I Have All This Annoying Money Laying Around and I Want to Get Rid of It!

Chalk this one up to first world, rich people problems.  

For as far back as I can recall, at the end of the year I'd gather up all of my loose change, roll it, and take it to the bank.  On an average year this would get me about $100 worth of "found" money.  Cool stuff.

Unfortunately, for the past 3 or 4 years I haven't bothered.  Having two young kids and a bunch of other stuff I need to do, plus not being really motivated to spend my time sitting around rolling money, means the loose change has been piling up.  Jars, bins, ashtrays, bowls...all overflowing with the stuff.  I finally found an old gallon pickle jar and started dumping it in.  I bet there's $500 worth of change laying around.

So, what to do with it?  You can't just take a gallon pickle jar to the bank.  And I don't want to use one of those coin counters at the grocery store- they take 10%, which would be like fifty bucks.  We've tried getting the kids to roll it, but my oldest (4.5 year old, daughter) can't do it yet, and looses attention quickly anyway.  

 My next plan is to separate out just the quarters, and roll them, since they're big, easy to do, and worth the most.  Assuming the change distribution is evenly distributed between nickels, dimes, quarters, and pennies, the quarters will be worth about 61% of the total value of the change.  Then take the leftover pennies, nickles, and dimes to the automatic coin counter.  

Any other ideas?

Slight digression: I especially hate dimes.  They're tiny, hard to roll, and the only coin which does not follow in the logical progression of "bigger = more valuable".  Seriously, berkeley dimes.  

I don't know if they do this around you, but the Coinstar machines in the Krogers here have an option to get an Amazon.com gift gard and they don't take any percentage or fee for it. 

I am laughing because I have the same issue. Only in Canada the machines take 15% so even less motivated to do a clean-up.

Pete

My Credit Union has a machine for the use of customers. Anything similar at your bank/creditunion? 

So, yes, I can just bring a pickle jar to the bank (credit union). 

wae said:

I don't know if they do this around you, but the Coinstar machines in the Krogers here have an option to get an Amazon.com gift gard and they don't take any percentage or fee for it. 

I think most supermarkets that have a Coinstar have this option. I've been meaning to do the same thing - since I buy groceries anyway... 

John Welsh said:

My Credit Union has a machine for the use of customers. Anything similar at your bank/creditunion? 

So, yes, I can just bring a pickle jar to the bank (credit union). 

Our bank used to.  I don't know why the took it out.  The deal was you could use the machine for free, and the money automatically went into your account.  Saves me a step, even!

We just joined a new credit union.  Perhaps I'll suggest it to them.  

My bank has a machine in back, and they’re cool to dump your bucket of change in as long as you’re not constantly asking.  Call your bank?

John Welsh said:

My Credit Union has a machine for the use of customers. Anything similar at your bank/creditunion? 

So, yes, I can just bring a pickle jar to the bank (credit union). 

My credit union has one also, but they take a percentage from non members and as a member after you hit $125 in a day.  I can say that with mixed change a 24 oz pickle jar will generally be in the $85 to $105 range.  If you have all silver you might hit $125 in that sized jar.  I had a 5 gallon water jug full that was $2200 of change and used pickle jars to cash it in...

My father owned a vending business.   We had our own coin counter, but the bank always had one that counted our deposits.

I did a couple of risk assessments on individual branches. The big banks are moving away from doing the coin counting at all; a lot of smaller, more customer service focused banks still do it, but it is going the way of the dodo. These machines are labor intensive, need to be cleaned, expensive, break often, and rarely if ever actually drive any revenue. 

Ask your bank and credit union, and call individual branches--at the old Bank I worked for, not every branch even had the machine. Coinstar with a gift card is the way to go with this; the alternative is to buy your own coin sorter with wrapper function. Manual ones start at probably $30; they move up to the hundreds if you think you're going to do it often enough. 

My little girl is now about 4.5yrs old but when she started moving independently at about the age of one she was the type of kid who would put anything in her mouth.  I caught her with a coin once.  Not only a choking hazdard but can you imagine anything dirtier!  

It was at this point that I cleared the house of coins and went to an all debit card personal policy.  I am now the guy who will pull out a debit card for a $1.26 purchase.  Mostly because I do not want 74 cents worth of change. 

I now have no change in my pockets and none in my cars.  The only time this really hurts me is when I need a shopping cart at Aldi.

My credit union waives the fee if the coin star user is child with a child saver account.

John Welsh said:

My little girl is now about 4.5yrs old but when she started moving independently at about the age of one she was the type of kid who would put anything in her mouth.  I caught her with a coin once.  Not only a choking hazdard but can you imagine anything dirtier!  

It was at this point that I cleared the house of coins and went to an all debit card personal policy.  I am now the guy who will pull out a debit card for a $1.26 purchase.  Mostly because I do not want 74 cents worth of change. 

I now have no change in my pockets and none in my cars.  The only time this really hurts me is when I need a shopping cart at Aldi.

You need to keep the Aldi Quarter in your car. It has its own special spot in each car. 

I can't be the only one who keeps an Aldi Quarter in the car, can I?

In reply to mtn :

Other than easier storing, what would the point of a coin sorter and roller be?  Would any bank accept user-rolled coins without counting them first?  Or is there a way they can verify by weight?

I have a little manual coin sorter. It has cylinders that you put the paper rolls in and you turn a crank and it will spit them into the correct cylinder...most of the time. You have to go slow and keep an eye on things. It was cheap, maybe $20.  

mtn said:

I can't be the only one who keeps an Aldi Quarter in the car, can I?

QFT.  There might be more change in there, but woe to the person who puts the Aldi quarter in the parking meter on accident.

Ian F said:

In reply to mtn :

Other than easier storing, what would the point of a coin sorter and roller be?  Would any bank accept user-rolled coins without counting them first?  Or is there a way they can verify by weight?

I've only ever brought rolled change to the bank.  Never had a problem.  I assume they counted it somehow.  

Ian F said:

In reply to mtn :

Other than easier storing, what would the point of a coin sorter and roller be?  Would any bank accept user-rolled coins without counting them first?  Or is there a way they can verify by weight?

In general they verify by weight when rolled. I'm the same way as John, everything goes on a debit card and increasingly is going through Google Pay so I don't need to swipe the card and potentially have it skimmed. I've put 80 cents worth of hotdogs on them before.

This is probably bad but....

My old bank only took rolled coins. I hate rolling coins. 

So one night, I poured all of the change into a manila envelope with my name and account number written on the front. Then, to keep it all together, I taped it up and ended up with a vaguely football-shaped ball of coins. Then I put that in the night deposit box after hours, and waited. It took two weeks, but the coins eventually showed up in my account .

These days I just use plastic everywhere. Way simpler than counting change.

In reply to Tom Suddard :

I laughed at this.  But I'd be way too nervous to try it.  

I use plastic for everything, it seems, but somehow still end up with loose change.  I think it's a plot by the gubbmint to get all of our DNA on file.  /tinfoilhat

Ian F said:

In reply to mtn :

Other than easier storing, what would the point of a coin sorter and roller be?  Would any bank accept user-rolled coins without counting them first?  Or is there a way they can verify by weight?

Banks, gas stations, grocery stores, they all take rolled coin, and all get really pissed off if it isn't rolled and they need to count it themselves. 

I never use my debit card.  If it gets  compromised, they can empty out my bank account. If that happens to my credit card, I don't have to pay it...

The easiest solution- grab a handful a day, and try to use it.

It will take a long time to use $500, for sure.  But over time, you will be able to.  And keeping up on that will also prevent the build up of loose change.

All my change goes into the local heated spray wash coin slot after being converted to quarters about 4 bucks at a time. 

I grab a handful whenever I am headed nearby, and try to keep the undercarriage clean. I know I should just buy a powerwasher already, but hot, filtered water on tap, with someone else doing the maint is hard to beat. 

When I used to need quarters to do laundry, that helped keep the change situation at bay.

When Mrs. VCH and I used to go out on Saturday night and shoot pool, that helped use up the change.

Now I own my own washing machine and we never go out to shoot pool anymore.