Do pennies really "add up?"

[carfreemama]

We are trying to save up for a VW camper van. Dd wants to start a piggy bank to help. She counted out 42 pennies to add to the fund, sweetie that she is.

Have you ever had pennies amount to anything substantial? Does it take a lot of work to roll them and cash them in? How do you do it? I am certainly encouraging dd, but has anyone had any success stories with actually pinching pennies?

[Alyantavid]

My dad gives us jars full of pennies sometimes. I was bored once and rolled them all up. I had a box full of rolls. I think it came to $125.

I did make dh go in and deposit them though because I couldn't lift the box. So yeah, it's worth it, but it's a pain to roll that many coins. And our bank won't give out the rolls anymore so you had to buy them.

[Drummer's Wife]

I've never rolled pennies, but my kids like taking their change to the coin star machines at the grocery store. They watch it add their money up, print out a receipt, and then they know how much they have to buy something (or get cash from the clerk).

ETA: I think it depends how often you use cash and have spare change - as far as how much it really adds up to. I almost never have money, b/c we tend to use our debit card for everything.

((Happy 10k posts to me ))

[NiteNicole]

When I clean out my purse or the car, I dump all the change in a jar in the kitchen. It's a pretty big jar. About once or twice a year I take it to one of those Coin Star places and get enough to do my grocery shopping for the week.

So I say it certainly can't HURT.

[carfreemama]

Do those of you who save spare change piggy-bank-style keep JUST pennies, or do you lump everything together? We do use debit a lot, though we started out with the envelope system. Once we got that down and could trust ourselves, we put more categories together in the bank; but still carried on the program. So now we have less change, but we still have some. Dd enjoys it, so it's worth it just for that. But I'm curious if it adds up to "real money."

[its_betty]

Well, it wasn't all pennies, but last time I brought my change jar to the bank I had $120! My bank will dump it all into their coin counting machine at no charge to me, so check with your bank before you bother rolling coins.

If you remember to put every penny you "pinch" into the VW fund, it could add up. Probably not to the full cost without some extra "dollar pinching" as well...

Edited to add: I miss my old '74 VW Bus camper!

[midstreammama]

Just counted our change jar...admittedly it's been about 18 months since I have counted it. It was $345!!! Awesome, really came in handy!

[fruitfulmomma]

My dh got about $10 this morning at the bank with a bunch of old medicine jars filled with pennies.

My dad also gives us jars full of change every few months. We get sometimes up to $100 in them, usually lots of quarters in those ones.

[VisionaryMom]

When we used cash more, it definitely added up. (Our bank has a change counter that's free for everyone, so check there before paying the 9% at CoinStar.) Now, we rarely use cash, but we still have a change jar. I find that I dig through it for various things, though, like quarters for the car wash or the $1.80 for a cup of coffee at our fave coffee shop.

[carfreemama]

For an anniversary present one year, I actually made a VW van piggy bank for dh. My friend owned a paint-your-own pottery studio and I spent hours on it. I even carved out the "VW" crest on the front and painted it silver. It was white with green. I always meant to make curtains for it, but I never got around to it. If I can finally figure out how to take and post pictures, I'll put one up. I was really proud of it, though it's hardly an artistic masterpiece. So that's where we're starting to save our change.

[swd12422]

That's a cute idea! When I was a kid, we bought my dad a "ciggy bank." It looked like a huge pack of cigarettes and was meant to help him quit smoking. The idea is that you put what you WOULD spend on cigs each day into the bank instead of buying the pack. We helped him a little bit by giving him our change now and then, and after a year, he had over $300 and bought himself a shearling coat.

Using the bank as a visual will definitely boost excitement toward reaching your goal -- put it someplace prominent, like the front hall table or the kitchen counter, or wherever the mail is. Then when everyone comes home, they see the bank and empty their change from their pockets right into the bank every day. (Or you could use a big glass jar -- the kids will love to see it filling quickly.)

[Ruthla]

How can any of you afford to save extra change in the first place?

When I get change, it goes into the change section of my wallet. When I buy something that isn't an even dollar amount, I'll pay out in exact change if I have enough coins to do so (at least if it's under 75 cents.) I have, at times, paid for necessary items at the end of the month with a few singles and over $1 in coins!

[kay4]

I purposefully do not use change at the store and instead use cash. When my purse gets too heavy lol I go through and put the change in a baggy and go to the coinstar. Last time I had $67 in change.

[verarae]

Total thread hijack but...we want a VW camper van too and it looks like a lot of you have had one. We saw one for $4200. Good price? And are they expensive to fix if you have a break down (engine and/or camping features)? Good to commute in? Feel free to move if this is not ok here.

[Marcee]

I keep all the change in a jar that we ocassionally cash in and use it to pay the kids allowances. Or for their special vacation money, stuff like that.

[nerdymom]

We save spare change. It's not normally much (like Ruthla I use what's in my purse to actually, um, buy stuff...lol), but when I'm tidying up I normally find a few coins and toss them in a bank. And a few times when we've been desperate at month's end, that bank has been very handy. I like to think of it as like the widow's oil that never ran dry. The times that I have counted it out there has been $20-50 in it. Lately we've not deposited much, I'm not sure what it has now.

One time DH emptied it and there was $85 in it! He just took the jar to the bank and they dumped it in their change machine for free. He left some change as "seed" money. We have a superstition about emptying it all the way.

[fruitfulmomma]

How can any of you afford to save extra change in the first place?

We usually use ours too but we end up with a lot of pennies and I don't like counting them out. My father oth hates keeping change and always throws it into a jar or if we are out he just hands it to me. Usually he gives it to us for fun treats with the kids like movies or the arcade or something.

[carfreemama]

I'm not sure how we end up with so many pennies. There's not a lot of other change around here. I keep bus tickets in my purse and am usually cursing when I run out and I'm looking for bus fare...so, there's not a lot. But somehow, we end up with a lot of pennies. Sometimes repetitive tasks are fun, though; so I don't think I'll mind rolling. And to dd, I still haven't quite gotten through the concept that although there are A LOT of pennies, it's not necessarily A LOT of money; so she thinks she's helping tons with her contribution.

[zebra15]

I keep the change, at the end of the day it all goes into a jar and when the jar is full I either 'roll' it or take it to coin star - the coinstar by me gives no fee amazon.com gift codes.

I also try to save $1 bills as my 'emergency' cash. Last count i was up to about $150.00.

So, I guess I save 'change' and $1 bills. Its more of an out of sight, out of mind process for me. I dont think about spending the change or using the single bills. I come home and when I organize at the end of the day those are just another thing that gets 'put away'.

[mama2mygirl]

Originally Posted by Ruthla

How can any of you afford to save extra change in the first place?

When I get change, it goes into the change section of my wallet. When I buy something that isn't an even dollar amount, I'll pay out in exact change if I have enough coins to do so (at least if it's under 75 cents.) I have, at times, paid for necessary items at the end of the month with a few singles and over $1 in coins!

This is where we are. We have no change to save.