I usually spend my spare change at the cash register, or I take a small coin purse of quarters with me to garage sales, therefore I do not typically cash-in my spare change, because I use it all. However, I have seen people at the supermarket who use the Coinstar machine to cash in a large collection of spare change. The machine automatically adds up the amount of change, and pays you for the amount, after taking a small fee. Do you or does anyone you know use this type of service, or would you prefer to roll your own change to avoid the small fee and exchange it for cash at the bank? If I had a large amount of change to cash in, I would probably roll the change myself, simply to avoid the Coinstar fee.
We never have the chance to have the coins changed to bills because we use the coins during the Christmas season. Our house is the target of carolers since it has been our tradition to give to those who would sing carols. So our bounty of coins go to that purpose and sometimes it is even short and we needed to go to the bank to get more coins. Our loose change for one year normally amounts to about 2,000 pesos.
I use the Coinstar at my bank to cash in my coins. Some places do charge a fee to use the coin counting machine but my bank does not of you have an account with the bank. I do not like to go to the store with a pocket full of change to use to pay the bill.
I deposit mine into my bank account however I make sure that I count my coins and put them in little plastics before depositing them because that's the policy of my bank. I also put the amount at the front of the plastic so that they can verify if I deposit the correct amount.
It's been a long time since I piled up enough change to make it more favorable to exchange rather than spend. I usually just let it pile up a bit and I try and use it for small things like parking fees or trips to convenience stores. It's fun to save it up and see it piled high but it just takes too much space and if I wanted to save I'd just opt to save up paper cash instead or at least I'd say let it pile up to a dollar and exchange it myself in the jar just so end up with a pile of paper cash in the end rather than coins.
Sometimes if I end up with a great deal of change I go to the coinstar at my credit union or even the grocery store. The one at the credit union is free but I have to remember to take it there. The one at the grocery store there is a small fee on most things, but if you get an instore gift card it is free. My change doesn't usually add up that fast though.
I save all my spare change. My husband and I toss it into plastic fish bowl and save it for a year or two. The spare change adds up quickly when you throw in loonies and toonies. A loonie is worth $1 and toonies are $2. Within a couple years of doing this, we have saved enough money to pay for a family vacation. We even take the time to roll the change by hand. Always satisfying to the change start to add up. Our local bank now offers a coin counter option, which I think I might try next year to save on time rolling up the coins myself.
Not something that I've done or needed to do in a long time - mainly because - as I now generally use my debit card for almost all my purchases - apart from small items like car parking, stamps or a cup of coffee and any small change that I do have always goes towards paying for the latter - I rarely if ever have any surplus small change - let alone an accumulation large enough to warrant switching it for notes. However if I did need to switch a large amount of coins - rather than pay a fee - I would - after having first counted and bagged them - pay them into the bank when I next visited - as I really couldn't justify paying for something that costs absolutely nothing - other than a little time - to do myself.
Coinstar is basically for people who don't have the luxury of time to go to banks or approach random stores to cash in their change. I am not exactly in the habit of cashing in my small change. They just accumulate in my purse. I commute and buy little items all the time so the coins I keep all come in handy. When I feel like I have too many coins for my own good, making my purse so heavy and bulky, I go to the bank or a trusted store or approach a colleague or family member to cash in my coins.
Another easy way to cash your change is at the supermarket. They always want change. A friend of mine who was a door to door salesman [he sold handmade crafts] always got paid in cash. By the end of the day he'd have lots of change he didn't want to keep in a jar and since he always bought something from the supermarkets every evening, that's where he cashed his change. I prefer the banks though.
My bank doesn't have a coin counter machine and all the Coinstars in my area charge so I tend to use up all my small change in the self-service checkout at the supermarket. It's easy enough just to pour it all into the slot and be done with it.
I used to roll my change and then send it to my bank to deposit. Well, now I have an e-banking only account and I will get a monthly banking fee if I decide to go into my bank. Now I go to a Coinstar and then I put it in my PayPal or I take it to the register to get cash. They do charge a small 10% fee though.
I only got into the idea of collecting coins a year or two ago and I'm yet to cash them in! I keep them in a big metal tin and the tin's starting to get pretty heavy. Had I been more forward thinking I would have targeted it as a way to pay for Christmas presents and would have gone into the bank to get them changed up. Unfortunately, it's a bit late for me to do that so I guess I'm just going to keep on collecting them.
