bag them up and bank them and send the proceeds to Wateraid. It's usually around £15.
We used to save 20ps too, but they got raided too often!
We used to save 20ps too, but they got raided too often!
I just decide how 'rich' I feel that week. If things are going well, all coins less than 50 pence from my pockets at the end of the day get saved. A bad week would be 20 pence. In any case, it adds fast. Of course, the saving comes out of next week's spending.
It is a thought process really, not that anybody has so much spare money. The necessity to break into another £5 or £10 note emphasises the amount being spent, thus encouraging savings or doing without when shopping and spending.
I know many people think that carrying cash helps them track their spend, whereas always paying by card is 'lethal'.
However, I find that when you only have your card and no cash you think twice before buying something that is a couple of pounds.
However, I find that when you only have your card and no cash you think twice before buying something that is a couple of pounds.
I have a big cardboard tube which used to be a hot chocolate tub (it has a plastic lid and everything).
I try to empty my wallet into it every few days, not just to save change but also to stop me being tempted to spend the 1 and 2 pounds on little things I don't need that over a month or two add up to a fair bit that could go towards something more useful. It's a jumble of mostly coppers and 5ps, but I'm always pleasantly surprised to find the odd pound coin and 50p in there when I've run out of tobacco.
I try to empty my wallet into it every few days, not just to save change but also to stop me being tempted to spend the 1 and 2 pounds on little things I don't need that over a month or two add up to a fair bit that could go towards something more useful. It's a jumble of mostly coppers and 5ps, but I'm always pleasantly surprised to find the odd pound coin and 50p in there when I've run out of tobacco.
I do save my change, and take it down to Asda or Tesco to to coin counting machine about 2 or 3 times a year, usually it ends up in my pocket and gets spent of cakes or chocolate.
However, three years ago, I asked family and friends to empty their purses and wallets of all change (20pences and smaller) on a Saturday afternoon, and save in the four weeks prior to my birthday party, instead of bying me a present for my big '30' I wanted to give the money to the local Children's Hospice.
On the night of my party 85 people turned up, and some deposited their change into the buckets - there were buckets on the bar too for loose change from buying drinks.
Just over £600 was raised for charity in this way ... however on that occasion I did sit and count and bag it all up, ready for the bank, so that I could send a cheque instead of turning up with several buckets of coins.
However, three years ago, I asked family and friends to empty their purses and wallets of all change (20pences and smaller) on a Saturday afternoon, and save in the four weeks prior to my birthday party, instead of bying me a present for my big '30' I wanted to give the money to the local Children's Hospice.
On the night of my party 85 people turned up, and some deposited their change into the buckets - there were buckets on the bar too for loose change from buying drinks.
Just over £600 was raised for charity in this way ... however on that occasion I did sit and count and bag it all up, ready for the bank, so that I could send a cheque instead of turning up with several buckets of coins.
I sat and counted my change last night, and am off to the bank shortly to deposit £20 ... the remaining £13 will be taken to Tesco and exchanged at the Coinstar machine, not too bad for a few months worth of change.
We do this as well. We have a big plastic canister we put all our change in so when we get change we don't save it to use for anything we just put it in there. We finally cashed it in and used it to go on a short vacation. It adds up to a lot more than you think and I actually like it as well because I don't have to carry around tons of change anymore.
Does taking the coppers out of your wallet and leaving them in random places over the house count?