Jugs of loose change

[1growingsprout]

I have 3 - 5gal water jugs full of loose change... i hate to take them to the grocery store to 'coinstar' and pay 7% to get my total... yes i know i can wrap them and take them to the bank, but the time to sort,wrap, etc seems overwhelming... then i was going to just start taking a handful with me each day and pay w. change whenever i can... but i am curious to know how much the $ total is...

any ideas that im missing on how to calculate the total amount...
as far as im concerned this is 'found' money and once i know the total then i will decide what to do with it...

thanks....

i think this is the right forum for this question

[NCHIN]

I am not sure if your bank or credit union has one but my credit union has a coin counter and it is free. You just take the receipt to a teller and they will give you the amount or you can deposit it.

[Kleine Hexe]

My mom actually bought a coin sorter. I don't think it was expensive. I've been saving change for a few years and I'm finally over $500. So count it up!

[mothragirl]

i second asking your bank. most banks have some option.

[tessamami]

Even if your bank doesn't have a coin counter

Other banks let you use theirs They are open to the public.

Also, if you do laundry outside of your home, take the quarters. You can also stop collecting change, and use it for your purchases. Put in dollar bills, instead

I'd spend it, rather than paying coin star, myself.

[Shiloh]

it depends how much your time is worth?
3 minutes at the coin star for 7% or hours of rolling?
I'd seperate out the silver coins and take the pennies to coinstar.

[tessamami]

You don't have to roll

Many banks have machines, where you just drop in the $$$, or they do it for you. And you don't have to have an account with the bank, either. Talk to a manager if you ever have a hard time. Washington Mutual has a self service machine, and they don't charge you a percentage.

[anthasam]

Quick note on Coinstar -- some locations have extra features. For example, you can have your coins converted to an Amazon.com credit (without paying the 7% fee!!) or you can donate your coins directly to one of the local charities (also fee-free). Just an fyi...

[tessamami]

Yeah, and I heard

that some coin star machines will convert to $$$ for the grocery store, or Starbucks, with NO FEE.

[leximom]

Wow, I'm going to have to check out my credit union noe (or another bank) I didn't know there was such a service Last time I rolled $115 dollars worth of coins, mostly pennies, too

[dawnadelle]

I recently emptied my 5-gallon jug of change. I rolled all the nickles, dimes and quarters in 1 day (about 6 hours spent on it). I spend about 30 minutes once each week rolling $27 of pennies for my kid's allowances. It amounted to about $500.

It's actually a soothing meditative activity... rolling coins... if you look at it that way.

[lauraess]

We've got this big glass jug (10 gal?) and I LOOOVE to bring it into the bank for free (Commerce has one here that is designed so kids can use it in a super friendly way- and you can try to guess how much you have before they calculate it for a prize-) And I always feel like im coming out with a few hundred "found" $$.

[Zach'smom]

We never put the change in rolls when we go to the bank. I go in there with my big container of loose change and the teller just dumps it in the coin machine and it counts it. My 4 Y/O DS even brought in his piggy bank and they just dumped it into the machine and counted it so he could put it in his savings account.

Double check with your bank about the rolling thing!