Been saving loose change, wrap or coinstar?

[KristiKelly]

I just called our bank and they said we had to wrap it. We do not have a Chevy Chase or commerce bank near us. I will have to check out our Wells Fargo and the credit union. Please let me know if there are other banks out there that have them.

It really doesn't take long to roll it. DH & I do it at the kitchen table while watching TV. We rolled about $200 in less than an hour. Our bank does take it rolled and will give us the coin rolls for free. Our kids like sorting out the money with us. It's a great math exercise for them as well.

 

[dizluvr71]

Well I just checked with our bank yesterday and they say we have to roll it also. We bank at WAMU, they said the nearest branch with a machine is at least an hour away.

So tonight we'll be counting coins!!

 

[ksoehrlein]

What we've done is "roll" it into Ziplock bags, write the total amount on the front of each bag, and then take *only a few bags at a time* to the Disney Store to purchase Disney Dollars. I usually do this on a weekend because with the banks closed on Sundays, it's possible for the store to run out of change and it's just possible that they might need my coins at that time. But I don't want to overwhelm them with $50 worth of pennies at once either, which is why I do it over several trips. Luckily we live fairly close to the mall.

To make things as easy as possible for the store, I do the same $ amount you would do in a regular roll of coins ($10 in quarters in one bag, 50 pennies in another, etc.). If they choose to open the bags and dump them in the register till, that's fine, or they can leave the bags closed and treat them as they would normal rolls of coins.

I can't wait until our store gets the new Disney Dollars so I can start doing this again!

 

[Nicolepa]

I used it as a math excercise for my 4yo daughter. it took longer that way but she had a great time. As for writing the info I just took file folder labels and either printed or wrote our account number on them and then stuck them to the roll. Much easier than trying to write on the roll of coins!

 

[aka-mad4themouse]

Well I guess I'm the only one but I use Conistar. It charges 8 cents per dollar. I hate wrapping coins so just being able to dump my jar into the machine is worth the charge. The charge has never added up to enough for me to gasp at.

I suppose that it would depend on how much you were counting at a time. Anne34 would have lost $15.58 of her $194.70 if she used Coinstar. lilred's $246 would have cost $30.75 to count. And Bev J would have made Coinstar almost $240 richer when she cashed in her $3000 in coins! Any of those amounts is too much for me to shell out for the convenience of having a machine count my change. My own change jar has close to $400 in it by my estimate. If I count it on my own, that's $32 that I get to keep.

 

[Bev J]

We bank at US Bank and usually take our coin up there every 2 years or so, no wrapping and no charge for customers of the bank.

Bev

 

[mickeyluv'r]

Last summer I counted out a bunch of change. My credit union charged 5%, i think. So I figured fine, I'll count the quarters and dimes, and nickels, but they can do the pennies.
When I got to the bank, after neatly rolling all my coins, what did thay do? They proceeded to unwrap all my rolls and dumped them in their counting machine! Why did I bother wrapping them? They didn't charge me the 5% though, so I didn't complain, but what a waste of my time!

 

[tlbwriter]

Well I guess I'm the only one but I use Conistar.

No, you're not the only one. It's worth it to me.

 

[WillCAD]

Coinstar is a great service, but 9-cents on the dollar is just too darn rich for my blood.

A few years ago I bought a plastic thingie at WalMart that has four tubes in it, each sized and marked to hold exactly one roll of each type of coin. Every night I empty the change from my pockets and put it into the tubes; since I'm only sorting a dollar or two of change at once it's easy. When a tube fills up, I roll it.

I have saved about $85 since my last Disney trip, and it's all rolled up nice and neat.

 

[Deesknee]

Wished I had seen this post this Morning. At apprx. 5pm tonight I finally finished rolling my $275.50 worth of coin!!!! Although DD was happy to help. At 20mnths she can count to 2 ya know!

Thanks for the info for next time. As far as cashing mine in... I work retail I can cash them in there.

 

[patrenoe]

We live in a casino area so we take our coins to the casino cage and they give back the cash. Since I don't play slots its never a temptation for me. Now that the casinos have penny slot machines the pennies are no longer a problem.

 

[disneyfanfamily]

We bank at 5/3 and if you have an account there, they do not charge. I just called last week about it because our jar is getting fuller and our vacation is less than 2 months away. I am pretty cheap too. I couldn't "pay" someone/something to count my change for me. But I like to count money! Plus, my kids like to count it too. It's good for them!

 

[tlbwriter]

A few years ago I bought a plastic thingie at WalMart that has four tubes in it, each sized and marked to hold exactly one roll of each type of coin. Every night I empty the change from my pockets and put it into the tubes; since I'm only sorting a dollar or two of change at once it's easy. When a tube fills up, I roll it.

That's not a bad idea - sounds easier than hand rolling, which I just cannot stand to do. Of course, depending on how much the thingie costs, and how much change one has, it might be cheaper just to go the Coinstar route!

 

[my3kids]

I take mine either to Suntrust or a small local bank we use. I've never been charged to have the coins sorted. I also bought a sorting kit at Wal-Mart for under $5.00. First you dump your coins on top of a stacked set of trays. when you shake this the coins automatically sort into seperate trays...one tray for each size of coin. Then you fill sturdy plastic cylinders with the proper coin and when they reach a slot you have the proper amount for that paper roll. You just push the paper roll into the cylinder and turn it upside down and out slides the rolled coins. My kids LOVE to do this.

 

[cruisnfamily]

I also bought a sorting kit at Wal-Mart for under $5.00. First you dump your coins on top of a stacked set of trays. when you shake this the coins automatically sort into seperate trays...one tray for each size of coin. Then you fill sturdy plastic cylinders with the proper coin and when they reach a slot you have the proper amount for that paper roll. You just push the paper roll into the cylinder and turn it upside down and out slides the rolled coins. My kids LOVE to do this.

What area in Walmart would have this? The only ones I've seen are battery operated and cost $20 or so. I'd definitely buy this for under $5!

 

[Poohlovr]

We bought one of the battery operated sorters for about 10.00 @ Wal-Mart.
The coin wrappers fit in the empty tube.
Every night, we drop all of our change in. When the tube is full, we take out the wrapped coins. So simple.
When I cashed some in a few weeks ago, I took the wrapped coins in to BankOne and deposited them. There was no problem with them accepting them.
I did use return address stickers and put one on each roll, but found out I didn't even have to do that much.

I hate counting pennies. The other coins don't bother me, but those pennies....

 

[luvmyboys]

princessh, do you have any branches of Chevy Chase bank near you? (I live in Northern VA) I know the ones around here have coin machines free of charge, and you don't have to be a bank customer to use them.

We have used coinstar in the past, as it is quick & convenient (plus DS6 loves to "help" push the buttons & push coins into tray.)

 

[nicknamy1996]

I'm surprised only two people have mentioned this but I too suggest doing the "silvers" yourself and leaving the pennies to coinstar.

Even if you didn't want to do the nickels and dimes yourself I would suggest you never do quarters in coinstar. Way to easy to roll and those rolls add up quick at 10 bucks a pop! I kept a couple of rolls; one for an arcade and on for pressed pennies. I also broke one out before we left to do a car wash.

 

[princessh]

I forgot about the pressed pennies. I Guess I will keep a roll or two of the quarters and see if I can cash in the rest!

 

[WillCAD]

The sorter I have looks like this:

But WalMart doesn't carry them any more. Instead, the shaker trays and a few other options are available, as well as the more expensive electric sorters. Sorting tubes like this:
http://www.cleansweepsupply.com/pages/skugroup33655.html
are available at WalMart, Office Depot, and Staples for $15 or less.

At WalMart, the coin stuff is all in the same place, usually in the aisle with office supplies, safes, and lock boxes. Look for the big bags of paper coin tubes and the sorting equipment is right beneath.

Office Depot and Staples tend to have a larger selection of sorting equipment, but also tend to cost a few bucks more. I bought my coin sorter years ago for about $6 and it was worth every penny; if it broke or I lost it somehow I wouldn't hesitate to pay $20 for a new sorter because I know how much I use the thing (every day).

After all, sort $200 in coins and a $20 sorter pays for itself in Coinstar fees alone.